Hodge Wins Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Musical for LA CAGE!

Douglas Hodge is this year's recipient of the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Musical for LA CAGE AUX FOLLES.

Douglas Hodge makes his Broadway debut with La Cage aux Folles, for which he won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. National Theatre: A Matter of Life and Death, Betrayal, Blinded by the Sun, Pericles, King Lear. West End: La Cage aux Folles (Playhouse), Guys and Dolls (Donmar/Piccadilly - Olivier nomination), Dumb Show (Royal Court - Evening Standard nomination), The Caretaker (Olivier nomination), Titus Andronicus (Globe), Three Sisters, No Man's Land (Almeida), Moonlight (Almeida / Comedy), The Collection/The Lover (Donmar), A Winter's Tale (RSC / Roundhouse), Coriolanus (Almeida), Hamlet (Bolton Octagon), Romeo and Juliet (Birmingham Rep), The Norman Conquests (Nottingham Playhouse). TV: "Outnumbered," "Skins" (series 4), "Unforgiven," "Whistleblowers," "Spooks," "Lift," "Mansfield Park," "Redcap," "The Way We Live Now," "The Russian Bride," "Only Fools and Horses," "Dance," "Bliss," "Open Fire," "The Scold's Bridle," "It Could Be You," "True Love," "Men of the Month," "Middlemarch," "Anglo Saxon Attitudes," "A Fatal Inversion," "Capital City," "Behaving Badly." Film: Ridley Scott's new (as yet untitled) Robin Hood adventure, The Descent 2, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Vanity Fair, Diamond Skulls, The Trial, Salome's Last Dance and Saigon Baby.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES opened on Broadway to rave reviews on April 18. The production has been nominated for 11 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Kelsey Grammer), Best Actor in a Musical (Douglas Hodge), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Robin De Jesús), Best Direction of a Musical (Terry Johnson), Best Choreography (Lynne Page), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tim Shortall), Best Costume Design of a Musical (Matthew Wright), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Nick Richings), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Jonathan Deans) and Best Orchestrations (Jason Carr).

LA CAGE is the winner of four Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Douglas Hodge), Best Director of a Musical (Terry Johnson) and Best Costumes (Matthew Wright) and has also been nominated for seven Drama Desk Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and three Drama League Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES features music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the play by Jean Poiret. This freshly reconceived production is choreographed by Lynne Page and directed by Terry Johnson.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES stars five-time Emmy Award-winner Kelsey Grammer as Georges and Olivier Award-winner Douglas Hodge as Albin, and also stars Fred Applegate as Edouard Dindon/M. Renaud; Tony nominee Veanne Cox as Mme. Dindon/Mme. Renaud; Chris Hoch as Francis; Elena Shaddow as Anne; A.J. Shively as Jean-Michel; with two-time Tony Award nominee Christine Andreas as Jacqueline; Tony Award nominee Robin de Jesús as Jacob; with Heather Lindell as Colette; Bill Nolte as Tabarro and David Nathan Perlow as Etienne.
Also starring as the notorious and dangerous Cagelles are Nick Adams as Angelique, Sean A. Carmon as Phaedra, Nicholas Cunningham as Hanna, Sean Patrick Doyle as Chantal, Logan Keslar as Bitelle and Terry Lavell as Mercedes. The production also features Christophe Caballero, Todd Lattimore, Dale Hensley, Caitlin Mundth and Cheryl Stern.

Douglas Hodge and Nicholas Cunningham are appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association. The producers gratefully acknowledge Actors' Equity Association for its assistance to this production.

Georges (Kelsey Grammer) is the suave owner of a glitzy drag club on the French Riviera. Partnered romantically with his high-strung star performer, Albin (Douglas Hodge), the pair live a charmed life-until Georges' son announces his engagement to the daughter of a conservative right-wing politician who's coming to dinner.

The original production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES was one of Broadway's biggest hits of the 1980s. It opened August 21, 1983 at the Palace Theatre, where it played for over four years and 1,761 performances. The show won six Tony Awards in 1984, including Best Musical, Best Score (Jerry Herman) and Best Book (Harvey Fierstein).

The new production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES played from November 23, 2007 to March 8, 2008 at the Menier Chocolate Factory, earning across the board raves and moving to the West End's Playhouse Theatre On October 30, 2008, where it was nominated for seven 2009 Olivier Awards, winning for Best Musical Revival and Best Actor in a Musical for Douglas Hodge and won the 2009 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical.

"A glorious night of showbiz razzle dazzle!" exclaimed Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph. "At last a musical to sweep away those credit-crunch blues. This joyous show deserves every hurrah and standing ovation it receives." "Suddenly, the West End sparkles," cheered Sam Marlowe, The Times. "Sew on a sequin, slip into some heels and go."

The production features set design by Tim Shortall, costume design by Matthew Wright, lighting design by Nick Richings, sound design by Jonathan Deans and wig and makeup design by Richard Mawbey. Musical supervision, orchestrations and dance arrangements are by Jason Carr. Musical director is Todd Ellison.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, David Babani, Fran and Barry Weissler and Edwin W. Schloss, Bartner/Tulchin, Broadway Across America, Matthew Mitchell, Raise the Roof 4 Richard Winkler/Bensinger Taylor/Laudenslager Bergère, Arlene Scanlan/John O'Boyle, Independent Presenters Network, Olympus Theatricals, Allen Spivak, Jerry Frankel/Bat-Barry Productions, Nederlander Presentations, Inc/Harvey Weinstein.

Tickets ($132.50 - $36.50; Premium $251.50; Table Seating $251.50) are on sale through Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200, online at www.telecharge.com/lacage and at the Longacre Theatre box office (220 West 48th Street). Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 7:00 PM, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2:30 PM. Special Sunday matinee time on June 13 at 2:00 PM. Beginning June 20, Sunday matinees are at 3:00 PM.

www.LaCage.com

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.