La Cage, Revisited

I am convinced that if you love broadway musicals, it is impossible not to adore La Cage Aux Folles. Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein created a damn near perfect musical that remains relevant in spite of having been written almost thirty years ago, when the gay landscape was so different than it is today - and in many ways, thankfully so. It's delightful, emotional, hysterically funny, and the songs are gorgeous. You don't need to know much of the show's history to love it, but my perspective was forever changed when I watched the great PBS documentary Words and Music by Jerry Herman, and learned that half of the original ensemble of La Cage didn't live to finish the run. What started as a mysterious plague became the AIDS crisis, and its stranglehold on the gay community incited homophobia with unprecedented intensity. Meanwhile, here was this one place in New York where drag queens were singing about love, hope, and acceptance. Now that's seeing things from a different angle.

With all of this in mind, it's pretty magical to see this spirited revival so lovingly embraced by a modern audience, and remarkable to see the show's own Tony-winning book writer in the lead role of Albin. Harvey Fierstein has hinted that this production is the most satisfying one to his taste, in part because the real love between the story's central couple can finally take the spotlight in a way that perhaps was less palatable for audiences in the past. To say that Fierstein shines in the role would be an insult to the sequin - he beams, he dazzles, and he delights. And though Fierstein's performance is the bigger news story, his counterpart Christopher Sieber deserves equal praise. Sieber's George is buoyant yet understated, and he holds the audience rapt in the quiet moments that reveal the true heart of La Cage, which is not really about a drag act but about the powerful bonds between members of a family who fiercely love each other.

A brief note to the Cagelles - Girl, you are fierce! Kick your face. Work!

It's also one of those musicals that gets filed under The Tao of Musical Theater Lyrics. I can personally guarantee that anyone who wakes up each morning and recites the following mantra will be at least a little bit happier.

The best of times is now.

What's left of Summer

But a faded rose?

The best of times is now.

As for tomorrow,

Well, who knows? Who knows? Who knows?

So hold this moment fast,

And live and love

As hard as you know how.

And make this moment last

Because the best of times is now,

Is now, is now.

Now, not some forgotten yesterday.

Now, tomorrow is too far away.

So hold this moment fast,

And live and love

As hard as you know how.

And make this moment last,

Because the best of times is now,

Is now, is now.

It Sucks to be Mormon

It's no secret that original Broadway musical offerings have been beyond limp lately. So when the guys behind South Park teamed up with the composer-lyricist of Avenue Q, the theater kids obligingly whipped themselves into a frenzy of anticipation. Early enthusiasm has now been corroborated by reviews that exalt The Book of Mormon as the savior of the Broadway Musical. I was at opening last night, and it's pretty great, and very funny - but my my, how contrast elevates the very good to genius heights.

Time Out NY:
As you laugh your head off at perky Latter-day Saints tap-dancing while fiercely repressing gay tendencies deep in the African bush, you will be transported back ten years, when The Producers and Urinetown resurrected American musical comedy...

The Hollywood Reporter:
One of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. It has tuneful songs, clever lyrics, winning characters, explosive laughs and disarmingly intimate moments.

NY Magazine:
Mormon chipperly shitcans all pieties … except the sacred, mystic conventions of musical theater. And therein lies the real miracle: ...Parker and Stone—the sincerest, most serious-minded of social comedians—have effectively closed an irony wormhole that opened with Urinetown, grandpappy of all millennial metamusicals. After Mormon, I like to imagine, the Broadway musical might be free to be a Broadway musical again—even if it is balls-out funny and relevant to audiences under 85.

NY Daily News:

It's a show where you catch yourself laughing one minute, mouth agape the next, eventually wiping away tears, and, finally, cheering.

Meanwhile, Terry Teachout at the Wall Street Journal has a less rapturous reaction, and it's one that I can't disagree with. I really, really wanted to full-stop LOVE this show. Sadly, I didn't, and I find his review pretty spot-on:

Don't let anybody try to tell you that "The Book of Mormon" is suitable for anyone other than 12-year-old boys who have yet to graduate from fart jokes to "Glee." A couple of reasonably effective production numbers notwithstanding, it's flabby, amateurish and very, very safe... The creators of "South Park" like to call themselves "equal-opportunity offenders," but if you think there's anything risky about "The Book of Mormon," you're kidding yourself. Making fun of Mormons in front of a Broadway crowd is like shooting trout in a demitasse cup.

I'm back...

deal with it.

Here's a nice ice sculpture for you to look at.