Interview: Wayne Brady on Love, Legacy & the All-Black LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

Few musicals have left a mark on queer theater history quite like LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, with an hilarious book by Harvey Fierstein and incandescent music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. More than four decades after its storied Broadway debut, the beloved musical comedy remains a joyful celebration of love, family, and authenticity. Now, New York City Center's Encores! production is offering audiences a fresh perspective on the classic, led by an all-Black cast that includes Emmy Award-winning entertainer Wayne Brady as Georges and Billy Porter as Albin.

For Brady, the opportunity to join the production was far more than another stage role. It was the realization of a vision he had hoped to see for years. “Years ago, Titus Burgess and I approached Harvey [Fierstein] about what a Black version of this would look like,” he recalls.

“I’d already seen it as such a beautiful story of love between Albin and George and otherness that laying the Black queer experience on top of that just made sense,” Brady explains. “I looked at it and it made complete sense.”

So when director Robert O’Hara's production finally became reality, Brady didn't hesitate. “Fast forward to when that vision was realized and once I knew it was happening, I was asked to be a part of this historic cast. It was an immediate ‘Yes,’” he says. “It was a joyful, beautiful, tear-filled yes.”

That enthusiasm only grew once he heard O'Hara's vision for the production. “If you're going to go to the trouble of rebooting or remaking or reimagining something, why imagine it exactly the same way as when it happened?” Brady asks. “And if you're going to say, ‘I'm looking at this through a Black lens,’ then truly let's see what that lens looks like.”

For Brady, that lens extends beyond aesthetics and into the emotional heart of the story. “Robert [O’Hara]’s lens was gorgeous,” he states. For example, “the Cagelles [represent] the epitome of Black beauty and excellence of our Black icons, from Beyoncé to Mary J. Blige and from Janet Jackson to Rihanna.”

Just as importantly, Brady, Porter, and O’Hara spent time discussing how Georges and Albin’s relationship should be portrayed onstage. “What does it look like for the two club owners who are in love to really be in love?” Brady questions. “Let’s see what these two Black men who look at each other like they love each other. Let’s see them be affectionate. What does that look like in this space?”

Brady adds, “I loved every facet of Robert's vision.”

While Brady's career has spanned television, music, comedy, and film, he lights up when discussing his return to the stage. “Returning to the stage, it fulfills my soul,” he beams. He points to an old saying that perfectly captures the distinction between screen work and live performance. “I think someone once said, ‘You do TV and film for life or to pay for your life, and you do theater for your soul.’ And that is the truth.”

Brady is quick to clarify that he enjoys his television work. “I love my job. I love doing Let’s Make a Deal. I love doing sitcoms. I love being on TV,” he emphasizes. But theater occupies a different place in his heart. “I need to be on stage,” he admits, stressing the word need. “It does something for my heart. It does something for my soul. I feel grounded. I feel real.”

For Brady, acting has always been about transformation and storytelling. “I love being able to tell true human stories,” he says. “I love inhabiting a character. That’s what I became an actor for. I didn’t become an actor to be Wayne Brady. I became an actor to be anyone but Wayne Brady.”

“That's what theater gives me. It gives me life,” he points out.

At its core, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES remains a love story, and Brady hopes audiences leave the theater seeing Georges and Albin's relationship for exactly what it is. “The normalcy,” he states. “The normalcy of it. Look at these two people who love each other.”

“It doesn't matter if they're two men, it doesn't matter if it's two women, it doesn't matter whomever,” he continues. “As long as there's love between two humans, let it be.”

That belief also connects directly to Brady's upcoming role later this year in MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, inspired by the life of drag performer and activist Joan Jett Blakk. “I do see a through line,” Brady says of the two projects. “I see any piece of work that pushes the boundary and normalizes what the majority may think is not normal.”

He argues that the conversation is ultimately far simpler than many make it. “The thread between the two projects is fighting for the normality of these relationships,” he posits. “People in the LGBTQIA+ community aren’t fighting to run into your bathrooms and terrorize you. People in our community are fighting just for the ability to have love, to have life, to have equal opportunities across the board.”

Brady believes the enduring relevance of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES stems from the fact that many of the same struggles that inspired the original musical still exist today. “The themes that were around when Harvey wrote this piece are still present today because the struggle is still the same,” he admits. “As long as we have a world where someone can be looked at as an other—and I’m talking about racially, sexually, gender-wise—as long as an other can exist, and as long as someone can try to deny someone their freedom, their joy, their love, their life based on what they perceive as difference, as long as that happens, these themes will exist.”

That reality, he says, is precisely why art matters. “As long as that fight exists, then we have to have plays and musicals. We have to have art that fights back.”

When audiences leave New York City Center, Brady hopes they walk away with more than admiration for the performances. He hopes they leave with a deeper understanding of the couple at the center of the story. “I hope the conversation will be about either ‘Wow, how can I be an ally?,’ or that the conversation will be, ‘Wow, I really, really loved that couple on stage,’” he says.

“And if they say, ‘I love that couple on stage,’ then part of our job has been done,” he elaborates. “Because instead of it being, ‘Look at that Black couple, look at that gay couple,’ it’ll just be ‘Look at that couple.’”

Need more Broadway Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...