FLABOYANT BRILLIANCE, BABY!

Based on the delightful French film of 1978, La Cage Aux Folles is a timeless tale of unconditional love, family values and celebrating who we are. Both an enormously comical farce and a touchingly story, the bittersweet musical asks audiences to view things from a different angle.

Director Terry Johnson's production is electrifyingly theatrical, complemented by sizzling choreography by Lynn Page and Jerry Herman's deliciously rich musical score, including the fabulous favourites 'I Am What I Am', 'Song In The Sand' and 'The Best of Times'. Add Tim Shortall's bold design and Matthew Wright's spectacular costumes, and La Cage Aux Folles becomes an outrageously enjoyable extravaganza.

WHAT IS LA CAGE AUX FOLLES ABOUT?

Set in St Tropez in the '70s, the story follows a crisis in the happy life of gay couple Georges and Albin, who have been together for 25 years. Georges is the owner of cabaret club La Cage Aux Folles on the French Riviera and Albin, nee Zaza, is the club's leading drag artiste. Jean-Michel, Georges's son from a previous relationship who the couple has raised together as their own, announces that he is engaged to Anne. But she is the daughter of a staunch right-wing politician who intends to 'clean up' the Riviera and close the cabaret club.

Jean-Michel has invited his prospective in-laws to dinner, and in an attempt to appease a potentially ruinous situation, Georges convinces Albin to assume the straight-and-narrow character of 'Uncle Al' in an attempt to hide their lifestyle. As so begins the ultimate pretence, but can the unorthodox couple keep it up?

DID YOU KNOW?

When it first opened on Broadway, La Cage Aux Folles was the first mainstream gay musical. This was in 1983 at a time when Aids was fast becoming an epidemic. The makers of the musical decided to create a show with the dual purpose of uplifting the suffering ill and as a rebuttal to homophobia.