London has recently been home to several major U.S.-bound classic musical revivals — Oklahoma! has already arrived on Broadway and Oliver! is on its way in summer 2003. The latest addition to that list will be Jerry Herman's La Cage Aux Folles, according to the musical comedy's bookwriter Harvey Fierstein. "La Cage is coming. It's going to start in London, then they're going to bring it to New York...This is going to be an all-new production," Fierstein said. He did not, however, reveal who would produce the musical nor when the production would be mounted.
Fierstein is currently starring in the new musical Hairspray, based on the John Waters film. He plays Edna Turnblad, mother to the piece's plucky heroine and a role originally played by Divine. Fierstein is the author of Torch Song Trilogy and "The Sissy Duckling," a new children's book.
La Cage Aux Folles originally opened at the Palace Theatre on August 21, 1983. A gentle comedy based on a French film by Jean Poiret (which would also serve as the basis for "The Birdcage"), La Cage is the story of two middle-aged homosexuals Albin and Georges, who are forced to play straight when Georges' son brings home his future wife, daughter of the local morals crusader. The most famous tune from the score is drag queen Albin's anthem "I Am What I Am."