Score: Jerry Herman. Book: Harvey Fierstein. At: Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St. Phone: 847-634-0200; $32-$95. Runs through Jan. 1
It's understandable why Broadway tour producers would want a "celebrity name" attached their showto help drive ticket sales, of course. But when that celebrity doesn't deliver the goods, then it only makes the producers look like they're more concerned with box-office receipts rather than putting on a quality show.
That feels like the case with the Tony Award-winning musical revival of La Cage aux Folles, now on tour at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre through Jan. 1. Hollywood star George Hamilton shares above-the-title billing with Broadway veteran Christopher Sieber, but it's Sieber who carries the show, while Hamilton doesn't live up to his end of the bargain.
Right from his opening address, it becomes clear that Hamilton lacks the necessary verve, energy and command needed for the role of Georges, the boastful proprietor of the glitzy and seedy title nightclub featuring a load of talented drag artistes. Also, Hamilton's reedy singing voice definitely doesn't do justice to composer Jerry Herman's lovely ballads "Song of the Sand" and "Look Over There."
If Hamilton disappoints, then Sieber buoys the rest of the show as Georges' effeminate long-time partner and co-parent, Albin (a.k.a. Zaza when in drag). A recent veteran of the 2010 Broadway revival (when he played Georges opposite Harvey Fierstein's Albin), Sieber definitely knows all the ins and outs of the show. Sieber's an expert at executing the perfect comic and dramatic bits that should alternately move audiences into making delighted titters and shedding empathic tears.
Also making this La Cage revival worthwhile is its amazing ensemble of sexy and über-limber "Cagelle" drag artists (Matt Anctil, Logan Keslar, Donald C. Shorter, Jr., Mark Roland, Terry Lavell and Trevor Downey). These six performers offer up a feast of fabulous figures and drag ferociousness.
The rest of the supporting cast is also solid, although Jeigh Madjus could work on his comic delivery as the back-talking butler Jacob, who pines for a chance to star in the show. And though the show is set sometime in the late 1980s, it's hard to believe that the Jean-Michel of Billy Harrigan Tighe would want to shun his gay parents in order to impress his potential father in-law, the moral conservative politician Monsieur Dindon (Bruce Winant).
Although some may decry La Cage aux Folles for its dramatic inconsistencies and emphasis on effeminate gay stereotypes, the show still remains vital in these times where same-sex marriage is a wedge-issue for so many U.S. voters. Unfortunately, a key performance in this touring La Cage isn't up to snuff, so the production limps along off-balance. It's a shame, since the show's message of love and tolerance is one that definitely still needs to be heard.