La Cage aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre review
John Barrowman disappoints in the lead role of the exuberant musical.
Charles Spencer
Published: 5:35PM BST 06 Oct 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/6266402/La-Cage-aux-Folles-at-the-Playhouse-Theatre-review.htmlThere aren't many musicals I would happily return to for the fourth time in less than two years, but Terry Johnson's glorious revival of La Cage aux Folles is one of them. Funny, outrageous, spectacular and touching, it has a wonderfully tuneful score by Jerry Herman and a sharp book by Harvey Fierstein which combines gay pride (the work premiered in New York in 1983 as Aids was cutting a swathe through the city) with generosity and laughter.
Following in the footsteps of Douglas Hodge, Graham Norton and Roger Allam, the key role of the drag queen Albin is now taken by John Barrowman, once a reliable trouper of the musical stage but now launched into a higher orbit of stardom on the strength of his performance as Captain Jack in Doctor Who and Torchwood and upbeat appearances on TV talent shows.
