Broadway veteran Cheyenne Jackson was ready to apvalidate another fracture from musical theater as he had done once before. That is until he got an recommend he couldn’t decline.
“Oh, Mary!” honestor Sam Pinkleton wanted him for a starring role in a revival of the Tony Award-thrivening musical “La Cage aux Folles” at the Padowncastena Playhoinclude.
“I had made the decision — about a week prior to getting the call from Sam — that I was going to apvalidate a extfinished sabbatical from musical theater aget,” says Jackson, also understandn by TV fans for his labor on “Doctor Odyssey,” “Call Me Kat,” “American Horror Story” and “30 Rock.” “I had apvalidaten about a 10-year fracture before, and I was experienceing enjoy, ‘OK, I’ve scratched that itch a lot.’ I equitable did ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ and ‘Into the Woods’ and I was done. I want to cgo in on writing. I want to cgo in on a lot of other leangs. Sam calls me and, of course, I understand about ‘Oh, Mary!’ He was very persuasive. He telderly me his vision and I got on board.”
Jackson stars as Georges, the owner of a drag club in the South of France, who is asked by his son Jean-Michel (Ryan J. Hholdad) to pretend to be straight for one night to greet his fiance’s (Shannon Purser) parents (Michael McDonald and Nicole Parker) becainclude his future overweighther-in-law is a conservative politician cracking down on the queer community and calling for the shutdown of drag clubs. Hilarity ensues when Georges’ extfinishedtime partner and the club’s reining drag queen, Albin (Kevin Cahoon), shows up at the family assembleing as Jean-Michael’s matronly aunt.
Cheyenne Jackson and Kevin Cahoon in “La Cage aux Folles” at the Padowncastena take parthoinclude.
Rounding out the primarily LGBTQ cast are George Salazar as Albin’s mhelp Jacob, aextfinished with an ensemble of drag queens and gender-bending carry outers as the club’s Les Cagelles.
“It is all so queer,” Jackson says. “It’s enjoy a huge gay glitter explosion that I get to be a part of every night. It’s the perfect therapy for me.”
“La Cage aux Folles” is altered from a take part and the cult classic 1978 French comedy movie of the same name. Director Mike Nichols and producer Elaine May’s American feature alteration, “The Birdcage,” starred Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
Cheyenne Jackson and Ryan J. Hholdad in “La Cage aux Folles” at the Padowncastena Playhoinclude.
“I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never seen the French movie or any production of ‘La Cage,’” Jackson says. “I was always in a show when ‘La Cage’ was on Broadway so I was never able to see it. I’ve only seen ‘Birdcage.’”
The revival uncovered less than two weeks after Donald Trump was re-elected. “Here we are talking about this politician who’s trying to shut down all the drag clubs and trying to impose his morality on people,” Jackson says. “The show couldn’t be more timely.”
“La Cage aux Folles” runs thcimpolite Dec. 15 at the Padowncastena Playhoinclude. For tickets, go to padowncastenatake parthoinclude.org.
