A friend just sent me a bootleg of the original Broadway performance of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, which is a show I don't know much about. I'm planning to watch it little bit by little bit in the midst of a hundred other things I've got going on. And watching the beginning last night I was so struck by a story choice that I thought I might spend this week watching and writing about it. You don't need to know the musical yourself, I'm going to tell you what you need to know right now.
The show is about a queer couple, one of whom is a drag queen and the other who runs a drag club, dealing with their son, who wants his fiancée's parents to meet his parents, but is afraid of what they might do if they discover his parents are gay. It's the musical version of THE BIRDCAGE, basically, although I think that movie is based on the French film, whereas the musical is based on the play (which is different in some ways).
So here's how the show opens: we find ourselves at the club that Georges runs and Albin/Zaza performs at. And Georges welcomes us and then we get this long opening number, "We Are What We Are," where Les Cagelles--the drag queens of the club--slowly reveal themselves to us. And based on Georges' comments, there's a sort of game that's set up: some of the Cagelles are actually women and others are men. And so part of the "We Are What We Are" song taking its time is very much about giving the audience the chance to suss each of the Cagelles out and decide for themselves who is who.
The musical debuted in 1984, at a time when the idea of gay family unit was just unheard of by mainstream society --hell, being sexually active and gay was still a crime in many places--and drag was certainly not in the mainstream. And the opening was very much about starting from where the audience was. Knowing that a typical audience coming to see this show would probably be uncomfortable, and would absolutely be looking close to try and "see" the man behind the drag, they start the show by affirming and encouraging that impulse. In fact as I understand it at curtain call Les Cagelles take off their wigs and you discover who was a man and who wasn’t. And the audience loves that.
And the number really takes its time getting started. The character all have their backs to the audience and then slowly one by one they turn and get a moment. Again, that’s all about playing into the audience’s curiosity and the game of it all, which is also all about making the audience comfortable so that they’ll be more receptive to the journey they’re about to take with this gay family. The opening is very much a promise that this is all going to be fine. We’re easing into this, and you don’t have to do anything but just watch and enjoy the puzzle of it all.
I’ve been writing this blog for about a year now and one thing that I’m realizing is that I’m really fascinated by the technique of audience anticipation—thinking about where your audience is at any given moment in a piece, and playing upon that. That's what sleight of hand is all about, right? Their attention is at X, so we can surprise them at Y. In a sense the LA CAGE opening is still that trick, but it’s less about surprise than it is about getting them comfortable.
