La Cage Aux Folles Hits Its Stride – Review

“Oh Gaaarge” – the cry rings out across the auditorium as the star of the show, the in-exhaustible Paul Capsis, makes his entrance to a welcoming cheer of delight from the audience at the opening night of La Cage Aux Folles, playing at the State Theatre for a second criminally short run of only half a dozen shows in April.

Capsis shines in the role of Albin, which he now considers a highlight of his career and considering it is the second run after a quick season in Chatswood in February, La Cage feels like it’s really hit its stride with a more polished flow to the action and dialogue that was a bit lacking the first time around.

The rest of the cast does a good job of supporting Capsis in their roles though Michael Cormick deserves recognition for his portrayal of Georges and the heavy lifting expected of that character, vocally. 

Another standout was Anthony Brandon Wong, playing the “maid” Jacob – his comic timing is excellent and another who got some love from the crowd was Chloe Malek with her brilliantly executed entrances and exits – sometimes it’s the simple things that tickle an audience!

La Cage Aux Folles – They are an illusion

The supporting Les Cagelles, the “illusions” you see for the first number are mostly made up of a multi-skilled bunch of blokes identifying as he / him with the one exception being Rachel Cole but the genius of the staging, lighting and costumes is that you can’t pick the persons playing the ladies, which is kinda the point after all! 

This posse is packed full of talent and by the time you’ve witnessed them sing, and dance in several styles including an elaborate tap break, perform acrobatics and even a clever feather dance, you’ll be confident that the up-and-coming talent coming through the ranks of Australian entertainment will be keeping theatre-goers enthralled for years to come.

The sets are minimal but effective and you can really see where the money has been spent and that is in the costumes – flashy and excitingly intricate, even from a distance the costumes look sumptuous.

The main problem with this season of La Cage Aux Folles is that it is so short, which means the few minor hiccups on opening night probably won’t get enough time to get ironed out before the curtain closes again, which is a real shame because you get the feeling this show could have stiletto shod legs!

La Cage Aux Folles, which opened to an almost full house on Opening Night belongs at the State Theatre with all of its glamour, so you’d better hurry to catch it before it closes its limited season this weekend.