la cage- what went wrong?

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:18pm

what did go wrong with the revival?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:20pm

Jerry Zaks.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:33pm

It was a middling show when it opened in the 80's when its appearance of being progressive won it acclaim.

The actual merits of the show not only became dated, but the good will surrounding it evaporated in revival. You're left with an amiable time capsule; which is strange, because the original movie, and the Hollywood remake are still very funny.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:41pm

Lots of things:

Jerry Zaks directed it like it was one of his episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Daniel Davis was too stiff.

Robert Goulet was too old.

Gary Beach played the role as a screaming queen, with very little depth. Still, he was good.

[Mythus]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:42pm

What a coincidence, I'm wearing my La Cage shirt today. Anyway, what went wrong? Robert Goulet. Well, that's at least one of the things that went wrong.

[D2]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 4:54pm

It was just one of those productions that went wrong right from the beginning. Although it all looked good on paper, every decision that was made was the wrong one, from the choice of creative team to the casting and beyond. Each bad decision compounded on the other and it all just imploded from a pile up of misguided good intentions.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:12pm

BSO beat me to it.

Blame Jerry Zaks and his "direction". They should have let Jerry Mitchell direct as well.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:15pm

1) Jerry Zaks
2) The decision to not allow book revisions
3) Daniel Davis/Robert Goulet (I'd have rather seen William Daniels)
4) Gary Beach (Bryan Batt actually gave it a new twist, Beach was just playing Roger deBris)
5) William Ivey Long's "Hairspray" reject costumes
6) The lack of female chorus members
7) The male ensemble always looked like they were in drag
Gavin Creel and his lack of dancing

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:22pm

Female chorus members made no difference at all. There were 2 in the original cast.

The male ensemble was supposed to look like they were in drag, no?

[sfs1414]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:26pm

Husk_charmer: The male ensemble are men in drag....That is the point.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:27pm

Yankee-
There were 2 in the original, which filled out the townspeople and kept it from looking like an all-gay all drag town. With the boys looking like they were always in drag, and the lack of girls, it really sent a different message. That was my complaint.

Edit:
Yes, I know that in the club they are in drag, however, when they are playing generic townspeople, as in "Masculinity" and when they are just strolling by, it looks very out of place, which is one thing I felt the original actually handled well.

Updated On: 3/10/07 at 05:27 PM

[D2]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 5:30pm

Actually, in the original 1983 production much was made over the fact that it was difficult to tell which performers were male and which were female - a conceit that actually worked in that production.

And I know that I am in the minority here, but I wasn't all that impressed with Mitchell's work for the revival. He did win the Tony for it and the choreography was generally regarded as the production's one saving grace, but I thought it was little more than costumed aerobics. It had nothing on Scott Salmon's breathtaking, razzle dazzle choreography for the original.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 6:11pm

Agreed. It was awful. I hated Gary Beach in the role.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 7:54pm

How did it win BEST REVIVAL?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 8:00pm

It was a VERY weak year for revivals. Its only competition was Roundabout's poorly received PACIFIC OVERTURES, which had closed already, and the Christina Applegate SWEET CHARITY.

Updated On: 3/10/07 at 08:00 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 8:16pm

The original Broadway musical came out during the lifetime of the original movie. By that I mean the public still remembered fondly the French movie, which had played in some cities for, literally FIVE YEARS in the same cinemas. People had copies of the VHS tape and so the musical seemed like a new, fresh idea. After all that has happened in the intervening 24 years, it's just dated. And let's face it, for the general public in 1983, when AIDS was just beginning to gain public notice, to go see a show about ho-mo-sexuals was risque, dare I say, oh, you get the point.....

[jv92]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 9:30pm

La Cage is a problem show. It basically has a great score, an important message, a chance to show off some costumes and that's it. Its book is well constructed, but needs to be badly revised. By picking a director who hasn't done great work in at least 15 years, a star who sang and danced well, but added no nuance to the part and making the orchestrations sound like crap, the La Cage revival stunk. It also doesn't have the classic status like Mame or Dolly. I would have loved to see one of those old gals back, not La Cage.
That year was weak for revivals, but Pacific Overtures, which has problems, but is sturdier than La Cage, was actually very good. I would have given it the Tony.
One thing good about the La Cage revival- the dances! They were great. I also found the costumes amusing, if not William Ivey Long's best.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 3:47am

I found the revival rather bland, except for the choreography. There defenitely need to be book revisions.
I thought in the original, the makeup gave it away almost immediately who were the two girls. They wore women's makeup, while the guys overdid the drag makeup.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 4:00am

Robert Goulet was terrible.

[mallardo]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 6:05am

Hey, don't be knocking Daniel Davis - he was superb. The show died when he was replaced - for reasons that remain murky.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 7:39am

I didn't see it but what about those sets? Can everyone say tacky as a mo-fo?

[Raspberry]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 8:10pm

I didn't really care for this production overall, and I didn't see the original.

But I don't understand how anyone can insult William Ivey Long's costumes. I thought they were some of his best and more deserving of the Tony than "Light in the Piazza" or whatever. Did "Piazza" win? I kind of thought so, but I can't remember... Anyway, the "La Cage" costumes were so big, bright, lavish, glamorous, fabulous, tacky, wonderful, etc. In my mind, perfect for this show.

And I remember the sets were panned by critics initially, but I thought that, like the costumes, they were the same mix of glamorous and tacky that you'd expect from a lavish drag show on the French Riviera. The point is I loved most of the design. It might not have been pretty, but it was just too fabulously gaudy for me to resist.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:10pm

The problem with the revival was the same thing wrong with most revivals: it was a stroll, designed solely to play off the rep of the original without investing anything new or even worthy into the production. Goulet was a sop to bring in the customers, and it didnt work. Everything else connected to the production had so many corners cut off it might as well have been a circle.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:25pm

Gavin Creel's ponytail. Ugh.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:46pm

When Gavin finally cut his hair last year, theatre queens everywhere shouted HALLELUJAH!

*looks around*

(Well, at least I did.)

Updated On: 3/12/07 at 09:46 PM