Sieber (l) and Hamilton (photo credit: Paul Kolnik)
Sieber's Show
by Christian Baines
With all the gay-affirming, drag-embracing shows that have found success in its wake, it’s easy to overlook just how revolutionary La Cage aux Folles must have seemed when it debuted on Broadway in 1983. A musical that not only featured a gay couple as protagonists – just as America was entering a new era of conservatism and AIDS-fuelled homophobia – but dared to present the notion that families with same-sex parents might be, not just the equal of, but indeed, pretty much the same as their heterosexual counterparts.
The musical went on to sweep the 1984 Tony Awards, and has since been popularized by two Tony-winning revivals and a popular Hollywood remake of the original French play-turned-film (that’s The Birdcage, for those who’ve been living under a rock for the past decade and a half). That, along with the leaps and strides made by gay rights in the last 30 years, can make the show’s remarkably inoffensive book and broad ‘dude in a dress’ gags seem almost quaint in an age where foul-mouthed Mormons and puppet sex are considered mainstream fare.
