'La Cage aux Folles' review: Porter and Brady carry Encores! revival

“Work bitches, work!” exclaimed an audience member during the opening moments of La Cage aux Folles, the erratic revival now onstage at New York City Center Encores!. Nineteen Cagelles, outfitted by Clint Ramos and Michelle Ridley as if they raided Abracadabra NYC costume shop blindfolded, twerk and tap through “We Are What We Are.” But very little nods to “the pride of St. Tropez, the jewel of the Riviera” in this concert revival. Maybe that’s the point?

Club owner Georges (Wayne Brady) and life partner, Albin (Billy Porter) face a reckoning when Georges’ son, Jean-Michel (Alaman Diadhiou) announces his engagement. With an introduction to his fiancée’s ultra-conservative parents looming, Jean-Michel asks that Albin, star of the venue’s drag revue, disappear from the scene to project a more conventional upbringing. It doesn’t sit well.

An identity crisis in sequins

Under Robert O’Hara’s direction, the Tony-winning musical by Jerry Herman (music and lyrics) and Harvey Fierstein (book) faces an identity crisis beyond its two leading men. David Zinn’s scenic design references Grace Jones and Sylvester. At the same time, Edgar Godineaux’s choreography nods to what you might see at a West Village dive bar.

This makes Porter’s vocal death-drop performance that much more palpable. Despite sounding somewhat fatigued, Porter takes a ferocious bite out of Herman’s anthem-driven score. His Act I closer, “I Am What I Am,” soars as a queer manifesto.

Brady, as the more grounded Georges, tempers Albin’s histrionics as he learns of his stepson’s request. From campy comedy as Georges gives Albin a “masculinity lesson” to the pair’s reflective “Song on The Sand,” Brady and Porter carry La Cage aux Folles while the rest of the production fails to find its footing.

Fierstein’s book still resonates, though sometimes for the wrong reasons. When Jean-Michel confesses to his father that he told his future in-laws that his father worked for the French Foreign Service, Georges responds, “Well, if you can’t be honest, be vague.” This is where La Cage aux Folles falls flat: the attempt to expand the musical’s lens leaves most of it out of focus.

Still, hearing guest music director Joseph Joubert conduct the gorgeous score played by a 28-piece orchestra, we’re reminded that “the best of times is now.” Even when the rest of the production can’t keep up, that heart does.