Theatre Review: La Cage aux Folles, Playhouse Theatre, Whatsonstage.com dinner/theatre deal

By kaarcher

Bargains – and I mean real bargains – are hard to come by these days. So I was knocked out by the www.whatsonstage.com deal which offered dinner and a ticket to see La Cage aux Folles at London's Playhouse theatre for just £23.50.

Too good to be true, surely. I expected all sorts of things to go wrong. The restaurant not to be expecting us. The theatre to plead ignorance of our booking.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Spaghetti House on St Martin's Lane was very accommodating when we asked if we could arrive a little earlier than the appointed 6pm and the supper was acceptably Italian. Yummy spag bol. Check out the website for sample menus.

And to top it off we found our upper circle tickets had been upgraded to dress circle when we arrived at the Playhouse. Such a treat can't always be guaranteed, I'm sure, but in these recessional days when the West End is struggling and desperately in need of bigger audiences I suspect it might quite often be the case.

The show is a blast, starring two Les Miserables veterans Philip Quast and Roger Allam (both were excellent Javerts) as the old-time gays who live in St Tropez, the former is owner of nightclub La Cage and the latter its star attraction as drag diva Zaza.

Allam, who took over from Graham Norton, may not be the ideal build for Zaza but he mines all the sensitivity beneath the enigmatic glamour and sequins and delivers a show-stopping I Am What I Am. The pair make perfect partners.

There are lots of good songs and although the line-up of Cagelles is not as long as it might be, the chorus "girls" make up for their numerical shortage with bags of vigour and some jaw-dropping stunts.

The supporting cast currently features Tracie Bennett (who won awards for her role in Hairspray) and Abigail McKern. John Barrowman is set to step into Zaza's high heels on September 14 and will stay with the production until November 28.

It's a bundle of fluff, feathers and fun with a big heart which makes a fabulous night out.

And rest assured that www.whatsonstage.com delivers what it says on the tin so check it out for the latest offers.

Diana Eccleston

5 stars