Well, not to boast, but I was the first person in the world to buy a hard copy of this!!! (I just happened to see it on the night it was released and was first in the que!!!) Although I was not happy with the $25 price tag, it's an AMAZING recording, and so rich in quality! LOVE LOVE LOVE! And the brochure inside is gorgeous, stunning photos whith all the lyrics and dialogue included in the booklet!!
i cant find a copy of Harvey Fierstein's 'essay' from the CD booklet online anywhere. Would love to read that, any hints as to where i might be able to read that?Noting on the PS site sadly, cheers
"la cage aux folles has been entertaining hearts and opening the minds of audiences worldwide for the last 30 years. I couldn't be prouder of what jerry herman, original director Arthur Laurents and our team of magnificent theatre artists created. And yet...
For years, Jerry and I have talked about wanting to see a new production: a redesigned, re imagined and revitalized version of the show. I wrote about a small drag club but what we've always given the audience was a full-blown Folies Bergere. I felt the same about the living quarters of our heroes. What i'd imagined as a ramshackle assemblage of movie star photos, feather boas and left over stage props has often been presented as a mini-mansion of silk carpets and marble walls.
La Cage boasts a very real and engaging story, but over the years I've witnessed a lot of productions focus more on the farce and less on the heart. I've ached to strip back the glitzy silliness and recapture our original inspiration. Georges, Albin and the rest are people of substance, outrageous as they seem and their concerns are real. "look over there," "i am what i am," and "song on the sand" are emotional statements that deserve to be heard and felt and absorbed. And the world I tried to create was one where they are the "norm" and the heterosexual protagonists are the odd ones.
I told all of this to the Menier Chocolate Factor producer, David Babani, when we met for drinks some years ago. "i promise you that production," he said. And, I am ecstatic to report, the man delivered.
What director Terry Johnson and his team have brought to La Cage is no small miracle. The Albin of Douglas Hodge is a singular creation. He breathes fire into all of the grande-dame queens of the village and Cherry Grove I knew as a child. Smart, outrageous, ridiculous and still biting and true. And what can I say about Kelsey grammer? The first time I met him I saw him in rehearsal I told him that he'd wiped away almost every memory I'd had of anyone in the role. He and Georges were made for each other.
I'm going to resist being a proud mama and bragging on and on about this baby of ours, but i promise, if you get to see this production live, or you listen to this recording and let your imagination carry you, we will leave you with "more than just a folded program and a torn ticket stub."
I beg you... "Open your eyes. You have arrived at La Cage aux Folles."
Typed it up myself... hope you enjoy reading it now!!!!!!!!!
