'La Cage Aux Folles' - The Playhouse

I saw 'La Cage Aux' Folles' back in January at the Choccy Factory and enjoyed it very much. The same production is now on at The Playhouse Theatre with much the same cast except Denis Lawson now plays George and Paula Wilcox plays Mme Dindon, with Douglas Hodge repeating his role as Alban (the cast changes in January). It is still immensely enjoyable and playing on a bigger stage allows the cast to troll about even more, especially the high kicking Cagelles.

The production is drenched in colour and light, sparkling and twinkling with all the gaudy costumes and wigs and set details. And they must get through a ton of make-up what with the Cagelles and Georges slapping it on like there's no tomorrow. The Cagelles were as energetic as I remembered (and I still winced when they did the splits), looking haughty and pervy by turns but giving it good high kick.

Douglas Hodge was excellent as Alban and was in good voice. At a couple of places he does little more than whisper but the audience was so in his pocket that there wasn't a sound to prevent us hearing him. He played it for laughs and for tears and his big song to close the first half, 'I Am What I Am' ended with him leaving the stage and walking into the audience to leave by the side door onto the street, an electrifying end and tension-builder. Wonder what people in the street think seeing a wigless drag queen storming out of a fire exit from the theatre? Very dramatic though!

It's great fun and the set pieces work tremendously well but it also annoyed me a couple of times: the long comic scene where Alban tries to act straight as John Wayne (let's laugh at the camp queens, shall we?) and well, virtually every time the son opened his mouth - what a hateful little sod he is for much of the play, rejecting the love of his 'mother' Alban for his biological mother who he's rarely even seen. Of course, that's part of the basic premise of the play and was probably quite radical and shocking back in the early '80s when it was first staged, but the selfish little cunt annoyed me. He redeems himself in the end, though.

I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Playhouse to catch this show - it may be winter outside but there's love and light and colour inside and it'll send you home with a warm glow.

Oh, and Susan George was a couple of rows in front of us and she joined in the standing ovation at the end. She's still looking good.