Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
#1Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:09am
IMO I find that it is way too early to stage another revival of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. I personally believe revivals show have exteneded period between one another (like 10 years or so) in which the common theatergoer has a chance to get the taste of the last revival out of their mouth...
I felt the same way about GYPSY when it was revived with LuPone...a moderately successful revival with Bernadette Peters was staged just five years before...
Albeit some fans cannot get enough of these shows...the constant revivng and restaging seems to be beating the shows to death...
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#2re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:14am
It's nothing to do with when the last revival was. This production of 'La Cage Aux Folles' proved to be a huge success in London, so the producers decided to transfer it to Broadway so it could find a new audience.
Wouldn't you rather have a new production of this show which was commerically and critcally a lot more successful than the last revival (which to my knowledge, wasn't received very well)?
Everything in life...is only for now.
#2re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:18am
Not quite sure what the point of such a "debate" is.
If a show is well done and people enjoy it and it makes money it'll play.
....but the world goes 'round
#3re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:19amWell, I agree with you quizking on both cases.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
Dantes
Broadway Star Joined: 10/11/09
#4re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:21amYou are lucky to get this revival of La Cage, especially after the dreck Broadway produced a few years back
former sadm2 (wink)
#5re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:23amI'm not at all saying LA CAGE shouldn't be welcomed with open arms when it opens on Broadway...but I think it should wait a little while before it does revive/reopen...5 years between revivals is not long enough at all.
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#6re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:25am
But why?
I don't get your reasoning.
....but the world goes 'round
#7re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:28amYou're right, quizking, but this is something that has been discussed to no end on this board.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#8re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:30am
Sorry...I'm fairly new here
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Yankeefan007
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
#9re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:37amFor the millionth time this year, this production of LA CAGE is extraordinary. We are lucky that the powers that be have decided to bring Terry Johnson's production and it's wonderful star, Douglas Hodge, our way.
#10re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:40amThat's what I'm saying. If it's a great production, why should there be a time limit on how soon it be allowed to open?
....but the world goes 'round
#11re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:43am
Exactly, especially when the last revival was so lackluster and poorly received (no reason to mention the Tony for Best Revival since they won almost by default).
I, for one, am looking forward to seeing this new production. It has enough buzz to make everyone forget that there was even a new revival a few years back.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#12re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:50amGYPSY was also a transfer of a critically successful production. When it opened at City Center there were no plans for a Broadway production, but due to word-of-mouth the producers saw there was a demand and that means money to be made. So they took it to Broadway and now Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines, and Laura Benanti have another Tony to add to their mantles.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#13re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 10:55amYeah, I don't see how bringing up GYPSY helps the OP's case, especially since--as CpnHook mentioned--it won THREE acting Tonys. That's enough to justify that revival.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#14re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:04am
"Exactly, especially when the last revival was so lackluster and poorly received (no reason to mention the Tony for Best Revival since they won almost by default).
I, for one, am looking forward to seeing this new production. It has enough buzz to make everyone forget that there was even a new revival a few years back"
Ray, La Cage won the Tony and it was against Cy Coleman's American classic Sweet Charity, based on a book by Neil Simon and a Federico Fellini screenplay. Choreographed in the past by Fosse and starring a notorious TV star. Also it was against Broadway's favorite man: Stephen Sondheim and his Pacific Overtures. How is that winning by default?
And as you said, it won a Tony, so the last revival hasn't been forgotten. It was also the last performance by the beloved Robert Goulet.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
#15re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:06am
I would happily watch different productions of Hamlet all year round. And the theatre bods of the UK are apparently trying to make that happen for me! The frequency of revivals doesn't matter. The quality of the productions does. :P
#16re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:09amThe London La Cage has been so over-hyped it cannot possibly live up to expectations - and it won't. There's nothing extraordinary or groundbreaking about it. If it succeeds on Broadway it will be because of Kelsey Grammar's drawing power - assuming he still has some.
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#17re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:14amI don't think Kelsey Grammer will do squat for this show...his claim to fame is the dry, wooden and stoic Fraiser Crane...which is a very conservative character...I cannot see or even fathom him playing a flamboyant homosexual character when most of the roles he has played have been as wooden as a pirate's leg...
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Albin
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#18re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:23amAnyone know when tickets are going on sale?
