the birdcage as a modern musical

[jackalredpaws]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:42pm

I saw a post someone posted about this a while ago.  I wanted to refresh this post.

 

 

Let me first state that this is not about La Cauge... this is about the movie the birdcage turned into a musical WHICH is different then La Cauge.

 

 

 

Would it be plausible to make a MODERN updated version of La Cauge set in key west florida with the birdcage club..

 

 

having the opening theme song for the musical being family sledges "we are family" modernize it.  a bunch of modern day drag queens on stage singing the song ect.

 

 

 

iv read over the script from the movie over and over and I can see where NEW music could be wrote for the show..  get nathan lane on board and find a replacement for robin williams part.

 

 

now i know the post would be like well.. its la cauge... allover but its not.

 

 

famouse scenes acted on stage.. He died in bed?!?! with a HOOKER?!?!  and SHE was black?!?!   IM RUINED!!!

 

 

or the whole scene "act like a man, pinkies up.  IM a real man.. think like john wayne.  HOWDY PARTNER.."

 

 

what are your thoughts on this?  

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:44pm

why

 

are

 

 

you

 

 

typing

 

 

like 

 

 

this

 

 

?

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:45pm

Are you Mr. Smith?

[Fantod]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:46pm

Well the movie The Birdcage is tacky and dated (way more so than the original French movie), so no. I don't think so. It's a story that is very specific to 1978 France, and moving it to any other time or place is dumb. The whole charm of the movie is to provide a time capsule. 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:48pm

It could work.

Truth be told, I would rather have Maury Yeston's Queen Of Basin Street make it o Broadway.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:55pm

Sorry, but why the **** would anyone want this?  The Birdcage and La Cage are the same story.  Why not just do a production of La Cage?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:56pm

Nope.

[Fantod]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 9:27pm

And La Cage is fantastic. Who would want to change it?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 11:16pm

My only reaction is "Why?"

Which happens to be exactly what I thought when Mike Nichols announced his adaptation.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 10:47am

"The whole charm of the movie is to provide a time capsule."

Really? 

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:10am

When my best friend and I saw the most recent revival of La Cage, we kept going "wouldn't it be great if they used the better jokes from the Birdcage script?"

I don't think this would be at all successful, if anything it would just create a lot of confusion marketing-wise, but I honestly prefer the script of the Birdcage. I'd love to see the Dindons have what Dianne Weist and Gene Hackman have, especially in terms of buildup to the dinner.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:14am

I agree that the jokes in the Birdcage are far, far better. But this would be a totally pointless exercise. 

[tazber]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:25am

There were jokes in the Birdcage?

All I remember is Lane screaming a lot.

I agree with Fantod that it was a tacky mess.

I love the original La Cage however. And of course the musical is a favorite.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:53am

I like the score of La Cage but when I finally saw it in the last revival, I couldn't believe how creaky the book was. But I've always found Fierstein's books to be maudlin and poorly structured. 

[MOUSTACHA]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:58am

With a substantial modernization, I think it would be possible.  You'd need an all-star production team to pull it off, but I think you could move it far enough away from La Cage to make it work.  That said, no matter what you did, it'd likely be better in an off or an -off off-broadway location where you're less constrained in production cost and production expectations. 

 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 12:37pm

"My only reaction is "Why?"
Which happens to be exactly what I thought when Mike Nichols announced his adaptation."

Well, the answer to the latter lies in the creation phase of La Cage.

As Mr Roxy alludes to, La Cage was not original producer Allan Carr's first attempt at musicalizing this particular story. The original team he put together (adaptation/book by Jay Presson Allen, music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, musical staging and choreography by Tommy Tune, and direction by Mike Nichols) developed an Americanized version set in New Orleans entitled The Queen of Basin Street.

Carr, seeking experienced hands at producing musicals to help lighten his load, brought in Fritz Holt and Barry Brown. Holt and Brown apparently didn't like this version very much, because they went ahead and fired everyone. All the fired parties filed lawsuits, but Yeston was the only one who won his case, and later he would collect a small royalty from the final version of La Cage. And of course Holt and Brown, who had just worked with Arthur Laurents, sought to bring him in, as well as the Fierstein/Herman team; Laurents was resistant and thought they'd never find the money, but he was intrigued by the choice of the Fierstein/Herman team, so he agreed, etc., etc. The rest is history.

My guess is Nichols still wanted to tackle the story. And I also feel he held a grudge, or else why pick (of all people to contrast to Jerry Herman) Stephen Sondheim's musical material to add to the film, and pick the perfect cast (in my opinion) for a La Cage film had one ever been made? (Try and tell me you can't picture Nathan Lane's rendition of "The Best of Times.")

Updated On: 8/6/15 at 12:37 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 4:45pm

No.