Off the Wall Theatre’sproduction of La Cage Aux Folles isas big and ambitious as any musical the company has previously staged. Thestylish set design accomplishes a lot with color alone, relying on pinkflamingos and a grand piano to do the rest. At times overwhelmingly impressiveand at times simply overwhelming, the cast of 20-plus actors in the intimatestudio theater doesn’t always work in the big musical numbers. The relationshipat the heart of the story, however, is brilliantly represented and holds therest of the production together.
Off the Wall ArtisticDirector Dale Gutzman plays Georges, emcee of the St. Tropez nightclub fromwhich the musical gets its name. Georges shares his life with stage diva Zaza(Karl Miller), known offstage as Albin. Gutzman fits quite well into the roleof a man maintaining a lifelong romantic relationship with an overly dramaticlover. Miller summons an epic amount of diva attitude to the stage as Albin.His overly dramatic tones work best when interacting directly with Gutzman. Thetwo have great chemistry together, which is essential to the production.Georges’ son Jean-Michel (Patrick McGuire) shows up and announces hisengagement to a girl named Anne (Jacqueline Roush). Anne’s parents would liketo meet Jean-Michel’s parents, but since Anne’s parents are influentialconservatives, Jean-Michel asks that Albin not be present for the meeting. Theconflict caused by this request would be nothing without a very sharpperformance by Miller, who shines as a very nuanced and temperamental Albin.
La Cage Aux Folles runs through Dec. 31 at the Off theWall Theatre on 127 E. Wells St.
