Broadway veteran Cheyenne Jackson was ready to take another break from musical theater like she had before. He couldn’t refuse it until he got the offer.
“Oh, Mary!” Director Sam Pinkleton wanted him to star in a revival of the Tony Award-winning musical “La Cage aux Folles” at the Pasadena Playhouse.
“About a week before I got the call from Sam, I had decided to take another sabbatical from musical theater,” says Jackson, who is also known to TV fans for his work on “Doctor Odyssey.” “Call Me Cat,” “American Horror Story,” “30 Rock.” “I had taken about 10 years off before, and I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve scratched that itch a lot.’ Once Upon a Mattress and Into the Woods.” I just did it and I’m done. I want to focus on writing. I want to focus on a lot of other things. I get a call from Sam and of course I know, “Oh, Mary!” He was very persuasive. He shared his vision with me and I went along with it. ”
Jackson will star as Georges, the owner of a drag club in the south of France. Georges is asked by his son Jean-Michel (Ryan J. Haddad) to pretend to be straight for one night to meet his fiancée’s (Shannon Purser) parents (Michael McDonald and Nicole Parker) because , because his future father-in-law is a conservative politician who cracks down on the gay community and demands the closure of drag clubs. When Georges’ longtime partner, Alvin (Kevin Cahoon), who oversees the club’s drag queens, shows up at a family gathering as Jean-Michael’s aunt, commotion ensues.
Cheyenne Jackson and Kevin Cahoon in “La Cage aux Folles” at the Pasadena Theatre.
Rounding out the largely LGBTQ cast is George Salazar as Alvin’s maid Jacob, and an ensemble of drag queens and gender-bending performers as Les Cagel at the club.
“It’s all very strange,” Jackson says. “It’s like a big gay glitter bomb that I go to every night. It’s the perfect therapy for me.”
“La Cage aux Folles” is based on a play and the 1978 French cult classic comedy film of the same name. An adaptation of the American feature film The Birdcage by director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
Cheyenne Jackson and Ryan J. Haddad in “La Cage aux Folles” at the Pasadena Playhouse.
“I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never seen the French movie or any of the La Cage films,” Jackson says. “When ‘La Cage’ was on Broadway, I never got to see it because I was always in the show. I’ve only seen ‘The Birdcage.'”
The resurgence began less than two weeks after Donald Trump was reelected. “What we’re talking about here is this politician who’s trying to shut down all the drug clubs and trying to impose his morals on people,” Jackson says. “This show could not be more timely.”
“La Cage aux Folles” runs through Dec. 15 at the Pasadena Playhouse. For tickets, visit pasadenaplayhouse.org.
