Theater review: La Cage at the Civic Center
11:39 AM, Oct 13, 2011 | by Michael Morain |
Spotlit in a glittering pile of gold sequins, the lovely Zaza unlocks the lesson of La Cage aux Folles right at the end of the first act. She whimpers at first, but only for a moment, before her voice swells like the blast of an approaching train:
Lifes not worth a damn til you can say: Hey world, I am what I am.
The new production with George Hamilton and Christopher Sieber high-kicks off its national tour this week at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, and it isnt perfect yet. But it is what it is, which happens to be very good.
There are lots of reasons why, including lively direction from Terry Johnson, but the best one is Sieber, who is marvelous from Z to A both as Zaza and her male alter ego, Albin, the more flamboyant half of a gay couple who owns the French nightclub of the title. Both of Siebers characters thrive on attention, and he sings big and dances big to get it. But he also has a sense of mischief, which keeps you watching to see what hell do next. Think of Zach Galifianakis. In heels.
As his partner Georges, Hamilton cuts a more dashing figure, but in this case, the actors real-life image all tuxedos and sunshine and carefree glamour is better suited for the role than the image his acting skills conjure up. The irony is hard to miss when he explains how Georges only son, Jean-Michel, is the result of a one-night stand when he decided to sleep with a woman.
Everybodys talking about it so much, he says with a grin. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Its a funny line, but mostly because it seems to come from ladies man George rather than gay Georges.
Besides that, Hamilton seemed frail on Wednesday night. (At the companys request, I went to the second performance rather than the first one, on Tuesday.) He can a carry a tune and shuffle through a few dance moves, but he never really matched the energy of the rest of cast. To be fair, though, even whirling dervishes would struggle to keep up with the Cagelles, who swirled around him like Bob Barkers beauties.
Their opening number with swimsuits and beachballs looked like what might happen if Gidget made a workout video, before switching to a can-can at the Moulin Rouge, lit with the garish colors of a Toulouse-Lautrec. (Matthew Wright designed the costumes. Tim Shortall designed the glitzy set, with lighting by Nick Richings). The real showstopper came later, when the six dancers unfolded themselves from a giant birdcage, preening and strutting around like Black Swans on a diet of hormone-enhanced birdseed. (Lynne Page created the choreography, and Joey Chancey directed the nine-piece band, which perched in two loges on either side of the stage.)
There were good moments from the other characters, too. Jean-Michel (the clear-voiced Billy Harrigan Tighe) and his fiancee (Allison Blair McDowell) make a sweet young couple, and her politician father (Bernard Burak Sheredy) and long-suffering mother (Cathy Newman) could jump right out of the show and into the current presidential campaign without changing a hair on Sheredys well-coiffed head. Albins maid (Jeigh Madjus) pranced in and out of scenes like a hilarious toy poodle.
An extra showgirl (Todd Lattimore) warmed up the crowd before the show with the usual questions any birthdays out there? any anniversaries? and teased the respondents with jokes about sagging anatomy and marriage woes. It was like shopping for greeting cards but with a higher success rate.
Can you people stand up? she shouted to a couple whod been married 65 years. Oh! They can! Clap for that. To be married to one person that long ooh, thats a lot of, uh, merde.
The show has challenges, too. But like the love it celebrates, its strong enough to overcome them. Clap for that, too.
I saw him in Love Letters with Joan Collins a little over 10 years ago. Joan Collins was fabulous. George Hamilton had a tan and not a very good tan either! His acting sucked! 
