La Cage Aux Folles

Take a strong vein of farce, add a combination of pastiche, pazzazz and pathos, mix with a tuneful, memorable score, and you have a truly winning combination as Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein's 1980s musical La Cage aux Folles proves.

The show has been revived in an ambitious, marvellously entertaining new production directed by Terry Johnson at the Menier Chocolate Factory, near London Bridge.

The story is set in a popular drag nightclub in San Tropez and centres on its owner Georges and his gay lover and 'star act' Albin. When Georges' son announces he is going to be married and that he has invited his fiancée and her ultra conservative parents - the father is a moral campaigning politician - to meet her future in-laws, Albin, much to his chagrin, is given the night off. Georges now tries to get the wife he hasn't seen for ages back for the evening - for the sake of his son's happiness - but fails. So there is only one solution - Albin, who has acted as surrogate mother for much of the boy's life, must now play the role in earnest.

Based on the French play by Jean Poiret, this is a musical which explores what it is to be family, to love without condition and above all to be proud of what we are. It was also a show which proved quite shocking for its time in the less liberated 80s, but still manages to provide a shock or two today. From the first visually striking image of the silhouette of two drag dancers behind the curtains, we know we are in for a naughty, fun-filled evening.

Indeed what distinguishes this glorious revival is that it is performed with such panache and gusto - the long legged drag dancers in their feathers, frocks and bugle beads really made me feel at times I was at somewhere like the Folies Bérgère rather than a small fringe theatre in South London and indeed the exuberant dance routines are quite amazing.

The two leads are splendid - Philip Quast, proving adept at both singing and acting, fully convinces as Georges, and Douglas Hodge, who initially seemed to over emphasise his gayness, quickly won me over by the sheer depth and emotion of his performance. There is also excellent support from, among others, Tara Hugo as the proprietor of a fashionable restaurant and regular habitué of the club, who comes to the rescue when things go disastrously wrong.

Add such great numbers as I Am What I Am, The Best of Times, Look Over There and With You on My Arm, played by a lovely little band on the side of the stage and you have a show which richly deserves a West End transfer.

Plays until 8th March 2008.

By Laurence Green

Booking Information

Box office: 020 7907 7060 or: www.menierchocolatefactory.com