THEATER REVIEW : RUN, DON’T WALK, TO SPLASHY ‘LA CAGE’

Oh, glorious, glamorous, glittery gowns--”La Cage aux Folles” is in our midst.

We’re talking serious musical comedy here, not the ordinary kind found on summer nights. This is the real thing, the Broadway-bedazzled, sequin-draped extravaganza that has enthralled audiences from coast to coast, from stage to film and back again.

You want tender love stories? “La Cage” has two. You like million-dollar costumes and scenery that oozes financial folly? “La Cage” brings the French Riviera to life with a twinkling seashore, art decadent apartment, and the most glittering night spot the lighting and scenic designers could muster.

“La Cage aux Folles” features lovely music by Jerry Herman, from the dazzling chorus number “La Cage aux Folles” to the poignant tear-jerker “Look Over There”.

This musical has everything-- plus.

It’s the plus that gets a little tricky. Harvey Fierstein’s love story, based on the French comedy by Jean Poiret, just happens to feature a homosexual couple.

The “straight homosexual,” Georges runs the spangly nightclub where his lover of 20 years, Albin, appears in all his/her transvestite glory as the star, Zaza. They’re not young any more, but their lives are definitely--and in this show, tastefully--entwined.

Albin has always been Maman to Georges’ son, Jean-Michel. When the young man announces his engagement to a young lady named Anne, the household, including butler/maid Jacob/Claudine (no one is a simple sex in this story), the entire chorus line (“Les Cagelles”), and eventually the townspeople of seductive St. Tropez, are thrown into confusion.

Jean-Michel’s father-in-law to be is a politician bent on restoring fanatically “pure” morals in the South of France. He plans a formal inspection of his daughter’s suitor’s “family”--sure to be a disaster unless Jean-Michel can convince his father to banish Albin for a night and invite his real mother--a chorus girl with whom Georges briefly sampled heterosexuality, with obviously fruitful results.

So much for plot. It’s the music, the dancing, the comedy that entertain so thoroughly no one cares if the story is slight.

The cast housed at the Civic Theatre this week by San Diego Playgoers is not the same as that recently at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theatre, but there is no loss felt here.

Peter Marshall, as Georges, is not much different than we remember him from “Hollywood Squares,” which is perfectly acceptable in this particular role. When he strides out to open that first production number at “La Cage,” he’s a familiar face. But when he croons a love song to Albin on a starlit Mediterranean night--well, as Albin/Zaza sings, this time we must view life from a slightly different angle.

Keene Curtis is thoroughly wonderful swooshing about the stage as the fully gowned Zaza. He injects plenty of style into the careful waltz upon the line between Albin’s genuinely tumbling emotions and the broad comedy of Zaza’s flamboyance. His “A Little More Mascara” is a marvel of dexterity, sung while he puts on Zaza’s lashes and lipstick and endless jewels. He’s funny and touching, all managed with the barest of musical comedy characterization.

The only trace of the Curtis who once played Daddy Warbucks in “Annie” is the bald head concealed by Zaza’s numerous wigs.

As the butler who insists on being called maid, Ronald Dennis has a heck of a good time dancing about Georges’ and Albin’s den of decadent decorating (pink walls, lavender settee with matching drapes, erotic statuary and giant white kangaroo, giraffe and camel statues dripping with rhinestones, courtesy designer David Mitchell).

Bryce Ward, filling for Peter Reardon as Jean-Michel, gave no clue he was an understudy, displaying a silky voice and sensitive touch with the traumas of this son’s existence.

The others are mostly comic caricatures, all played to delightful perfection.

The chorus, of course, is a knockout. This sure ain’t “Oklahoma!” It’s no secret that part of the fascination of “La Cage” is watching a dozen singers and dancers in long legs and feathered and rhinestoned costumes and wigs so beautiful you can’t tell which ones are really men and which ones are women.

Writers Fierstein and Herman, and director Arthur Laurents, all of whom won ’84 Tony Awards for their efforts, capitalize on this teasing atmosphere by dangling leading lyrics and suggestive moves, then whipping off a wig or a dress, or peeking at the backstage bitchiness and man-to-man crushes. It works, as evidenced by the sea of gray heads cheering their approval at a recent matinee.

Scott Salmon’s choreography is almost as luscious as Theoni V. Aldredge’ Tony-winning costumes-- almost. This musical would die without tons of bugle beads and faux diamonds, but Aldredge goes beyond mere sparkle to clever craftsmanship for her bird costume spectaculars.

Some of the best fun, in fact, is reading the program credits buried in fine print for such necessities as Gitanes cigarettes, high heels that fit male feet, specially sculptured (and often anatomically correct) statuary, Sheer Indulgence towels, plumed pens, pounds of jewelry and Diamond Light curtain finale.

It seems almost superfluous to say that Donald Chan leads a terrific orchestra through Herman’s unsurprising but enjoyable score.

Yes, it is a little unusual at the end to watch Marshall and Curtis drape their arms around each other’s waist like summer lovers and stroll off into the distance. It challenges our reflex responses, but the frolic of “La Cage aux Folles” wins out.

There are a few performances left in the company’s short San Diego visit--treat yourself. ‘LA CAGE AUX FOLLES’Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Harvey Fierstein. Based on the play by Jean Poiret. Directed by Arthur Laurents. Choreography by Scott Salmon. Production supervisor, Fritz Holt. Settings, David Mitchell. Costumes, Theoni V. Aldredge. Lighting, Jules Fisher. Musical supervisor and vocal arranger, Donald Pippin. Musical director, Donald Chan. Sound design, Peter J. Fitzgerald. Hair styles and makeup, Ted Azar. Featuring Peter Marshall, Keene Curtis, Lisa McMillan, Peter Reardon, Bob Carroll, Lynn Rose, Ronald Dennis, Pamela Hamill, Mace Barrett, Joseph L. Taylor and “Les Cagelles.” Through Sunday at the San Diego Civic Theatre. Presented by San Diego Playgoer Series XII.