Ok... I really have an issue with this....

There is a new revival of 'La Cage aux Folles' in New York. Known to you as 'The Bird Cage'----

No WAY...... and I do not like this mash up.

The original was French. It had a light touch, and was screamingly funny, because of the actors who dared to do the unthinkable. And meanwhile, they have left the planet. Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi were original. They weren't 'making fun', or being caricatures. And were very straight in real life, as far as I know. Michel Serrault, who played 'Zsa-Zsa', went on to play a murderer who made my blood run cold, and an ageing author who poignantly has a 'connection' with a young woman wanting to document his empty life, and it ended bitterly. A consumate actor, in other words.

If anyone has had the pleasure of seeing that non-musical farce... am sure it hasn't been forgotten. It was a milestone in breaking down predjudices, and making audiences roar with laughter. You can't get nearer to perfect than that. Classic.

And THEN... someone thought it would make a great musical, or something. 'Murkins don't get it. I just don't know.... I saw a perfomance of this in Vienna, and the leads were wonderfully good... However: big problems there.

First of all, I hated the music. (We are talking about the musical, here...) Just didn't like it.

If I want to hear Gloria Gaynor, I will play 'I Will Survive!' and go back to disco.

The problem is.... the stage productions always cast the son and he is always too old. It messes up everything completely. For those who do not know: a couple of guys in advanced years run a club where men pose as women. The one partner is the iva'. His partner had had an affair, sired a son, and the son wants to get married, and they go crazy trying to facilitate his happiness, only it gets sort of crazy, because the kid's fianacée's father is a conservative, and everything from there descends into chaos. The catch was that the kid in the film was young, and sort of projected an innocence. The problem became that if the son is older, it becomes a cruel joke on his 'parents'.

Farce. In other words....

Whatever, here is where it always goes wrong, whether musical or straight theater: the son is always too old. In the original, the kid was seventeen or so, and the mix made the success.

On stage? Oh please, The formula doesn't work.
The kid is too old.
I'm not good with this...