La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans- Page 2
La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
#25La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 12:57am
This is wonderful footage - I love how we are able to see the different, crazy and wonderful interpretations available of Georges and Albin over the years. This is an invaluable resource to younger people who are beginning to explore musical theatre.
In addition, those who may have performed in these various posted productions and their families certainly are enjoying the bits of video floating around - at least that's what my inbox says.
But, my dearest dwirth and Mr. PalJoey, beware as Jo-Jo and the boot police might scold you.
"Seriously. I can't stand people who upload these to Youtube. They should be taken out back and beaten with belt with rusty nails in it." per Officer Jordan - original spelling.
Gee, Officer Jordan!
"...ah, gays and their wit. Hell must be a laugh a minute!"
-Evie Harris
Updated On: 5/19/13 at 12:57 AM
#26La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 1:13am
Re: the "Who's Got the Pain" clip... from roughly 2:30 to roughly 2:46, is the orchestra quoting the Overture from Jesus Christ Superstar? I note the slight "soft-rock" influence in the overall arrangement involving the guitar, so I wouldn't be surprised if the band slipped it into the dance arrangement.
(Conversely, I wouldn't be surprised if Webber stole the melody either.)
Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky
#27La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 2:06am
This site really shows its worth when people do really cool things like sharing such footage and memories.
Thanks PJ!
#28La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 3:57am
How absolutely wonderful and really interesting. Thank you PJ.
Was the choreography change in the title routine only ever used for Harvey Evans or did other Zazas dance?
"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"
#29La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 8:28amThank you, dwirth, for posting your gems!
bryan2
Broadway Star Joined: 12/19/06
#30La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 9:19amhaving seen this in tryouts in Boston and then again in London ...when it came to Boston again I was thrilled to to see this again...unfortunatly this was a really scaled down version and on the Wang (at the time) theater it was lost in this mammoth stage...Larry Kert mmmm the man could sing but he was the worst most uncomforatble actor ihave ever seen (saw him in Rags in boston and he brought the show to a hault with his stiffness ) He always looks like he left the coathanger in his shirt...The sad thing is I had been telling everyone this was a great show...so when we all went they kept saying it seemed like commuity theater and at 50-80 dollars at that time was not worth it. God rest Larrys soul but the man should just have sung and never tried to act...the rest of the cast were as unmemorable as his awful performance was memorable
#31La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 2:08pm
Thanks for the memories, P.J. I've never seen footage, in fact, never even got to see it from out front since we were never swung out. What a thrill it was to share the stage with pros like Larry and Harvey, two old friends having the time of their lives, the incomparable Sheila Smith, actually playing that violin, as Jacqueline and that whole incredible, loving ensemble.
For those complaining about the producers soft-selling the homosexuality, realize it was 1987. The height of AIDS phobia. When we arrived in Atlanta, the stage hands at the Fox were wearing latex surgical gloves in protest.
You don't open closed minds by hitting them over the head. You sneak in by way of their emotions and humanity. That's what La Cage aux Folles was all about. By day two in Atlanta the latex gloves were gone, and we were joking and laughing with the crew. It turned out to be one of the best stops on the tour.
What an incredible experience for me as a young, unsure, gay man, to be on tour in a gay love story, performing for appreciative, cheering audiences, with (excepting the charming Bob Carroll as Dindon, and the lovely, talented women) a cast of all openly gay men. Okay, maybe not openly to the press, but you're not going to change people's minds with a piece of theater if you can't get them into the theater. On the first day of rehearsal, Arthur Laurents said "This is a show about love." That statement informed the entire production. Gay is not universal. Drag is not universal. Love is universal, and that is what made the show work. It wasn't about shying away from homosexuality, it was about exposing the shared truth.
Sure, it lacked some of the production values of the Broadway version, but in addition to D.C. and Boston, we brought that show to places like Bloomington, IN and Huntsville, AL and Peoria, IL. I know it meant something to people in these places because they met us at the stage door and told us so.
In addition to Larry, and our director Fritz Holt who died one week into rehearsals (Laurents stepped in to direct), three men in that video were dead from AIDS within five years. It choked me up to see them alive and gorgeous and vital again.
#32La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 3:59pm
Thanks for the memories, TimesSquared. I never realized that Fritz died during those rehearsals. He was a wonderful man.
Do you remember the names of the Cagelles?
#33La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 4:39pm
I sure do.
Keith Keen - Chantal
Reese Holland - Hanna (who soon went on to play Marius and Raoul in the original L.A. companies of Les Miz and Phantom.)
Carmen Yurich - Phaedra
Jim (later, Austin) Kirby, Kevin Backstrom, Joyce Dara, Kerry Finn, and Frank Mayo.
Dan May, John Clonts and Carol Ann Baxter were the swings (John was also dance captain).
Only eight Cagelles, but they each had more to do. Keith's Chantal also incorporated the Mercedes character (Albin's slightly over-the-hill nemesis) that David Evans played on Broadway.
Dan O'Grady, one of the original Bway Cagelles played Jean-Michel, Wendy Oliver was Anne, Patricia Arnell was Mme. Dindon, Wade Collings was Francis (the stage manager character) and Kent Gash (now a successful director) played Jacob, the maid.
