Jerry Herman & Harvey Fierstein's La Cage aux Folles at Regents Park Open Air Theatre

Jerry Herman & Harvey Fierstein: La Cage aux Folles
Carl Mullaney - Regents Park Open Air Theatre (Photo Johan Persson)

Jerry Herman & Harvey Fierstein: La Cage aux Folles; Carl Mullaney, Billy Carter, Ben Culleton, director: Timothy Sheader; Regents Park Open Air Theatre

A production that brings out the personal element amidst the glamour with terrific solo performances and a strong chorus

Having followed up his hits Hello, Dolly! (1964) and Mame (1966) with a sequence of interesting but cult musicals (Dear World, Mack & Mabel, The Grand Tour), in writing his 1983 show, La Cage aux Folles, composer Jerry Herman was deliberately aiming at an optimistic song-and-dance entertainment.

Thus despite the involvement of gay-activist Harvey Fierstein, writing the book, and the political Arthur Laurents, as producer, the resulting musical has many traditional elements of a Broadway musical and despite weaknesses has gained far more currency than a sharper, more political show might have.

What La Cage aux Folles did was bring drag onto mainstream Broadway for the first time and present a musical which was, at its heart, about the love between two middle-aged men. Despite an overly sentimental story, the show does not shy away from this and the finale ends with the two men singing of their love for each other.

What is surprising is that despite the passage of 40 years, the basic plot is alarmingly prescient with the attempt of a right-wing politician to expunge drag from the scene. The musical (which is based on Jean Poiret's original play, not the film) keeps this element low key and perhaps fudges it too much. In the film, drag queen Albin's incarnation as Jean-Michel's mother is in alarming agreement with Edouard Dindon's right-wing views.

We caught up with Regents Park Open Air Theatre's production of La Cage aux Folles on Saturday 19 August 2023. The weather was kind and we had the unlikely experience of seeing an all-singing, all-dancing Broadway musical in the open air. The theatre's departing artistic director, Timothy Sheader was directing with Carl Mullaney as Albin and Billy Carter as Georges, plus Ben Culleton as Jean-Michel.

Jerry Herman & Harvey Fierstein: La Cage aux Folles - The Cagelles - Regents Park Open Air Theatre (Photo Johan Persson)

When the production opened last month, one of the reviews said that the musical was about glamour. Perhaps. It is more about the creation of glamour and I have always thought that the piece would be stronger if the night club, La Cage aux Folles, was closer to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern than Las Vegas. Sheader's production went some way towards this, Colin Richmond's set had frayed edges and the back-stage scenes were hardly glamorous and we saw the considerable sub-structure required for Carl Mullaney's Albin to create Zaza, whilst Ryan Dawson Laight's imaginative costumes were full glamour.

The show was accompanied by an excellent nine-piece band (music director Ben van Tienen) placed at the rear of the set rather than hidden away with orchestrations by Jason Carr. The sound was excellent with sound design by Nick Lidster (for Autograph); it was slightly too loud for my taste, but still excellent quality. Stephen Mear's choreography was imaginative and engaging, filling the stage with colour and movement,

Jerry Herman & Harvey Fierstein: La Cage aux Folles - Billy Carter
Regents Park Open Air Theatre (Photo Johan Persson)

We had all the requisite glamour, but it was the quality of the two leads that brought theatrical magic to the show. Carl Mullaney made a strong Albin, skittish and demanding, but well able to tug the heart-strings and to belt out a moving account of 'I am what I am' at the end of Act One. He was balanced by Billy Carter's dapper Georges with his combination of warm personality and fine voice, and the two created an engaging and involving sense of their relationship.

All the other roles are secondary to these. Ben Culleton made Jean-Michel thoughtless yet charming, with his engaging solo 'With Anne on my arm', whilst Sophie Pourret supported in the small role of his girlfriend Anne, who got one moment of glory when standing up to her father. Shakeel Kimotho was a vivid and lithely physical Jacob, the butler/maid, with Hemi Yroham 

The work sags somewhat in the middle of Act Two when the two sets of parents get together, and Albin/Zaza's rather sentimental solo 'The Best of Times' certainly doesn't help. Sheader's production tried its best, but making the Dindon's strong caricatures wasn't enough. Quite why John Owen-Jones Edward Dindon had a Northern accent, I was not sure. Owen-Jones did his best but something more insidiously nasty might have worked better, whilst Julie Jupp was pure comedy as his wife. Debbie Krurup was a vividly etched Jacqueline, whilst Danielle Coombe was pure 'Corrie' as cafe proprietor Mme. Renaud.

The all-singing, all-dancing chorus were excellent, impressing all round and making the glamour element of the show really work. I particularly enjoyed the way that the women in the chorus appeared as drag kings.

La Cage aux Folles is one of those shows that different people take different things away. I am sure plenty of people there will have simply enjoyed the glamour and the glitz of the big production numbers, or enjoyed Zaza's account of 'I am what I am' without worrying too much about the political/personal element underneath. It is by no means a perfect show, but still manages that balance between activism and showbiz. And with it strong cast creating really engaging characters were enjoyed the glitz but were full invested in the people underneath.

Jerry Herman & Harvey Fierstein: La Cage aux Folles - Regents Park Open Air Theatre (Photo Johan Persson)

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