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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

April 4, 2003

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BROADWAY My Way

PALACE THEATRE

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FRIDAY, APRIL 18 7:30PM

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Tickets also available at 216.241.6000 or 800.766.6048, Tickets.com outlets, www.Tickets.com or Playhouse Square Box Office. All dates, acts and ticket prices are subject to change without notice. All tickets are subject to applicable taxes, and service and handling charges. A Clear Channel Event

CLEVELAND'S

Roundup

Join us Saturday, April 12th at 8pm for the Colonel's Ball in beautiful, historic Grays Armory, for Performances, Silent Auction, Raffles, and Dancing! Everyone welcome.

Grays Armory, 1234 Bolivar, Downtown Cleveland Annual Country/Western Dance Benefit Weekend for the Lesbian & Gay Community Service Center

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eveningsout

Well-heeled humor

Drag works well in suburban theater

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-"We are what we are," the ladies on stage sing, opening the spectacle that is the Beck Center's production of La Cage aux Folles.

Well, it's pretty difficult to say what they are, really. Some of the prettiest women on stage were men, but so were some of the most frightening. One of the men actually looked better in makeup than in boy clothes, although that could probably be attributed to the magnificent.job he (or whoever did his makeup) did on highlighting his cheekbones and nose.

Such issues, however, are completely sec-` ondary to La Cage. Most important are the performances and the sheer spectacle of it all, both of which director Fred Sternfeld gives the audience in spades.

Most people are already familiar with the story of La Cage aux Folles, either from the original 1978 French film (at the time, the highest-grossing foreign film to be released in America) or from its American remake The Birdcage, starring the odd couple of Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.

For the three people who last week emerged from the bomb shelter, finally satisfied that the Cuban missile crisis is over, here is a brief synopsis:

Georges (Greg Violand) runs the popular French Riviera drag club La Cage aux Folles, whose main attraction is ZaZa, the alter ego of Albin (Kevin Joseph Kelly), George's spouse. Their life is idyllic until George's son JeanMichel (Brian Etchell) returns.

The product of a drunken one-night stand, Albin and Georges raised Jean-Michel as his businesswoman mother jet-setted her way across Europe. Now, however, Jean-Michel is engaged to a young woman, much to the shock and dismay of Georges and Albin. Even worse, his fiancée's father is the deputy chief of an anti-gay, conservative political party, and he wants to meet Jean-Michel's parents.

Such a set-up could only produce a comedy of errors, and that is exactly what it does.

When Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman undertook to turn Jean Poiret's play into an American musical, Fierstein's book stuck fairly closely to the original source material. Herman, however, had to start pretty much from scratch on the music and lyrics, and presented the audience with a number of engaging, if occasionally familiar-sounding, songs.

More important for this production, however, are the actors. Kelly, who first gained national attention for being yelled at by Lea DeLaria in Edge of Seventeen, never fails to impress. His performance as the shady producer in the Beck Center's production of The Dying Gaul was inspired, and his frenetic energy and wry wit serve him well as Albin.

Greg Violand brings such suave composure to the role of Georges, one could almost forget Ugo Tognazzi, the classy Italian whose performance in the French film was the ruler by which all other actors in the role were measured.

One slight quirk of this production, com-

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Kevin Joseph Kelly and Greg Violand

pared to the two movies: In both the French and American films, Albin is either more slight or about the same size physically as his more "manly" partner. In this production, Kelly is noticeably taller than Violand, and good money would be on Kelly should a fistfight break out between the two. It provides a slightly different dynamic, one that actually enhances the humor of the piece.

Of course, any play dealing with drag queens must ultimately rest on the shoulders of its costume designers, and four more capable shoulders could not be found. Jeffrey M. Smart co-designed the costumes with the ubiquitous, seemingly omnipresent Alison Hernan. Both have some very fey successes under their professional belts, Smart having done the Beck Center's When Pigs Fly, and Hernan's credits include Evita, Eating Raoul and both Cleveland Public Theatre productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. As Hernan said during intermission on opening night, if she isn't in the play, she's designing the costumes, and occasionally she has done both.

The dynamic duo managed to clothe ten performers on stage at the club at one, uniting the dresses with a uniformity of style while completely setting each outfit apart, marking each performer's individuality. The famous Hollywood fashion designer Edith Head might have been able to do a better job, but she would have required about two years and fifteen times the budget.

La Cage aux Folles, running through April 19 at the Beck Center for the Arts, is perfect fare for all, from parents with young children to elderly couples, as the audience on opening night proved.

The Beck Center is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue, in the near west Cleveland suburb of Lakewood. For tickets or more information, call 216-521-2540.

Saturday shows will be followed by a "Meet the Cast" reception, and a Cleveland LesbianGay Center Pride Card gets a $2 discount on tickets for all performances.

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