#34La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 5:11pmTheatrical Landladies, I did the show a couple of years later at Papermill Playhouse with Lee Roy Reams, who, of course, tapped his feet off as Albin. He had already played Albin for a short time on Broadway, and I'm pretty sure he danced in that production as well.
#35La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 6:32pm
Thanks for sharing these videos and the memories.
I saw the show on Broadway right after I moved to NY. It was later in the run with Walter Charles and Van Johnson. It had a huge impact on me then. I had never seen such controversial (and personal) subject matter presented in such an accessible way for all to enjoy and embrace.
It meant a lot to me. It still does.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#36La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 7:17pmMuch appreciated TS. Were the "Bird Costumes" changed because the trapeze was not used or was this down to cost? Looks like all the other outfits are as per the original Broadway plot.
"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"
#37La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/19/13 at 8:28pm
Thanks for the memories, TimesSquared. I never realized that Fritz died during those rehearsals. He was a wonderful man.
Yes, he was. I knew he was no longer with us, but I didn't know exactly when he died. Thank you, TS.
#38La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/20/13 at 12:31amIt sounds funny, but the bird costumes were replaced because they would not fit in the trucks. The bird costumes required a separate big wooden crate for each costume and each headdress. The packing plot of the trucks was planned before we even went into rehearsals. They knew the whole segment would be changed for Harvey anyway, so Theoni Aldredge designed the Harliqueen (as we called them) costumes just for that tour. The trapeze were cut because we did a bunch of split-weeks and there was no safe way to install them in one day (if there was even room for them in the fly system of some of those smaller theaters).
#39La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/20/13 at 1:04am
TimesSquared, we read these boards just for the chance to hear details like the ones you can provide of productions we have loved or remember. Merci mille fois (to quote Jacqueline)!
My fuzzy recollection of the Bus and Truck was limited to prepping the sets in New York, and supervising the load-ins and techs in New Orleans followed by Fort Worth (do I have those cities right?) How shocking to have forgotten that Fritz Holt wasn't actually with us to shepherd us through to the opening night as he had in each of the other incarnations of the show.
#40La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/21/13 at 3:58amThanks so much again TS. I would love to spend a year chatting with you!
"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"
Leadingplayer
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#41La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/21/13 at 4:06amWhat did Kert play in Breakfasty at Tiffanys?
#42La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/21/13 at 12:52pm
IBDB lists it even though it didn't officially open (because it played four previews).
Per IBDB, Larry played "Carlos".
http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=12867
Updated On: 5/21/13 at 12:52 PM
#43La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/21/13 at 1:16pmWow, those videos took me back! Thanks so much for posting them.
jwsel
Featured Actor Joined: 8/2/05
#44La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/24/13 at 1:35am
TimesSquared,
Thanks so much for sharing your memories. I saw the first national tour when it came to Los Angeles when I was 14 and have always had fond memories of the show. Your post also is a very stark reminder of how many wonderful and talented people we lost due to AIDS. Just imagine how many original shows and great performances we would seen from them if their lives had not been cut short.
I also wanted to a respond to the poster who questioned the inclusion of the two female Les Cagelles. As mentioned, it did highlight how beautiful the male Cagelles were. But I also think it may have been designed to add another note of interest. Whether you consider it a gimmick or not may depend on your perspective, but the audience definitely was encouraged to play a game of "can you guess which are the girls?" That definitely helped keep my brothers' attention through the show.
#45La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/24/13 at 10:17amThe guessing game of male and female Cagelles may have been a directorial choice, but it is certainly written into the libretto as well, so it's hard to say if it was a directorial imposition that Fierstein came around to include, or if it was an essential part of their concept for the piece.
#46La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/24/13 at 10:42am
and performances like that are what made me fall in love with musical theatre. I love the old time performers. they were all so talented and present. just wonderful.
thanks for posting this.
Miss Larry Kert tremendously.
#47La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/24/13 at 7:00pm
^ Not sure if he'd like being called Miss Larry Kert, but ...
Regarding the female Cagelles, yep, they were planned from the very first casting of the show. In fact, if I'm not mistaken one of the ladies was Cady Huffman who also served as dance captain. A check of Jerry's lyrics of "We Are What We Are" makes it practically a necessity:
"We are what we are -
Half a brassiere, half a suspender.
Half real and half fluff,
You'll find it tough guessing our gender."
Frankly one of the criticisms I had of the revivals was that it wasn't REMOTELY tough guessing the genders of those Cagelles.
Updated On: 5/24/13 at 07:00 PM
#48La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/24/13 at 7:14pm
^ I remember that was a gimmick built into the lyrics and the show.
I also remember trying to guess who was "real" and who was "an illusion." It was definitely part of the original production.
... and part of the fun.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#49La Cage Aux Folles 1987 Tour with Larry Kert and Harvey Evans
Posted: 5/24/13 at 7:25pm
Reminds me of one of the sweetest moments in the show-- the curtain call when the Cagelles remove their Erte coats and wigs to reveal real boys and a couple of girls in shirts and chinos (or skirts). Arthur was happiest when our prettiest boy Cagelle, now in shirt and pants, would shake out his shoulder-length blond hair and still confound those who needed to know who's what.
Can anyone help me with that boy's name?
Updated On: 5/24/13 at 07:25 PM
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