"La Cage Aux Folles" is a Stupendous Hit for the Pollard!
The Pollard Theatre closes their 25th Anniversary Legacy Season with “La Cage aux Folles” a delightfully musical based on the play of the same name by Jan Poiret. With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman from Harvey Fierstein’s book, Artistic Director W. Jerome Stevenson couldn’t have picked a better show from past successes to end this great season.
Jean-Michel is in love. He returns home announcing to his parents that he is to be married and the sweet young thing, Anne Dindon, is coming to dinner along with her very conservative parents. Her mother is the vocal spokeswoman for the Morality League. This is complicated as Jean-Michel’s father is a homosexual and his step-mother is a drag queen at their successful night club next door. The solution is for step-mother Albin to become Uncle Al, but like all solutions there are some hilarious last minute changes.
The production stars James A. Hughes as Jean-Michel’s father, Georges and Michael James as step-mother Albin. These two actors work beautifully together in smooth performance. Michael James displays moments of endearing and vulnerable womanhood that brings a tear to the eyes. That is what makes this show so funny! The two of them together make a very believable long term couple, just as protective of their nestling taking flight as any other parents the world over.
Joshua Thomas McGowen is Jean-Michel and his performance as the beloved son of these radically unusual parents is natural and right. Emily Brown is Anne and her performance opposite McGowen is charming. Her parents are extremely conservative, but in their way just as outrageous as Georges and Albin. Taking the roles of M. Dindon and Mme. Dindon are Michael Edsel and Brenda Williams. The two of them are wonderful together, and Edsel magnificently supports Williams’s very edgy interpretation. These roles are distinct from short appearances earlier as M. and Mme. Renaud. Both actors are worthy of stars Hughes and James.
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