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The groundbreaking musical La Cage aux Folles opened on Broadway 40 years in the past final August. As a part of the anniversary celebrations, members of the unique Cagelles—the dancers who fashioned the drag ensemble on the coronary heart of the present—organized a collection of occasions along side Broadway Cares/Fairness Fights AIDS.
It’s becoming that the group marked the event by elevating cash to combat HIV/AIDS. La Cage took Broadway by storm simply because the AIDS pandemic reached the general public’s consciousness. And because the “homosexual plague” swept Broadway corporations, together with their very own, the Cagelles organized quite a few advantages, a few of which proceed to at the present time.
A few of the 10 homosexual males and two girls first forged as Les Cagelles have been little greater than youngsters after they joined the present. These are a number of of their tales.
A Little Extra Mascara
Dennis Callahan (Monique): I feel there have been between 800 and 1,000 on the unique open name. Scott Salmon, who was the choreographer, was not a New York individual. So it was actually like a clear slate so far as what he was seeing at these auditions.
David Engel (Hanna): I used to be solely being seen for Jean-Michel [one of the leads]. Then they mentioned, “We have to see you dance and in drag.” I didn’t know why. I got here to the ultimate dance name. Everyone else had discovered all this choreography. I discovered it on the spot.
Dan O’Grady (Odette): It bought all the way down to possibly 25 of us on the finish. I had by no means achieved any drag, however I made a decision to indicate up in drag [for the final audition]. It was actually, actually humorous. Once I bought into the cab, the cab driver bought out, opened the door for me, known as me ma’am. Then I went into the theater, and so they didn’t know who I used to be. Nobody else arrived in drag.
DC: From 10 within the morning to 4 or 5 within the afternoon, we did the entire dancing in drag. And on the finish of this lengthy day, we have been 12 and 12 throughout the stage.
DE: Principally, it was like the top of A Refrain Line. We have been all lined up throughout the stage. After which they’re like, “Rehearsals begin on this date—congratulations.” Everyone’s leaping up and down screaming, and I’m like, “What’s occurring? What’s happening?”
DC: After the others left, that they had the 12 of us collect across the piano and sing “There’s No Enterprise Like Present Enterprise” in actual short-clipped piano voices. [Composer] Jerry Herman mentioned, “That is the model of La Cage’s opening track, ‘We’re What We Are.’ ” It was such a cool second to be across the piano with Jerry and [music director] Don Pippin, all of us in drag.
Not a Place We Need to Cover
DE: The very first day of rehearsal, [director] Arthur Laurents mentioned, “We’re not doing this apologetically. We’re proudly taking part in these roles.”
DO: He gave us all storylines. Some have been extra developed than others, however all of us had a bit of 1. He actually instilled in us that we have been essential to the story.
DC: Although I don’t suppose any of us had any expertise doing drag, I don’t suppose any Cagelle would say it was laborious. The environment within the room was so supportive and nurturing that none of us felt any worry of being judged.
DO: I keep in mind Arthur engaged on “I Am What I Am” with George Hearn [who played Albin], a straight man. The quantity of pleasure and dignity that Arthur conveyed not simply to George however all of us was very highly effective. It strikes me even simply to consider it now.
DC: The Cagelles got the final bow. When does that ever occur? We every simply took a humble bow as ourselves. The sound of the viewers was unbelievable.
Generally Candy and Generally Bitter
DE: We had an entire warm-up space within the basement, and at intermission, we’d costume up, we’d be ridiculous. We simply stored creating and taking part in.
It was one of the best of occasions. And it was the worst of occasions.
DO: I first began listening to concerning the “homosexual most cancers” after we have been in Boston. No person knew what it was.
DE: I keep in mind considering to myself, if I went to a homosexual bar, I’d maintain my breath. You simply didn’t know. It was in all places, and in the event you examined constructive, it was a demise sentence, undoubtedly. And you possibly can go fast.
DO: I feel David Cahn [Chantelle] was the primary of us Cagelles who bought sick and left, then John Dolf [Nicole].
