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Old hat

Lloyd Evans

Wednesday, 16th January 2008

La Cage aux Folles
Menier Chocolate Factory

The British Ambassador’s Belly Dancer
Arcola

Angry Young Man
Trafalgar Studio

La Cage aux Folles is a musical based on a classic comedy by Jean Poiret. Terry Johnson’s new version is perfectly agreeable. Nice sets, charming actors and the audience loved it. So what’s wrong? Well, the threadbare storyline for a start: Georges has to persuade his gay partner Albin to absent himself from a dinner party because the guests will find their sexuality shocking. That’s it. Trouble is this dilemma feels at least three decades old and the characters — especially M. Renaud the homophobic conservative politician — seem as quaint and irrelevant as the unicorns and damsels sporting on a medieval tapestry. The sluggish script takes ages to trek to its surprise-free climax and the long march is elongated with high-kicking dance numbers by a ladyboy chorus-line and gay anthems like ‘I am what I am’. A wonderfully stirring song but its impact has shrunk to zero now that the battle it spearheaded has been fought and won. It’s as dated as ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, a melody that once spurred a generation of freedom-fighters to write an angry letter to the Independent. If retro feelgood musical comedy is your thing you’ll enjoy this, but for me it cost too great an imaginative effort to recall the era when ‘a homosexual underworld’ even existed, let alone had the power to arouse indignation.

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