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Eric Marchese Special to the Register
Glitz and heart gild this 'Cage'
HE/SHE: As Albin, David Engel's dramatic versatility and stirring vocal skills are showcased in Musical Theatre West's staging of "La Cage aux Folles."
What started as a French stage farce, by Jean Poiret, became a hit French-Italian movie in 1978. Five years later, "La Cage aux Folles" was musicalized for the stage, with a libretto by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.
"La Cage" has been refilmed at least twice since 1978 - including "The Birdcage," the nonmusical, 1996 Hollywood version starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane - but it's the stage that's the true and natural home for Herman and Fierstein's creation. Only a live performance can capture the play's setting of a nightclub in St. Tropez, France, where the greatest drag queens on the French Riviera sing and strut their stuff nightly.
In a new staging by Musical Theatre West, the Carpenter Performing Arts Center does just fine doubling as La Cage aux Folles, the famous - or, as the story's conservatives would say, infamous - club run by Georges (Norman Large) to showcase his mate, Albin (David Engel), a sensitive, delicate flower who only blossoms while bathed in footlights and spots. Under the stage name of ZaZa, he's a bitchy diva disliked by the assorted "cagelles." 'La Cage aux Folles' WHERE: Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach
Some might say this large-scale
version of the musical is too large - it's doubtful any nightclub could,
like the Carpenter Center, hold more than 1,000 patrons. But aided by Gary
Wissmann's glitzy sets, glittery costumes rented from The Theater Company
(of Upland) and coordinated by Todd K. Proto, Michael Borth's musical direction
and Lee Martino's choreography, director Nick DeGruccio's big, oversized
staging plays up Fierstein and Herman's expansive theme of tolerance and
acceptance - and of taking a moment before judging a person on appearance
alone.
The contrived plot is pure, mechanically executed sitcom, revolving around Georges' and Albin's relationship with Jean-Michel (David Burnham), Georges' son from a one-night fling with a stripper. Jean-Michel announces his engagement to a young lady (Samantha T. Lasch) whose father heads a political party sworn to uphold "tradition, family and morality." Ashamed of his dad's sexual orientation and of Albin, who has functioned more or less as his mother, the young man tries to hide both from his future in-laws - a labored plot device that includes literally hiding Albin from sight.
What really makes "La Cage" fly are Herman's soaring, heartfelt and thoroughly French-sounding songs; captivating characterizations by DeGruccio's cast; and the show's sheer visual flamboyance. Yes, the characters of Georges and Albin seem to be stereotypes - the one overtly straight, the other almost comically effeminate. But these types are drawn from life, and between what Fierstein has crafted and how Large and Engel bring them to life, they're wholly credible.
Engel, who brought such verve and personality
to the troupe's last show, "Crazy For You," shows his versatility and range
in a different way. His Albin is defiantly proud of who and what he is,
and Engel masterfully delivers Albin's songs while creating the believable
illusion that he's a woman. On opening weekend, Large stumbled noticeably,
lessening the contrast between Georges' commanding showmanship while running
his club and the turmoil of his private life. But no matter; "La Cage aux
Folles" is really about the liberating freedom that only the masquerade
of live performance can bring.
11/7/2003
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