La Cage Aux Folles - final casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
TRACIE Bennett and Paula Wilcox will join Douglas Hodge and Denis Lawson in the cast of La Cage Aux Folles which opens at the Playhouse Theatre on October 30, 2008 (previews from October 20).
Bennett is probably best known as Coronation Street‘s Sharon Gaskell, the Fairclough’s foster daughter, a role she played from March 1982 to January 1984 and again from January to November 1999.
However, her West End credits include Les Miserables, High Society, Cash on Delivery and She Loves Me and Hairspray, for which she won Olivier Awards for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
Wilcox is also well known for her television roles – in The Lovers and Man About the House. Her stage credits include The Odd Couple, The Queen and I and Shirley Valentine (West End) and Whatever Happened to the Cotton Dress Girl (New End Theatre).
Completing the West End cast will be Jason Pennycooke, Alicia Davies and Iain Mitchell, who all appeared at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
Previously Posted: Terry Johnson’s revival of Jerry Herman’s 1983 musical comedy La Cage Aux Folles, which completed a successful run at the Menier Chocolate Factory earlier this year, will transfer to the West End – to the Playhouse Theatre where it opens on October 30, 2008 (previews from October 20).
Based on the 1973 French play by Jean Poiret and the subsequent 1978 French-Italian screen adaptation, La Cage Aux Folles tells the story of Georges, owner of La Cage Aux Folles cabaret club, and his star drag artiste and lover Albin who are forced to change their lifestyle when Georges’ son visits them with his fiancee’s ultra-conservative parents.
Songs include A Little More Mascara, I Am What I Am, Song on the Sand, Masculinity, The Best of Times and the title number.
Douglas Hodge will reprise his performance as cross-dressing cabaret artist Albin although Denis Lawson replaces Philip Quast as Albin’s lover Georges.
Hodge’s theatre credits include Nathan Detroit opposite Ewan McGregor in Guys And Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe), and Kneehigh Theatre’s production of A Matter Of Life And Death (National Theatre).
Lawson’s theatre credits include Oleanna (Duke of York’s Theatre), Lust (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and Volpone (Almeida Theatre). On television, he has appeared in Holby City, Robin Hood and Bleak House.
La Cage Aux Folles has been reconceived for the transfer to the larger West End venue where cabaret-style seating will be available at the front of the stalls for audience members over the age of 18.
La Cage Aux Folles has a book by Harvey Fierstein (Torch Song Trilogy) and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman whose other credits include Mame, Hello Dolly and Mack and Mabel.
La Cage Aux Folles premiered on Broadway in 1983, ran for more than 1,500 performances and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score. But in 1986, when AIDS first made headlines, a London production was less successful, running for just six months at the London Palladium.
At the Playhouse Theatre, La Cage Aux Folles will run for a limited season – until January 10, 2009.