La Cage Aux Folles - Regent's Park 2023

Surely We Will Rock You would need to be somewhere on the list.  

I actually may be with you on that one.

La Cage Au Brollies

Haven't seen this yet, but the idea of using different British accents to mimic a vacation spot with lots of different languages and nationalities feels like such a great one. It allows the actors to play more naturally, and gets the point across without having to put on terrible French accents for 3 hours.

It's a wonderful venue, it felt really magical waiting for the show to start on Saturday night, firstly under the trees lit by coloured lights, then sat in the auditorium as the sun set through the trees.
(Admittedly it can also be less fun in the rain, we got drenched a few years ago watching Evita but I think it's all part of the experience)

I agree, it's one of the most wonderful venues on a good night.

The only thing I don't like is around 15 minutes after the interval, just as I've re-immersed myself in the magic of the show, being suddenly scared witless by the massive crash of bottles being emptied into the recycling bins!

Got a last minute rush ticket, so seeing this tonight!

I saw a tweet which indicated that despite yesterdays miserable weather last night's performance went ahead.

From checks, they offer all over depending on availability.

You are looking up from the front row, but I wouldn’t consider it a major restriction.

I also saw this tonight and LOVED it!

Some spoilers follow. . .

The relationship between Carl Mullaney's Albin and Billy Carter's Georges is, in my eyes, utterly absent of caricature, and is wonderfully tender and affectionate.

Consequently, the farcical comedy bits of the show don't play as funny as they have in other versions, as you care too much about them to laugh too much in the face of the bigotry they face.

The recognisable regional accents lend a sense of authenticity and lived-in comedic British self-deprecation to their connection, and that sense of their realness and frailness (they are not as young as they used to be, and they laugh about it) really made me warm to them.

The flares everyone wore, and the attitudes to homosexuality suggested to me this was set in the seventies (I didn't buy a programme), but I felt that Billy Carter's Georges could just have easily existed a hundred years earlier, his mustachioed appearance and swift smooth comic patter suggesting to me a theatrical impressario, like Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Carter gifts his Georges with a gentleness, fragility and compassion, that in combination with his capacious hosting skills, loaded with hype and humour, like an old cruise ship entertainer that never lost his love for the show, makes this version of boring old Georges feel very rounded and loveable. And like an old cruise ship entertainer, his singing is creditable and credible, and the fact that his voice may lack the flawlessly modulated power of Philip Quast actually serves to further humanise the character.

The tender way he looks at Mullaney's Albin, for instance, when Albin is in any way distressed broke my heart, and his presence, stage side, in the show's showstopper, Mullaney's Albin's "I am what I am" vastly lifts the emotional impact of Albin's affirmation of his identity, which is under attack.

Mullaney is a revelation as Albin, a really strong singer, camp and effeminate as the character must be for plot reasons, but also deeply thoughtful and considerate, never ragingly selfish and alienating, but rather caring, considerate and touchingly aware of his own mortality. His sense of humour is razor sharp in his brilliantly timed line readings, and like Georges, his jokes are more self-deprecating than malicious.

As the villain of the piece, John Owen-Jones delivers some very gruff, and bluntly Welsh, bluster, which is in itself very funny, but given the sweetness of the principal pair, it doesn't get as much laughs as it would if we were predisposed to laugh rather than to feel defensive about the principals. It's a comfort that Owen-Jones could sing a phone book and still sound marvellous.

Also slightly villainous, in light of how likeable the leads are, is Ben Culleton's Jean-Michel, who seeks to contain their glory. Luckily, Culleton is charismatic, like a tall young Tom Rhys Harries, who can sing wonderfully, and makes his character's machinations fascinating, even if temporarily unlikeable.

The Regent's Park cosy setting, a kind of secret oasis of community hidden in woodland (an apt metaphor for a secret life the gay community must here hide from declared enemies) feels so perfect to contain and coddle the shiny gold and rainbow warmth of the set decor, which look desperately worn and faded in the light of the sun, but which acquire a golden lustrous glamour as the sun sets and the bright artificial lights bring out the variety and warmth of the colours and the costumes.

And this setting makes magic and marvels out of the Cagelles's cheeky performances, with Jak Allen-Anderson's towering gangling Hanna particularly naughty and striking, and the bird song so camp and funny I was in stitches.

All in all, this show is magnificent in almost every way except in its farcical humour, which doesn't work as well as the character-based humour. But it is the believable, warm, self-deprecating likeability of the characters, the rainbow golden glory of the Cagelles as the sun set, and Mullaney's magnificent "I am what I am" that will linger with me.

For me, the first half is perfect, but much of the farce of the second half only half-heartedly lands. I feel Timothy Sheader is going out on a high, and will be much missed. 4 and a half stars from me.

PS: Tonight's preview concluded at 10:25pm, making for a running time of 2 hours, 40 minutes, though I expect the show will tighten up before Press Night.

Saw it last night and 4 stars from me as well.

I found the Northern England accents for a show set in the French Riviera to be a bit jarring but enjoyed the performances (particularly the two leads) and top-notch musical direction. 

I wholeheartedly recommend it.

 

It is farcical in places, but it's quite fast moving so wasn't too irritating (not a huge fan of slapstick stuff)