LA CAGE Reviews- Page 4

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:56pm

Very positive word of Mouth review http://www.broadway.com/videos/show/la-cage-aux-folles/word-of-mouth-review-la-cage-aux-folles/
Updated On: 4/19/10 at 10:56 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/19/10 at 11:43pm

I'm so glad that they got Sam to review La Cage! I have a little bit of a man crush on him.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 7:00am

Here are NY Post's Cindy Adams' comments on "La Cage Aux Folles."

from RC in Austin, Texas
Same Love, New Frills

[Scripps2]

Posted: 4/20/10 at 3:32pm

Thanks Ijay.

It reads like I won't be able to use Tylenol PM to grow Audrey II then.

Seriously though, you can't get this in the UK and I think I must have heard of it because of someone referring to it on a cast recording. But I'm struggling to think of which one.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 10:19am

This revival really does blow the last one completely out of the water. Watching Hodge and Grammar makes one realize that the former cast was pretty lacking in charm, charisma, and inspiration. Hodge is very, very funny.

And the choreography is exciting and witty - Jerry Mitchell should sit, watch, and take copious notes; perhaps that could help him to rise above his theme-park limitations.

Too bad the show itself is so lethargically written; but despite the mediocre writing, this revival is an enjoyable evening (as long as you see the first cast...).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 12:50pm

The estimable Michael Feingold in the Village Voice seems to disagree.

===

I was even sorrier while sitting through the shoddy revival of La Cage aux Folles (Longacre Theatre), Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein's 1983 musical, in which a drag nightclub star and his club-owner hubby battle each other but unite to confront the right-wing parents of hubby's son's fiancée. The original production made the gay couple's Côte d'Azur nightclub the goofily glamorous place Herman's lyrics salute. Terry Johnson's new production, with misplaced Anglocentric cultural memory, reduces it to a tatty, skimpy pier-end revue where drag equals stereotype plus ineptitude. The familiar gestures pall almost instantly, the songs get trampled into incoherence, and Douglas Hodge's simpering, ad-libbing cliché of a drag diva shoots down any glimpse of emotional truth. Amazingly, in the midst of this rag heap, Kelsey Grammer pulls off a genuine star turn, investing the role of Hodge's spouse with easy charm and projecting his ballads with graceful feeling. He should keep classier company artistically.
Promenade Glimmered Briefly; La Cage aux Folles and Million Dollar Quartet Just Glare

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 12:54pm

Estimable: deserving of respect or high regard

Based on that review, not hardly.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 12:57pm

Yes, and, as I wrote in another recent thread, we disagree this week on the merits of Promenade as well.

I would also say that I think I would have been more enthusiastic about La Cage if I had seen it in a more intimate space. Yes, the Longacre is nowhere near the largest of Broadway houses, but this production is directed and orchestrated for a house of 200 at most.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 1:09pm

Michael Feingold? Oh for godssakes JoeKv, he's the last of the Mohicans that one.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 1:54pm

No, you're the last of the Mohicans!
Whatever...
Shut up!

*clicking heels fade into distance*


Hey Matt it works!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 2:56pm

Meanwhile, back among the living...

NY1 is a Rave.

Just when you think you know a show inside and out, along comes a revival that opens a new window and suddenly a gust of fresh air turns the whole experience into an unexpected joy.

Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s groundbreaking musical made a huge splash when it originally opened 27 years ago but subsequent productions showed signs of aging. With this terrific collaboration, I’m very happy to report The Best of Times are here again for "La Cage Aux Folles."

http://www.ny1.com/6-bronx-news-content/ny1_living/theater_reviews/117282/ny1-theater-review--la-cage-aux-folles/

[noradesmond]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 3:02pm

"No, you're the last of the Mohicans!
Whatever...
Shut up!

*clicking heels fade into distance* "

lmao

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 3:48pm

NY Observer is a Rave.

The revival of La Cage aux Folles is showing that simply doing the same old Broadway thing—when doing it affectionately, accessibly, movingly and joyfully—can produce a thrilling night of theater. This La Cage, a Menier Chocolate Factory production starring Kelsey Grammer as Georges, is perhaps the best musical I’ve seen all season.

Mr. Grammer—resplendent as the curtain rises in a purple, crushed-velvet tuxedo jacket, frilly pink tux shirt, and, most surprisingly, hair—has all his usual affected mannerisms, and they work wonderfully here portraying an aging, controlling queen. He’s even got a passable voice. Douglas Hodge, an Olivier-winning Pinter specialist new to New York stages (and, presumably, drag), is vulnerable, charming and genuinely hilarious as Albin.

From the breathtaking opening number—with the drag-queen chorus boys, the Cagelles, singing and posing in red-lit silhouette—to Hodge’s devastating “I Am What I Am” at the close of Act I to the slapstick farce of Act II to the touching Georges-Albin kiss that closes the show (moving in 2010; daring, I presume, in 1983), La Cage is continually delightful and also continually eloquent: Being who you are, and being loved for it, is what matters, not any moralist’s labels or standards. The best of times is—well, you know.

http://www.observer.com/node/125527

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 4:11pm

Edit:Never mind

so happy for all of these good reviews! Updated On: 4/21/10 at 04:11 PM

[Marquise]

Posted: 4/21/10 at 4:37pm

So happy this production is getting such positive reviews. I felt it was little too soon to bring this show back, especially after the lackluster 2004 revival but I'm happy that the gamble of bringing it back via this production had paid off for everyone involved.

Definitely on the top of my MUST SEE list!
Updated On: 4/21/10 at 04:37 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 2:49pm

Wonderful to see the show get great reviews, but I must ask, after watching the Broadway.com Opening Night video and hearing Douglas Hodge mention that Jerry Herman came even when the doctors said he shouldn't, is everything okay with Jerry? I know that the last ten years or so have seen an upswing in his health, but I hope he's still doing well. I was rather alarmed to hear Hodge say that.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 3:09pm

It reads like I won't be able to use Tylenol PM to grow Audrey II then.

I did not read whatever this is in response to, but I adore this sentence.

Joe - You nailed it!

Yes, the Longacre is nowhere near the largest of Broadway houses, but this production is directed and orchestrated for a house of 200 at most.

The Playhouse in London seats 786 and it worked beautifully there.

[newintown]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 3:15pm

I'm sure it did. But the production would be even better in a house the size of the one for which it was created, which was the Menier (180 seats), not the Playhouse.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 12:50pm

Edit: ignore me

Updated On: 4/23/10 at 12:50 PM