So I got lazy and the official critics already have their reviews up. So instead of a proper review, have some ramblings...
La Cage is a show that most theatre geeks find to be a minefield subject. On the one hand, it was a breakout hit and one of the first mainstream musicals on Broadway to deal with the gay lifestyle. On the other, it was a surprise upset for the Tony, taking Best Musical over Sunday in the Park with George, which is a sore spot for Sondheim fans. I love Sunday - I think it’s absolutely brilliant. And yes, I also liked La Cage, which I saw for the first time about a week ago.
The new West End production is based on last Christmas’s run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, and while the sets have been scaled up to fit the Playhouse’s more generous proportions, the cast, orchestra, and general production values have remained smaller than in the original. And while I hadn’t seen the show before and wouldn’t have known better, my companion for the evening (one of the top names in London drag) was quite familiar with the show, having seen both the original (and prematurely closed) West End run not to mention numerous regional productions across the UK.
His opinion? This La Cage keeps it real. The smaller ensemble (six male cagelles vs. eight men and two women) is closer to what a real club would have, Tim Shortall’s costumes are more down to Earth than in past runs, and the emotions are genuine. Neither of us were particularly fond of Douglas Hodge as testy tranny Albin at the interval, but Mr. Hodge found his character’s depth by the start of the second act and improved by leaps and bounds as the back half played out. As the papers raved for him, I’d guess that his issues have been resolved.
Personally, I liked the balance at hand in this production: both the loving relationship between Albin and Georges (Denis Lawson) as well as the panic that strikes son Jean Michel (Stuart Neal) which drives the show’s action: the same dread that comes from introducing friends and partners to overly religious or tragically unhip parents is instantly recognisable and though it’s devastating for Albin the audience are likely to understand the character’s motivation, passing off the character as more than a mere caricature.
So yeah. Believe the hype with this one: this is a high energy production (how else can 165 minutes fly by so fast?) but one which leaves the audience comfortably warm by the end. The fall season only has one big musical left (Imagine This, which won’t be covered here due to a paid review commission) so if you’re looking for a big, traditional West End fix or you want something romantic to replace the soon-to-close Brief Encounter, you owe it to yourself catch La Cage aux Folles while you can.
Where: Playhouse Theatre
When: Until 10 Jan., M-Sa @ 19:30, Th/Sa @ 14:30. Varies Xmas/New Year’s
How Much: £17.50-£55 (£57.50 for cabaret table seating - prepare to crane your neck.)
Concessions: Day seats available, check with the box office.
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RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £45 - The best thing to hit the West End in a while, but doesn’t quite come together enough for the top price.
RZ Other Notes: Rumour is that if sales are high the producers are planning to extend the run and bring in Graham Norton to play Albin. Take it with a rock of salt but so far there’s nothing announced yet to follow....
Showing posts with label Playhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Playhouse. Show all posts
Monday, 3 November 2008
Monday, 15 September 2008
UPDATE: Too Much Theatre
It’s finally happened: the RZ’s theatre-going habit has outstripped his ability to keep the site updated in a timely manner. Mind you, going to the theatre at night has been functioning as a perk for focusing on work during the day, namely the work of getting his behemoth of a master’s thesis written. As such, the RZ has seen the following shows but will not be writing full reviews on them:
Well @ Trafalgar 2: It’s funny, and raises some interesting questions, but also suffers from “hate all the characters” syndrome. By the last 20 minutes the RZ was hoping that the main character would go McDonagh on someone’s arse.
Our House @ New Wimbledon (Now touring somewhere else): How the original production won the Olivier is beyond the RZ’s comprehension - it must have been a painfully dry year. Not having been in the UK when Madness were the shit, the only thing keeping him from leaving this shitty production at the interval was the thought of spending two hours on the train to and from Wimbledon for an hour of theatre. Not that it was all bad - the choreography was great, the songs would be fun to play DDR to, and the cast tried their best - but the sound design was poor (there were lyrics?) and the RZ facepalmed repeatedly during the performance, the plot of which was as such: do the right thing and wind up an unemployed convict, do the wrong thing and wind up successful only to murder your mum by accident.
The Pretender Agenda @ New Players: An office full of scandal makes for a funny play, but it needed another workshop: the first scene could have been cut entirely though the play was overall entertaining and a good reminder of why you should always be nice to your temps. The cast was loaded with TV stars the RZ didn’t recognise (that all gave quality performances either way), but he suspects that only 10% of the audience (somewhere in the 50-75 person range) was NOT comped the night he went - most of the people in the stalls knew the author who was also in attendance.
Eurobeat @ Novello: Went with a friend who loves the trash factor of Eurovision this time. No surprise, she loved it. No surprise, Poland won. The RZ has shilled for this enough by now and doesn’t even work for the damn show.
Small Craft Warnings @ Arcola 1: Typical Tennessee Williams with the added bonus of an unrehearsed understudy coming to the rescue of a mostly solid cast (who all slipped accents a few times). Great speeches, but a bit of a mess. This was the RZ’s first time at the Arcola and he’s fallen in love with the space, not to mention the neighbourhood’s restaurants.
The Harder They Come @ Playhouse: The RZ popped in for the closing. Nothing particularly special or different, no speeches at the end.
On the RZ’s agenda for this week is a preview of Come Dancing at Stratford East and a lot of continued writing work along with the Osamu Tezuka festival at the Barbican (where he will probably hide in the back row of the cinema with his computer continuing to make last minute revisions).
Well @ Trafalgar 2: It’s funny, and raises some interesting questions, but also suffers from “hate all the characters” syndrome. By the last 20 minutes the RZ was hoping that the main character would go McDonagh on someone’s arse.
Our House @ New Wimbledon (Now touring somewhere else): How the original production won the Olivier is beyond the RZ’s comprehension - it must have been a painfully dry year. Not having been in the UK when Madness were the shit, the only thing keeping him from leaving this shitty production at the interval was the thought of spending two hours on the train to and from Wimbledon for an hour of theatre. Not that it was all bad - the choreography was great, the songs would be fun to play DDR to, and the cast tried their best - but the sound design was poor (there were lyrics?) and the RZ facepalmed repeatedly during the performance, the plot of which was as such: do the right thing and wind up an unemployed convict, do the wrong thing and wind up successful only to murder your mum by accident.
The Pretender Agenda @ New Players: An office full of scandal makes for a funny play, but it needed another workshop: the first scene could have been cut entirely though the play was overall entertaining and a good reminder of why you should always be nice to your temps. The cast was loaded with TV stars the RZ didn’t recognise (that all gave quality performances either way), but he suspects that only 10% of the audience (somewhere in the 50-75 person range) was NOT comped the night he went - most of the people in the stalls knew the author who was also in attendance.
Eurobeat @ Novello: Went with a friend who loves the trash factor of Eurovision this time. No surprise, she loved it. No surprise, Poland won. The RZ has shilled for this enough by now and doesn’t even work for the damn show.
Small Craft Warnings @ Arcola 1: Typical Tennessee Williams with the added bonus of an unrehearsed understudy coming to the rescue of a mostly solid cast (who all slipped accents a few times). Great speeches, but a bit of a mess. This was the RZ’s first time at the Arcola and he’s fallen in love with the space, not to mention the neighbourhood’s restaurants.
The Harder They Come @ Playhouse: The RZ popped in for the closing. Nothing particularly special or different, no speeches at the end.
On the RZ’s agenda for this week is a preview of Come Dancing at Stratford East and a lot of continued writing work along with the Osamu Tezuka festival at the Barbican (where he will probably hide in the back row of the cinema with his computer continuing to make last minute revisions).
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