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La Cage Aux Folles

La Cage Aux Folles at Broadway's Longacre
La Cage Aux Folles
Above: Sean Patrick Doyle sings his opening aria as Chantal the Songbird of Avignon.

"Has Broadway ever had a harder-working chorus? The six men who make up Les Cagelles—the showgirls who back Zaza when they’re not entertaining audiences on their own—perform Lynne Page’s complicated and satisfyingly theatrical choreography as if they were born to it. Nick Adams, Sean A. Carmon, Nicholas Cunningham, Sean Patrick Doyle, Logan Keslar, and Terry Lavell are the names of these performers, and Johnson treats them like stars: each is allowed his own distinct personality onstage."
- Hilton Ars, New Yorker

"Their plumage is wilting, their wigs are askew, and their bustiers keep slipping south to reveal unmistakably masculine chests. Yet the ladies of the chorus from 'La Cage aux Folles' have never looked more appealing than they do in the warm, winning production that opened Sunday night at the Longacre Theater... the Cagelles exude the raw pleasure of people being exactly who they want to be."
- Ben Brantley, New York Times

"And there's plenty of wow whenever the burly drag-queen Cagelles are onstage. They've got terrific production numbers - one with beach balls (duck!), another on roller skates. 'We are what we are,' they sing. What they are is the fiercest bunch of wigged wonders in town."
- Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News

"Les Cagelles, the chorus of female impersonators who entertain with Zaza. These guys are equal parts naughty and tawdry...They perform Lynne Page's ambitiously athletic choreography with abandon."
- Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press

"...and the glitzy and glittery Cagelles (Nicholas Cunningham, Nick Adams, Logan Keslar, Sean Patrick Doyle, Terry Lavell, and Sean A. Carmon, each and everyone startling while executing Lynne Page's spirited choreography.)"
- David Finkle, Theatremania

"Les Cagelles of the affair make a prime sextuplet; each and every one of them enhances the evening's entertainment value...Choreographer Lynne Page keeps those Cagelles amusingly busy, whipping the title song to a delightful frenzy."
- Steven Suskin, Variety

"The Cagelles...they are truly the best part of the show. Since there are only a handful of them, they are given more individual personality and masculine character than ever before... Doyle is absolutely sensational as one of the Cagelles."
- On Off Broadway, Matt Windman

"In the musical’s new Broadway production, there are fewer Cagelles, just six in all, and they have no illusions. What they are is right up front: very fit, unabashed gay men in wigs and heels, dancing in a seedy bar. These queens have muscle, and so does this revival. .... in the title number, which Johnson and choreographer Lynne Page turn into a knockout showcase for the outré Cagelles."
- Adam Feldman, Time Out NY

"This production announces its intentions right away, with its drag chorus, Les Cagelles. They’re not the collection of drag chorines you see in other productions of La Cage. They are six individual drag queens corralled into performing together. The casting of such distinctive performers as Terry Lavell, Nick Adams and Sean Patrick Doyle signals right away that any of the girls they play could headline."
- Jonathan Warman, Gay Societies

"Les Cagelles, the rag tag chorus of men in drag are choreographed to be unpolished and there’s a lovely charm to that. Of course it takes great talents to pull this off and the six performers are as gifted and funny as they are buff, which is to say very."
-Roma Torre, NY1

"Les Cagelles, the drag chorus of saucy and skillful dancers, although here their number is reduced to six. (The lively choreography is by Lynne Page)."
- Robert Felderg, NorthJersey.com

"Wrapping the production number We Are What We Are, the delightfully witty and athletic male performers cast as Les Cagelles — the chorus 'girls' at an outré nightclub on the French Riviera— tossed a few beach balls into the audience. The crowd, after having some fun, dutifully tossed them back, only to have the dancers hurl them out again. The boisterous back-and-forth escalated until one ball wound up in the mezzanine."
- By Elysa Gardner, USA Today

"Not to be overlooked, of course, are the Cagelles. They are long, lean and gorgeous, with distinct personalities. And they sure can dance."
- Elyse Sommer, Curtain Up

"Only half a dozen performers depict 'Les Cagelles,' but they are a springy, energetic crew who gaily romp through choreographer Lynne Page's frisky splits and can-can routines with well-knit precision indicative of the show's unassuming expertise."
- Michael Sommers, NewJerseyNewsroom.com

"...unleashing the Cagelles. No mere chorus, these lovely laddy-ladies form a kind of feathered Voltron: an enormous, muscle-bound, boa-tentacled, zero-body-fat superorganism—all "muscles and tits," as the lyrics promise. More of the former, though: Lynne Page's dance numbers are athletic, even gymnastic, and we're very deliberately made to feel the effort that goes into performing them."
- Scott Brown, New York Magazine

"There are only six Cagelles this time out, but each is a gorgeous vision and expert dancer, performing Lynne Page’s campy choreography with abandon and pizzazz."
- David Sheward, Backstage

"Then there are Les Cagelles (named below). Pared down from twelve dancer drag queens in the previous incarnations of the show, these six boys had the power of two dozen. They sing and dance and skate (yes, skate) their way into your hearts, as the heart of La Cage Aux Folles. Each one has special skills that are deployed more and more as the show goes on. I could write a whole column on how wonderful and talented each one of these boys is on their own. With five of the six Cagelles making their Broadway debuts, all I can say is, watch out Broadway!
-Cabaret Exchange

"The Cagelles, the marvelous drag chorus of "La Cage aux Folles," spin, undulate and twirl gymnastically in the revival, directed by Terry Johnson and choreographed by Lynne Page."
- Washington Post

Above: Opening silhouettes. Sean Patrick is posed third from the left.
La Cage Aux Folles
Above: Sean Patrick, center, and Les Cagelles in "We Are What We Are."
Above: The Birds section of the title number. Sean Patrick is far left..
Honors for the production include:

2010 Tony Award® Best Revival of a Musical [winner]

2010 Tony Award® Best Actor in a Musical
Douglas Hodge [winner]
Kelsey Grammer [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Robin De Jesús [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Choreography
Lynne Page [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Direction of a Musical
Terry Johnson [winner]

2010 Tony Award® Best Orchestrations
Jason Carr [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Scenic Design by Tim Shortall [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Costume Design of a Musical
Costume Design by Matthew Wright [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Lighting Design by Nick Richings [nominee]

2010 Tony Award® Best Sound Design of a Musical
Sound Design by Jonathan Deans [nominee]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical [winner]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Douglas Hodge [winner]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Robin De Jesús [nominee]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Choreography Lynne Page [nominee]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Sound Design by Jonathan Deans [nominee]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Costume Design
Costume Design by Matthew Wright [winner]

2010 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical
Directed by Terry Johnson [nominee]

La Cage Aux Folles
Above: Sean Patrick Doyle, Logan Keslar, Terry Lavell, Sean Carmon, Nick Adams and Nicholas Cunningham at the 64th Annual Tony Awards.