With its heartfelt, engaging revival of “La Cage Aux Folles,” the City Center’s Encores! series has outdone itself with talent, exuberance, and a wonderful new look at a now-classic musical.
In his 1984 Tony Awards speech, Jerry Herman said the win for his score proved that there was still room on Broadway for hummable songs. (Herman was up against Stephen Sondheim for “Sunday in the Park with George” that year, and the comment was a subtle dig at Sondheim, who a few years earlier in “Merrily We Roll Along” had a producer criticizing the fictional musical creators with “There’s not a tune you can hum.” Sondheim, as any musical fan knows, has nevertheless gotten his due over the years.)
“La Cage,” with a book by Harvey Fierstein, was always a big, old-fashioned musical, but I always thought that was part of its insidious charm. It used the classic musical format and romantic tropes to tell the story of same sex partners. It’s easy to forget how boldly confrontational and political that was in 1983 as AIDS was spreading and taking its toll on gay men, causing fear in the culture at large. When George Hearn stood center stage and sang “I Am What I Am,” it hit like a thunderbolt and soon became the anthem for LGBTQ rights and identity.
The story is fairly simple. Georges and Albin are a long-term male couple. They run the titular nightclub in St. Tropez where Albin appears in drag as ZaZa. Together they have raised Georges’ son Jean-Michel. Jean-Michel comes home and announces he wants to marry Anne, who, unfortunately is the daughter of Edouard Dindon, a right-wing politician who has made his career on criticizing anything that compromises his traditional family values. When Edouard and his wife Marie are invited to meet Jean-Michel’s parents, trouble ensues. Jean-Michel wants Albin hidden away, so as not to upset Edouard. Albin, who has a penchant for the dramatic, feels betrayed, and although Georges tries to calm him down — and deny himself for his son’s happiness — nothing works. Of course it all falls apart and, because it’s a musical, it all comes back together again. Jean-Michel and Anne will marry, and Albin is reconciled with Jean-Michel and Georges. We get a big, Jerry Herman finale, and all go home smiling.
As we should. Yet, in the forty-three years since “La Cage” first bowed, the world has changed. HIV is largely manageable. There is more freedom of gender expression. (Just check the signs at the restrooms.) Same-sex marriage is the law, and the political battle is not whether LGBTQ people should be seen but whether their marriages and families are legitimate. Thus, under Robert O’Hara’s sensitive direction, in 2026, the wonderfully expanded narrative asserts that Albin has the right to seize and proclaim his authentic self and that the entire family he’s created with Georges is valid, loving, and strong.
The limits of the Encores! productions place the orchestra on stage, limits scenery, and allows actors to be on book, if need be. Choreography must be contained in a relatively small space, but they have only a few weeks to pull this together, after all. Happily, there are no such limits in the talent on the stage.
Wayne Brady is sexy and suave as Georges, only losing it, slightly, when he’s caught between Jean-Michel and Albin, though sings to the tempestuous Albin: “It’s worth the aggravation with you on my arm.” His singing is jazz-inflected, fluid, and cool and a consistent pleasure to listen to, particularly in his romantic ballad “Song on the Sand” where his love for Albin is obvious. He’s also great at the comedy, as the whole plot spins out of control.
Billy Porter is a feisty, prickly, and passionate Albin, who is also wildly funny without resorting to gimmicks or stereotypes. He is more an actor than a singer, but his first act closer “I Am What I Am” is one of the most deeply felt and galvanizing renditions I’ve ever heard of that familiar song. Like the rest of Porter’s performance, it comes from a deep place that is loving, ferocious, and powerful. As with Brady, the comedy always lands, and the juxtaposition of the silly and the richly human is one of the hallmarks of this production. It also doesn’t hurt in the least that the chemistry between Brady and Porter is very strong.
The supporting company is all very good. As the selfish Jean-Michel, Alaman Diadhiou dances well, though his singing is sometimes weak. Tonya Pinkins is wonderful as Jacqueline, as s James Jackson Jr. as the butler/maid Jacob. It’s also always a pleasure to see Sharon Washington on stage, and though she has a smaller part as Anne’s mother Marie, it’s pivotal in resolving the plot.
One of the central features of the show has always been Les Cagelles, the 19 nightclub entertainers that serve as the ensemble. They are all terrific, unique, and individual. In 1983, we only knew which of the ensemble were men when they took of their wigs. Here in the wonderful costumes by Clint Ramos and Michelle Ridley, they may not create gender illusion in the same way. These gloriously diverse expressions add contemporary, new context to Georges’ invitation to the audience to “open your eyes.”
And if you want to catch this production, you’d better open your wallets pretty quick. It runs only through June 28th, and seats are selling fast. It’s an explosion of comedy, heart, and joy you would be crazy to miss.
La Cage Aux Folles | Encores! at City Center | 131 West 55th Street | Tues.-Fri. 7:30 p.m.; Sat. 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Sun. 2 & 7 p.m. | $45-$250 at citycenter.org | 2 hours, 50 mins, 1 intermission
