Bay Area Musicals is ending its freshman season with La Cage aux Folles, a step further up the ladder toward a professional shine. Its first two productions, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Hair, showed a fledgling company still finding its way. There are still more steps to be taken for the company to establish itself as a viable artistic endeavor, but more of the talent and resources toward that end have been corralled for the current production at the Victoria Theatre.
Despite its enormous popularity, La Cage aux Folles is not a particularly quick-witted musical, and the humor that librettist Harvey Fierstein derived from a French play by Jean Poiret, better known for its screen adaptations, is often broad and obvious. But it can work well enough as part of the musical's boisterous context, and director-choreographer Matthew McCoy and the cast he has assembled are often hitting the right notes, but amid other crucial scenes that don't quite take flight.
Before proceeding, a technical note must be highlighted because it undermines far too much of the considerable effort that has obviously gone into the production. The sound is abysmal, echoing around the auditorium, undermining punchlines and leaving segments of dialogue barely decipherable. You might think to blame the venue's acoustics, but other companies have brought in sound systems to the Victoria that raised no audible objections. You only have to look back to Ray of Light Theatre's recent production of The Wild Party for an example.
Where the production works best is not so much in the spectacle that surrounds the story but at its intimate heart. You probably know that it's a tale of longtime gay partners who run a nightclub on the French Riviera, with the could-pass-for-straight Georges managing the operation and the no-chance-for-passing Albin as the headliner billed as Zaza. The comedy moves into farce when Jean-Michel, the son that Georges inadvertently sired 24 years before, wants to bring his fiancee home with her conservative parents. That means de-gaying the decor and de-gaying Albin, with the former much easier than the latter.
Albin/Zaza is the core of the musical, exemplified by the song "I Am What I Am" from the Jerry Herman score, and Michael RJ Campbell sells this defiant anthem for all it's worth. Campbell is also the main catalyst for making the comedy work, from his diva tantrums to his efforts to emulate John Wayne to his drag performances highlighted by a Julia Child-like appearance as a stand-in for Jean-Michel's biological mother. Campbell has a good foil in Clay David, looking like a dapper gigolo dipped in Brylcreem, as the much more levelheaded Georges.
There are performances of intermittent success from the supporting cast, including a straight-arrow Jack O'Reilly as Jean-Michel and Cameron Weston as the stodgy father of the bride. As a restaurateur-accomplice, Sarah Sloan overdoes the French accent, which actually is the only French accent to be heard. Joseph Alvarado is perhaps the performer most done in by the faulty acoustics, playing the comic butler who'd rather be a maid and whose lines are often lost.
The main disappointments of this production are the moments that have always been a highlight of the musical: the numbers of the mostly cross-dressing Cagelles who are a featured attraction at the nightclub. This group of performers almost makes up with high spirits their uneven efforts, and McCoy's choreography, perhaps tailored to the talents available, is overly familiar. Brooke Jennings' costumes do the Cagelles no favors, though they otherwise befit the proceedings. Kuo-Hao Lo's set designs work fine, and the band under Joe Gallo's direction works as well. But points do have to be taken away for prop designer Clay David's use of paper plates in a dinner-party scene where the china has an important comic role to play.
Now that the season is concluding, Bay Area Musicals will hopefully be able to build on the progress it has made through its debut efforts. The will is certainly there, and it's time to build on the wherewithal.
La Cage aux Folles will run through July 31 at the Victoria Theatre. Tickets are $20-$65. Call (415) 340-2207 or go to bamsf.org.