In honor of pride month, this week is a special episode focused on the franchise that began life as a landmark French boulevard stage comedy, and was then adapted into acclaimed films and musical. And even though the love story at the center of the story was between two men, it has captured the hearts of audiences from all sexual orientations. It also answers the age old question: what happens when you put the composer of Hello Dolly!, the director of West Side Story, and Edna Turnlad in a room together? The answer: Broadway magic.

Rob teaches Ray about the history of Jean Poiret’s play La Cage Aux Folles and its many adaptations; how competing producers (including ThWAT favorite Allan Carr) fought to secure the chance to both film and musicalize La Cage; Jerry Herman’s hummable, Tony-winning score and the anthem it provided the gay rights movement; Nathan Lane’s breakout movie performance; and all the ways in which this property has been and continues to be celebrated by audiences across the world.

If you like what we are doing, please support us on Patreon.

TEAM

Ray Hebel

Robert W. Schneider

Mark Schroeder

Billy Recce

Daniel Schwartzberg

Gabe Crawford

Natalie DeSavia

ARTICLESEPISODE CLIPS

Mike Wallace The Homosexuals 1967 - YouTube

La Cage Aux Folles (1979) movie review - Sneak Previews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel - YouTube

Epiphany - George Hearn (1982) - YouTube

La Cage aux Folles 2 Trailer

La Cage aux Folles 3 Trailer

"Color and Light" from Sunday in the Park with George

Columbo Pilot Episode - “Prescription Murder” costarring Gene Barry - Clips - YouTube

I Am What I Am - YouTube

Song on the Sand (La Da Da Da) - YouTube

I Am What I Am - Official Gay Anthem For The World - Gloria Gaynor - YouTube

The Best of Times - YouTube

Jerry Herman wins 1984 Tony Award for Best Original Score - YouTube

The Van Johnson Saga on Letterman, April & May 1985 - YouTube

La Cage Aux Folles the Musical Original Broadway Advert - YouTube

La Cage aux Folles - Broadway TV Commercial (1986) - YouTube

The Birdcage - Original Trailer - YouTube

The Birdcage - Robin Williams & Nathan Lane Rehearsal Funny HD - YouTube

The Birdcage (3/10) Movie CLIP - Act Like a Man (1996) HD - YouTube

The Birdcage (1/10) Movie CLIP - Albert Will Not Dance (1996) HD - YouTube

ADDITIONAL MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS

“Happy Bee”

• Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

• Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Prelude" from "La Cage aux Folles (Original Broadway Cast)"

La Cage Aux Folles (Original Broadway Cast)

℗ 1983 BMG Music

Released on: 1988-10-24

Associated Performer: La Cage Aux Folles Orchestra

Lyricist: Harvey Forbes Fierstein

Producer: Thomas Z. Shepard

Orchestrator: Jim Tyler

Recording Engineer: Paul Goodman

Additional Sound Effects from Final Cut Pro, iLife, and Logic Pro