Tonight:
4°c
Fiona Mountford's rating
, Best of times for John Barrowman as La Cage ups the fun level
By
Fiona Mountford
6 Oct 2009
It's been fascinating to see, as this joyous musical has progressed from the Menier Chocolate Factory to a well-deserved year-long residency in the West End, where the sequins would land next.
Douglas Hodge, Graham Norton and Roger Allam have all donned the fabulous frocks of Albin, the transvestite star of the eponymous Riviera nightclub, and now the glitter has settled, perhaps inevitably, on the omnipresent John Barrowman.
The key point about Albin, long-term partner of La Cage’s owner Georges (Simon Burke) and adoptive “mother” to his grown-up son Jean-Michel (Gabriel Vick), is that, offstage, he veers towards the tentative and self-doubting.
Barrowman tends to be about as tentative and self-doubting as a combine harvester, which throws up an immediate pathos problem. If we aren’t made to feel that a loving, if unconventional family is being grievously strained when Jean-Michel pleads with Georges not to let Albin meet his fiancée’s ultra-conservative parents, the show will have a grimy mirrorball where a pumping heart should be.
Gallery: John Barrowman takes on La Cage Aux Folles
If Barrowman struggles with poignancy via dialogue, he can certainly convey feeling in song. Standing alone at the end of the first half, he positively decants emotion into that anthem of self-acceptance, I Am What I Am.
Suddenly the equilibrium of the show is restored and it’s elbow-length gloves off and game on for the fight against the dour moralisers.
I last caught La Cage 20 months ago at the Chocolate Factory, and it’s delightful to see how director Terry Johnson has significantly upped the fun quotient since then. The six terrific Cagelles, Albin’s loyal chorus boys-cum-girls, are without doubt the lithest in town, twirling, leaping and throwing beach balls at the audience in the opening number. It’s a superb statement of playful intent, and is echoed by the nifty later choreography of Cocktail Counterpoint and The Best Of Times, which see the two families awkwardly, then disastrously, attempt to socialise.
The fantastic thing about La Cage’s songs is that composer/lyricist Jerry Herman preferred quality to quantity, something most modern musicals would do well to heed. This means each number is a tuneful and thoughtfully worded treat, and Burke makes particularly fine work of the haunting Song On The Sand. A hugely restorative theatrical pick-me-up for these shortening days of autumn.
Booking to 9 Jan (John Barrowman until 28 Nov). Box office: 0870 060 6631. www.lacagelondon.com
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (7)
I saw this production on my visit to London last week, and of the six shows I
attended, (including Priscilla, Sister Act, Little Voice, and Annie Get Y.,etc.) and this was without doubt the best, the finest and the most touching and
well performed.
Barrowman and Burke were nothing less than brilliant in their individual solos,....and the whole production, in it's scaled down version was a tremendous improvement over more spectacular versions I've seen. I'd go see it again if I were still in London.
- Jim K, San Francisco, USA, 23/10/2009 17:11
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Sorry, although I love seeing and listening to John Barrowman I don't like men in drag and never will, no idea why but I just don't. I will be giving this a miss, besides it's going to be full of screaming noisy Barrowman fans who seem to forget this is not a John Barrowman show!! This is one thing which seems to annoy me about the theatre now - it's not about the show anymore and more about the star who is in it, when it should be about everyone who is on the stage.
- Gillian, London, 14/10/2009 15:39
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Both Simon Burke and John Barrowman were supberb. Both sang beautifully but the rendition of I Am What I Am was extraordinary. The entire cast were fantastic and one of the best evenings I have had at the theatre for sometime.
- Jane, Dorset, 07/10/2009 18:46
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is it me or does he have a look of Joan Collins about him - fabulous!
- David, soton, 07/10/2009 13:08
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La Cage is the best show in town, whoever's in it.
- Blue Baby, London, 06/10/2009 16:35
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If you haven't seen John Barrowman as Albin, beg, borrow or steal a ticket now, you will not be dissappointed.
If you can get a cabaret table, do so, as you will be practically on the stage and up close and personal, allthough maybe a little too near to enjoy the set.
The entire cast are brilliant.
Love it, love it, love it.
- Trish, Warminster, England, 06/10/2009 15:44
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A wonderful evening - Barrowman was absolutely amazing, his comedy timing was perfect, and a heatbreakingly beautiful performance of I Am What I Am. A fantastic show, and not one to be missed.
- Oliver, Staffordshire, 06/10/2009 14:00
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