La Cage Aux Folles – Bristol Hippodrome REVIEW

Zsa’s Zsa’s performance on the La Cage stage was half full of big brass belting songs and sequins, and half modest stand up comedy that brought around any member of the audience that was unsure. Crude yet witty humour had most of the audience laughing, and few people turning their noses up at the guilty pleasure of childish humour.

His relationship with Georges, owner of the nightclub ‘La Cage Aux Folles’, is heart warming and despite them being unrelatable for most, they had a strong sense of

Georges, played by Adrian Zmed, did a good job of his role but I’m afraid either he was massively in the shadow of John Partridge, or I was comparing him to the Robin Williams version from the film “The Birdcage”. He played the father to Jean-Michele (Dougie Carter) well, as well as being painfully cute in his relationship with Albin. His main role was carrying the story of the trials and tribulations when Jean-Michele is desperate to marry the daughter of conservative politician.

The cherry on top of the cake was the incredible music. “We Are What We Are” started the evening with a bang and ended with the same level of energy and flourish. The night was filled with a whole host of hit songs and heart wrenching numbers, but you cannot beat that opening number.

A whip-cracking and hair-raising – or shall I said ‘wig-raising’ production by legendary theatre producer Bill Kenwright. I hate to give in and use such a cliches but John Partridge really “tore the roof off”, “stole the show” and “blew me away”.  La Cage Aux Folles is a triumph of a modern musical and as Georges said I left “with more than a folded programme and torn ticket stamp”.

La Cage Aux Folles is at Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday.

Listen to “We are what we are” from the 2010 Broadway Cast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4l0NR71G5A