Reviews

Fabulous? It’s SUPA—of course it’s fabulous! Leave your cynicism at home and enjoy this hilarious, high camp, unabashedly sentimental story of love and comeuppance. La Cage aux Folles is a glitzy musical that shines with the over-the-top SUPA formula of live music, great performances, gorgeous costumes and an innovative light show. The script is a furiously witty celebration of a certain gay culture and lifestyle, and the songs are gorgeous.SUPA’s interpretation is slick, professional, side-splitting and heart-warming.

Black and white in colour

As with Tosca the previous week, this was a lavish production. The set comprised three house fronts, double-story, which swung around at the end of the overture to become the interior of Pasquale’s house. It was very impressive.

The second scene, usually set in Norina’s home, was set outside in a street café, which worked well, although I would have preferred Malatesta to move the table away from the others while he was having a private conversation with Norina.

It is always refreshing to see a contemporary adaptation of a classic: you get to see history in the making without getting bogged down in academia and there’s room for spontaneity, creativity and the flexibility to address a modern audience who are there to be entertained, not educated. Director Dave Sleswick could also see in Charles Mee’s adaptation of Euripides famous play a correlation between the story and the current state of Australia's political landscape and wanted, in this production, to include his own message.