There are big, fun, gaudy numbers in the beloved musical “La Cage aux Folles,” but the show really hangs on the emotional strength of its stars.
Happily, Harvey Fierstein and Christopher Sieber have just revived this revival.
When Terry Johnson’s production opened on Broadway last year, there was little chemistry between Douglas Hodge — as the flamboyant Albin and his drag alter ego, Zaza — and Kelsey Grammer, as the more masculine nightclub owner, Georges. This was a critical issue since they played a longtime couple, bickering but also loving. Hodge’s Tony-winning portrayal was alternately touching and fierce, but Grammer looked stiffly uncomfortable in the romantic scenes.
With Fierstein — who wrote the 1983 show’s book — stepping in as Albin and Sieber as Georges, “La Cage” is now anchored by a convincing marriage.
Sieber came to the rescue after the first Georges replacement, Jeffrey Tambor, quit after a week. (Turns out you need to sing in a musical — who knew?) Sieber, late of “Spamalot” and “Shrek,” is a smooth, funny leading man; he also has a nice set of pipes and does great by Georges’ big ballads.
As for Fierstein, the only question is why it took him so long to get here. Like Bernadette Peters in “A Little Night Music,” he makes you rediscover a familiar role and its anthem — in his case, “I Am What I Am,” rendered more touching than triumphant by the star’s distinctive bark.
Sieber and Fierstein’s easy complicity also makes the show more sweetly subversive: It’s now impossible to overlook the fact that we’re watching two men in love, and they’re so endearing that it’s equally impossible not to root for them. A joke has even been added to soften the obvious age difference between the two actors: Sieber is 42, Fierstein 58.
Another cast switch is less effective. As Jacob, the flamboyant butler who prefers to be the maid, Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel in the original “Rent”) can’t milk laughs out of the most obvious setups.
Above all, the biggest fly in Johnson’s ointment remains.
The gaudy nightclub’s entertainers, the Cagelles, may sing about “causing confusion,” but in this production there’s never any doubt that the muscle-bound creatures in maribou are men. Ambiguity and mystery? Forget it. The potential for humor and pathos is lost in the floor-show numbers.
Fortunately, Fierstein and Sieber are experts at make-believe — you buy it when they sing, “I’m young and in love.” Maybe illusion wins out after all.
elisabeth.vincentelli
@nypost.com