So having set up our main characters, their world and their relationship, we come to the inciting incident, which establishes the problem they're going to face. And it comes in a form that is once again remarkable for its relatability: their son needs them to make a sacrifice for his happiness. Jean-Michel shows up from a few weeks away with the announcement that he's met Anne, the woman of his dreams. But in order to marry her, he needs to put on a good show for her parents, and that means "straightening up" his. Really everything about this idea is very traditional--not just his parents having to make a sacrifice but the idea of your parents being in some ways an embarrassment that you have to either control or overcome, and the whole concept of in-laws and the challenges they pose.
The one thing that makes this turn on these old tropes stand out is what Jean-Michel is asking means erasing Albin from their lives while Anne's parents are visiting. It's a truly brutal request. The writers use a sweet love song about Anne sung by Jean-Michel to help make what he's asking more palatable. And the song very much has the feel of Meredith Wilson or Rodgers & Hammerstein, again, leaning into the familiar and compelling. But still, it's A LOT. The fact that it lands that way is itself such a statement of how much the musical has already accomplished. After just a half hour, we're already so invested in Albin that it's not even a question whether what Jean-Michel is asking is messed up.
At the same time, the show doesn't try to wring the emotion out of that. It wears the whole thing very lightly, which is to say patiently. First, Jean-Michel asks Georges. Then he sings "Anne by My Side," which convinces George. Then Albin shows up and is told only that Jean-Michel is getting married. And Georges reprises "Anne By My Side," but now with Albin (which in addition to trying to soften Albin up for the blow is yet another canny way that the creative team normalizes their relationship; the same love song that can apply to Jean-Michel and Anne works for them).
At no point in any of this is what Jean-Michel has asked alluded to, even obliquely. It's enough that we know it for it to hang over the proceedings. And the delay in bringing it to Albin's attention becomes a means of building tension and drama. It's funny--as writers we're so invested in the conflicts and complications of the characters. But sometimes the real source of drama is the conflict we create within the audience. LA CAGE can go on its sweet and merry way for a while without any hint of the problem because the creative team have already implanted the issue in us. It's enough that we're bearing it for it to be there.
One other note on the sequence: when Jean-Michel sings "Anne on My Arm," Gene Barry, who plays Georges, stays seated the whole time. And it's not until the very end that he shows any kind of acceptance of what Jean-Michel is asking. Near the end of the song Jean-Michel puts his hand on Georges' shoulder, and slowly, Georges lays his hand on top of his. It's a very different choice than some later productions, and I think it's key to establishing the actual stakes of all this, the pain of what Jean-Michel is asking. A few moments later Georges asks Jean-Michel, Will you get Albin a hotel room, and it's just a complete punch in the gut.
But again, Barry and the creative team don't milk it. They don't need to. Georges' question is like dropping a rock into a pond. Its waves roll on inside us.
