By Doug Rule on June 9, 2016 @ruleonwriting
“It’s going to be a fabulous production,” says Frank Labovitz, costume designer for Signature Theatre’s La Cage Aux Folles. “Matt really has found a core to the show emotionally, but still given it room for fabulous spectacle.”
Indeed, Matthew Gardiner had long wanted to direct La Cage.
“It’s a show that I have seen many times on stage, and never felt like it jelled in the way that I wanted it to,” he says. “I’ve always felt, ‘Oh, I wish I could get my hands on that to try and see if what I feel is in the piece, can come to light on stage.'” He got his chance when Signature’s Artistic Director, Eric D. Schaeffer, put La Cage on the 2015-16 season.
The 32-year-old director appreciates the inherent tension between composer/lyricist Jerry Herman’s “everything in life is beautiful” optimism and book writer Harvey Fierstein’s snark and grit. Yet he also realizes that not everyone will be enthusiastic about another production of the 1983 pro-gay musical, adapted from Jean Poiret’s 1973 French farce. (Never mind that there are also multiple films derived from the source material, including Édouard Molinaro’s 1978 original, a French-Italian co-production, and Mike Nichols’ 1996 Hollywood remake, The Birdcage, starring Nathan Lane and Robin Williams.)
“There is a segment of gay men, when you tell them you’re working on La Cage Aux Folles, who groan,” Gardiner says. “They think it’s offensive. They think it paints gay men as clowns.” Gardiner had a similar reaction to the 2010 Broadway revival, feeling that the drag was too lowbrow and the portrayal of lead character Albin, who spends much of his time in drag as Zaza, was off-kilter. “It’s a hard balance to find,” he says. “You don’t want him to feel like a baritone in a dress. At the same time, you don’t want him to come off as a court jester.”
Gardiner cast Bobby Smith as Albin/Zaza — a potentially risky move, as the actor had no previous experience wearing women’s gowns. Fortunately, Smith proved to be “a natural,” and it’s ultimately because of the award-winning Signature veteran that the production took shape.
Smith is modeling his portrayal in part after the late British female impersonator Danny La Rue. “La Rue was a performer — a man in a frock — and it was meant to be a joke. But he did not live his life in an openly gay manner, and Albin can’t do that, either.” In fact, the central tension in the show revolves around whether Albin will be accepted for who he is, particularly by his adopted son, Jean-Michel (Paul Scanlan), and the boy’s future father-in-law, an anti-gay politician.
“We have the conservative right wing element in the show,” says Brent Barrett, who stars opposite Smith as Albin’s husband, Georges. “We could just substitute Ted Cruz in there for that. As far as LGBT issues have come, there are segments of our society that are still living in the Dark Ages.”
The fact that Smith and Barrett, a Broadway veteran (Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun), are both gay is another key to the production. “Having two gay men in those roles is not something we see very often,” says Gardiner. “I actually can’t think of any production I’ve seen…where the two actors were gay. I think it feels different, and it lands in a different way.
“What I have been trying to do…is to find the soul in La Cage. At its core, it really is about celebrating what makes us different, and at the same time understanding that we’re more alike than we think. And that family is family, no matter how we define it…. It is far beyond a frivolous, silly show with men in drag.”
Gardiner worked with his design team to ensure that the setting wasn’t “any old drag club.” Set in 1979, the club “is meant to be the place that people went to in St. Tropez, something they wouldn’t do anywhere except in this vacation spot. It’s not a gay bar. I think a lot of times you see productions where it misinterprets the Cagelles as a contemporary drag floor show, and that’s not what it is.”
The Cagelles are high camp — a sharp contrast to Jacob (DJ Petrosino), Georges and Albin’s maid. Jacob isn’t glamorous, but is funny and relatable. “He is so over the top and so campy that it frees the other characters, in terms of their looks, to be a little bit more realistic,” says Labovitz.
The Cagelles are, of course, showgirls, and Labovitz has designed elaborate, extravagant outfits for them. It’s given him a sense of scope and international flair that’s different from any other work he’s done.
“Hopefully, when it all comes together, it will really fulfill our vision of both showing the fantasy world of the club but never overshadowing the story of a family and trying to come to terms with what it means to accept each other,” Labovitz says. “I think that’s the most important part for all of us — the idea of what this family is at the core. And that’s sort of the message behind La Cage.”
La Cage Aux Folles runs to July 10 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., in Arlington. Tickets are $40 to $95. Call 703-820-9771 or visit sigtheatre.org.
By John Riley on June 14, 2024 @JRileyMW
A Drag Story Hour event in Alaska was delayed following a bomb threat, but local community members were able to spin straw into gold and, with the help of local businesses, raised over $13,000 to support the LGBTQ group that organized the event.
The Seward Pride Alliance of Seward, Alaska, had planned a Drag Story Hour event for Saturday, June 8, at the Seward Community Library and Museum as part of its Pride Month festivities. While waiting for the event to start, families with children worked on arts and crafts at the library.
But library officials received a call from an unknown person threatening to bomb the story hour, necessitating the evacuation of the library, reports the Homer News.
By The Editors of Metro Weekly on June 28, 2024
Metro Weekly is an advertiser-supported magazine and website. It is free to read. Subscribe here.
Please support our advertisers and help keep independent LGBTQ journalism strong! Click the links below to the individual advertisers in our most recent issue or browse the magazine above.
Bite the Fruit
City Dogs
Contemporary American Theatre Festival
The DC LGBTQ+ Community Center
Dignity Washington
The Green Lantern DC
Jade Fitness
The Kennedy Center: NSO at Wolf Trap
LGBT Counseling DMV
Live Long DC
By John Riley on July 26, 2024 @JRileyMW
Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will appear in a cameo on the finale of season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars tonight, Friday, July 26.
The episode will start with Harris, surrounded by judges and guest stars from the finale, urging viewers to vote in November's election.
Also featured in the short public service announcement are longtime Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, acclaimed choreographer Jamal Sims, singer Lance Bass, comedienne Leslie Jones, and actor Cheyenne Jackson.
The message was filmed when Harris was still the presumptive vice presidential nominee, and before incumbent President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
Washington's LGBTQ Magazine
Follow Us:
· Facebook
· Twitter
· Flipboard
· YouTube
· Instagram
· RSS News | RSS Scene
Copyright ©2024 Jansi LLC.
You must be logged in to post a comment.