Interview: Norm Lewis in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES at The Muny

When La Cage aux Folles opens at The Muny on Friday night, Broadway superstar Norm Lewis will again grace The Muny stage. Lewis last performed at The Muny in 2013 in a memorable production of Les Misérables. He reprised his Broadway and West End role as Javert. Broadway World sat down with Lewis to discuss his Broadway and Muny credits and his upcoming turn as Georges in La Cage aux Folles.  

Lewis recalled what brought him to The Muny in 2013. He said, “I had hung up my Javert coat after performing the role on Broadway, in the 25th anniversary show, and in London’s West End. My friend Richard Jay-Alexander called me; he was directing the show here and asked me to play Javert.” Lewis laughed, “so I dusted the old coat off again and came to The Muny.” 

He had not worked here previously but had heard what a wonderful experience it is to perform at The Muny. “This was the opportunity to do a show that I love with a group of people that I love. That’s how I got here, and it was wonderful.”   

He remembered that during one performance there was a slight drizzle that started at the point when Eponine dies. “She sings, a little drop of rain..., and rain fell from the sky with perfect timing.”  

Lewis talked about returning to The Muny this year. He said, “as actors get older there are a limited number of roles for men of a certain age. I love La Cage Aux Folles and when they asked if I would be interested, I immediately said yes! It’s a great show, a beautiful part, and I get to work at The Muny again.”  

“I’m looking forward to bringing my spin to the role of Georges. It will be fun to be the leader of the cabaret world and work with the amazing talent in this show.” He said that he’s excited to finally work with Marcia Milgrom Dodge, the shows director. “We’ve been threatening to work together for many years and I’m finally glad that is coming to fruition.” 

Lewis has performed in some of the biggest shows on Broadway. “I’m very lucky,” he says. He earned a Tony nomination for playing Porgy in “Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess” opposite Audra McDonald. “It was an operatic role that I never considered,” he said, “but the changes to turn some of the sung recitative to spoken dialogue allowed me to do it.” 

“Working with my friend Audra McDonald was fantastic. She works on a very high level and sets the bar extremely high. You can’t come in unprepared. Diane Paulus directed, and her reputation preceded her. She was terrific to work with too.” 

He played The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera and was the first black actor to play the role on Broadway. “I just saw it as getting another job, but it is significant and meaningful when you have representation.” Lewis was quick to point out that the late Robert Guillaume, television’s Benson, paved the way for him when he performed the role of The Phantom in the Los Angeles production in 1990.   

Lewis also talked about the amazing career of Michael James Scott, his co-star in the Muny’s La Cage aux Folles. Scott, a graduate of St. Louis’ Conservatory program at Webster University, is known for his Broadway turn as the longest running Genie in Disney’s Aladdin. His extensive Broadway resume includes working in the original Broadway companies of Something Rotten and The Book of Mormon.  

Scott and Lewis both grew up in Eatonville, Florida, just outside of Orlando. Eatonville is the oldest all black chartered municipality in the United States. Lewis and Scott’s families went to the same church. They didn’t know each other in Eatonville. Lewis is older than Scott and was already in New York City pursuing his career when Scott was a young man in the church.  

“The Church elders told Michael to ‘look up Norman’ when he got to New York.” As fate would have it Lewis and Scott ended up working on the same production of Ragtime in North Carolina. That is where Scott finally realized that the ‘Norman’ from his church was Broadway’s Norm Lewis. “It’s a funny story,” Lewis laughed.  

La Cage aux Folles will be playing The Muny for the first time in over 40-years. “This show is still very poignant,” says Lewis. “La Cage is fun. It is like the movie The Birdcage on steroids. There is spectacular dancing, amazing singing, it’s both funny and very touching.”