Some devoted La Cage aux Folles fans might want to know of the current New York City Center Encores! revival how well Billy Porter as drag diva Albin delivered composer-lyricist Jerry Herman’s impassioned “I Am What I Am.”
He delivered it impassioned-as-all-get-out. The applause and shouts may still be reverberating in the venerable building’s rafters.
Wayne Brady fans, might like to learn what he, as charmingly tolerant Albin mate Georges, made of the sinuous ballad (one of Herman’s very best) “Song on the Sand.” He turned it into a seductive declaration of long-lasting devotion.
Both these interludes are highpoints of the revival, which could also be considered a revisal. Changes to Harvey Fierstein’s script from Jean Poiret’s play have been made, most notably in the final moments, alterations that aren’t as comically effective as the original ending.
(Although Porter was generally thought to be involved with the Encores! series production of The Life revises, there’s no reason to assume he handled those here. Since, Fierstein is heard in a voiceover introduction, he apparently hasn’t minded any alterations.)
Indeed, the enterprise has to be declared entertaining, even if not thoroughly polished to a high gloss. Led authoritatively by Porter and Brady, the cast does a creditable job. Indeed, only Porter and Brady revert to the original series mandate, which classified the revisits as concert readings, during which the actors would carry scripts.
Here only Porter and Brady have their scripts to hand—fair enough—and when at one point in the performance I attended, Porter lost his place and acknowledged as much (he made a comment on short rehearsal time), the audience loved the breaking-the-fourth-wall comeback. Audiences always do.
There’s not much need to delve deeply into the musical’s shenanigans. While newcomers to it find out, longtime partisans already know that drag-show owner Georges and revue star Albin have raised a son, Jean-Michel (Alaman Diadhiou), who announces he’s marrying Anne (Rachel Webb), the daughter of ultra-conservative Edouard Dindon (Peter Francis James). Convincing Dindon (French for turkey, btw) that the Cage folks are equally conservative means reining Albin in. Along the proceedings, the attempt results in a truly well-played masculinizing scene. Another result is the compromisingly reoriented finale.
The ingredients on the City Center stage vary. Under Robert O’Hara’s direction, Porter and Brady—sometimes reading, often not—are at the forefront. James Jackson Jr. is a funny, light-in-the-slippers butler. Tonya Pinkins, as a flamboyant restauranteur-neighbor, steals a scene or two. James is properly turkey as the reluctant father of the bride, with Webb charming as the hardly blushing betrothed. As Jean-Michel, Diadhiou has his moments singing and tapping in delight at having Anne on his arm.
Certainly, lighting designer Adam Honnoré and sound designer Megumi Katayama are on the ball as are, even more so, co-costume designers Clint Ramos and Michelle Ridley who outfit the cast and especially Porter in drag-inflated splendor. Include with them the Robert Pickens hair and wig designs.
Less successful—but more importantly, it would seem—are the sequences featuring Les Cagelles. There are 19 of them, working like the blazes on choreographer Edgar Godineaux’s routines. Unfortunately, the effort obviously required distracts from the thumpity-thump routines. Occasionally, it seems as if they’re confronting the audience, not displaying the delight they’re experiencing as men naughtily behaving as women.
The ultimate praise when you get to the heart of an acceptable if not exceptional revival as is this one, is due Jerry Herman, who for better or worse, was burdened with Stephen Sondheim for recognition as the era’s premiere composer-lyricist–or Sondheim was burdened with him.
Granted—and it’s a sizable grant—Sondheim was bent on enlarging musical perimeters, whereas Herman wanted solely to entertain. Two times the pair went eye-to-eye for the Tony, Sondheim besting Herman (Sweeney Todd over The Grand Tour) in 1979 and Herman besting Sondheim (La Cage aux Folles over Sunday in the Park With George) in 1983.
Clutching his Best Score Tony on June 3, 1984, Herman had the cheek to proclaim, “This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theater. There’s been a rumor around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it’s alive and well at the Palace.”
Yes, this was uncalled for in the circumstances, but Herman did have something there. The revival of La Cage aux Folles is a helpful reminder.
La Cage aux Folles opened June 17, 2026, at City Center and runs through June 28. Tickets and information: nycitycenter.org