DC: I don’t keep in mind any dialog between the remainder of us concerning the boys being sick. I feel it was type of a sense of: In the event that they wished to speak about it they might, and so they’re not, so neither ought to we. And possibly there was additionally a worry.
DO: We felt the loss from the within, and I feel that’s what kind of led us to start out enthusiastic about the Easter Bonnet competitors. Howard Crabtree and the opposite costume people did these foolish Easter bonnets, and we had people donate. To start with it was simply the forged, the crew, and the orchestra.
DE: We did the Easter Bonnet pageant within the basement and a Queen of Hearts pageant for Valentine’s Day, each simply amongst ourselves, and raised cash for Homosexual Males’s Well being Disaster. The following yr we determined to carry the Easter Bonnet pageant onto the stage and invited different casts to return—A Refrain Line, Cats, there have been a number of corporations. I keep in mind after they flipped over the playing cards on the finish, we had raised $17,000. I used to be sobbing, sobbing.
DO: I feel we wanted a way of company. As a result of there was no hope. There actually wasn’t. Our mates have been dying, and we couldn’t do something about it. However we might costume up and act foolish and ask individuals for cash.
DC: Teddy Azar was instrumental in the entire look of the present makeup- and wig-wise. He was one of many first within the firm to return down with AIDS. He was at St. Vincent’s, and David [Scala, who played Phaedra], Sam [Singhaus, Clo-Clo], and I bought some nurse drag with these big hypodermic needles and resuscitation units, simply ridiculous stuff, and we went down there. Individuals who labored there got here as much as us and mentioned, “May you please come carry a few of this pleasure into a few of the different rooms?” And we went out and in of those rooms, these three large outdated drag queens in nurse drag, and it was joyous. The entire thing was joyous.
DE: I had loads of laborious losses, however the hardest was [executive producer] Fritz Holt. On the present that night time, we silently bought in place, and one after the other we rotated within the opening quantity and all of us began singing “We Are What We Are.” However then one after the other voices have been dropping out. We simply couldn’t sing. We have been all crying. The forged members within the wings on each side have been singing for us, attempting to maintain it going.
We Are What We Are
DC: Once we would flip round one after the other within the opening quantity, you possibly can really feel, bodily, this type of crossed-arm, furrowed-brow feeling from the viewers. They have been most likely questioning if possibly we’re too shut, we’re going to get [AIDS].
By the top of the present those self same faces have been leaning into the stage, wide-eyed. I left each night time considering, Wow, I feel I used to be a part of one thing that modified what individuals take into consideration homosexuals.
DE: I got here out to my mother after I was 18, and he or she actually struggled with it. She couldn’t perceive what she had achieved unsuitable. And it was La Cage that turned her round. It let her know that you could have love and household being homosexual. She grew to become a mom to all of my homosexual mates that had dad and mom that disowned them. They adored her, and he or she liked all of them.
DC: From the start my dad and mom noticed one thing in me. They might take me to the Muny Opera, to the Starlight in Kansas Metropolis, and nurtured that in me. However on the identical time I didn’t ever really feel like I wanted to inform them I used to be homosexual. I assumed the phrases and the state of affairs would harm them. And so they knew.
After they noticed the present, that was my approach of with the ability to inform them and present them that I used to be going to be okay.
DO: La Cage modified my life. I set to work with Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman and Arthur Laurents and Fritz Holt and Barry Brown and Don Pippin, and George Hearn and Gene Barry [Georges] and Merle Louise [Mme. Didon]. I additionally discovered a lot from Linda Haberman [Bitelle] and Jennifer Smith [Colette]. The work ethic, the creativity, and the artistry was like nothing I had ever been uncovered to.
DC: On the 40-year reunion, we sang “The Better of Occasions.” There have been two older gents sitting subsequent to one another within the viewers, and so they have been bawling. And I assumed, god, this present affected extra individuals than we are going to ever know. It’s so particular to have been part of one thing like that.
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