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The entrance to the Menier Chocolate Factory has been draped with red velvet.
For the theatre's revival of this 1983 musical, the designer David Farley has attempted to inject a little cabaret magic into the space. So, alongside the curtained and fairy light bedecked entranceway, some of the bench seating has been replaced with tables and chairs, and another curtain, this time of gaudy pink silk, dominates the stage.
La Cage Aux Folles is set in a St Tropez transvestite club, an explosion of big wigs, sequined corsets, cheap innuendo and high heels. The club is owned by Georges (played by an impressively moustachioed Philip Quast) and the headline act is his lover Albin, who performs in drag - with stomach firmly girdled - as the glamorous Za-Za.
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Unfortunately, though Terry Johnson's revival captures all this in a solidly entertaining fashion, it neither revels in camp excesses nor taps into the poignancy of the couple's situation as much as it might. Though competent and enjoyable, it's a rather tepid production; it contains a few shimmering moments, but otherwise it's somewhat flat. Neither Quast nor Douglas Hodge, who plays Albin, seem completely at home in their roles, and the sense of shared years is lacking. (It's worth noting that the opening was postponed due to Hodge's illness and an understudy, Spencer Stafford, has been playing the role for much of the preview period).
© OMH