#19re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:25am
The SWEET CHARITY revival was considered an embarrassment to Fosse's legacy given its terrible direction but mainly because of the way that Wayne Cilento added his awful choreography to a show that was so identified with the wonderful Fosse style. Not to mention all the backstage drama involved with the show's road to Broadway.
PACIFIC OVERTURES was closed by then and it's always been a polarizing show. It was nominated because it had to be.
That left LA CAGE as the only possible winner, especially since unlike SWEET CHARITY, the Jerry Mitchell choreography was well-received (and it won a Tony). Sorry, muscle, but it's not considered a good revival, it wasn't well-received by critics or audiences, and it is very telling that even after winning the Tony for Best Revival, it quickly posted a closing notice.
I cannot see or even fathom him playing a flamboyant homosexual character when most of the roles he has played have been as wooden as a pirate's leg...
This already tells me you have no idea what you are talking about. Have you even seen the show? Do you know anything about it? Clearly not if you are making this type of incredibly ignorant comments about the show or about Grammer's ability to play Georges.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#19re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:25am
Except, Georges is pretty quiet and stoic, and not flamboyant at all...that's Albin who is being played by Douglas Hodge.
And, I am also inclined to agree that it's been overhyped on the boards, however, as we are all aware, we're a minority of the theatregoers in the world. If we weren't, Ragtime and Finian's wouldn't be closing, and Wicked and Phantom would be.
Back to the topic at hand, while I do sort of agree that there should be a little more time between revivals, and that it should sort of happen when it's "time," I agree with Weez. If they wanted to bring "A Chorus Line" back every year for a 2 month run, wild dogs wouldn't keep me from the theatre.
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colleen_lee
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/05
#21re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:36am
Too soon isn't my concern as much as whether this is the right time for this revival.
As we have just seen with Ragtime and Finian's, a great production of excellent material does guarantee box office success anymore. Can La Cage survive this economic climate? I'm just not sure.
"You just can't win. Ever. Look at the bright side, at least you are not stuck in First Wives Club: The Musical. That would really suck. "
--Sueleen Gay
Updated On: 12/31/09 at 11:36 AM
Smaxie
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/26/05
#22re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 11:43am
It's a funny thing about musicals. In the opera world, audiences don't complain about seeing another Traviata, Boheme, Lucia, Tosca, Rigoletto or Ring Cycle. Plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Shaw, Miller, Williams and O'Neill get revived with certain frequency on both sides of the Atlantic. But with musicals, there seems to be a group of people I would dub the Revival Police who ponder why a certain title is being revived so soon after the last production, as if there is a statute of limitations under which a musical can be revived.
The producers of the Lupone Gypsy knew that they were facing the challenge of reviving that show so soon after the Bernadette production. The producers of this La Cage know they have the same challenge, coming after the 2004 revival. In both instances, the producers feel their production has/had something new or vital to offer. I saw the '83 and '04 La Cages and saw this upcoming production in London over the summer and found it the most enjoyable of the three productions, simply because the intimacy of it raised the emotional stakes of the material to a completely different level. Doug Hodge's performance has also been celebrated and is part of the reason why this production is coming over. (I saw the very fine Roger Allam and Philip Quast in the leading roles and look forward to Hodge).
From a business standpoint, the 2004 La Cage started out strong in advance sales, indicating I think that people are interested in the title, but it dwindled following the lackluster reviews and I think, general audience disappointment in that production. It limped through about six months of middling sales, won the Tony by default and closed without really making much of an impression or I think exhausting the show's potential audience (for a better production).
As far as Kelsey Grammer... David Hyde Pierce's name value was the only thing that kept Curtains going a mere two years ago. Grammer, in his first Broadway musical, I would expect to have similar drawing power. I think he's a great match for the material and he has more ability than just playing Frasier Crane. Having seen the sly, insouciant performance of Philip Quast as Georges, I can definitely see Grammer taking a similar approach and being very winning in this production.
Those who feel this La Cage revival is happening too soon do have the choice of catching something else in Broadway's other 39 theatres.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Updated On: 12/31/09 at 11:43 AM
#23re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 1:01pmCoolKid why must you post under 2 usernames? What's the point?
#24re: Too Soon for La Cage?? (A Debate About Revivals)
Posted: 12/31/09 at 2:31pmHaha, Ljay, I didn't realize. That explains a lot, it adds a comedic twist to the OP's asinine comments.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
