“It’s not who you love, it’s that you love.”
As the marriage equality struggle gains speed toward its inevitable conclusion despite the dying protestations of the religious and politically conservative right, the theme of La Cage Aux Folles, written nearly 30 years ago, seems more prescient than ever.
The DNA of a handful of great men runs prominently through that show, and one of them is two-time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber”the only actor in the show’s legendary history to take on the roles of both characters, “Georges” and “Albin.”
Sieber, fresh from the new national tour’s performances at the Kennedy Center, invades acceptance-challenged Florida and comes to the Straz Center Feb. 21-26 to give life and relevance again to one of the gayest and greatest musicals.
This time Sieber dons the wigs and heels as Albin, the frustratingly lovable and dragmatic performer who’s partnered to dandyish Mediterranean club owner Georges, this time played by George Hamilton. (Straight and 71, Hamilton had a gay half-brother who he says helped inform his performance.)
You could argue this classic story of families staying together has helped advance LGBT rights since the beginning with numerous Tony-award winning productions, including the original 1983 show starring and written by Harvey Firestein based on the 1973 French play by Jean Poiret.
Of course, Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, so popular in the 1990s and evergreen on cable, tells basically the same tale of what happens when a right-wing, conservative politician goes to “La Cage” for dinner after their children want to get married. (Ironically, in Florida.)
Sieber, who also got a Tony nomination for his work in Shrek the Musical, played opposite Firestein in a 2011 Broadway production as Georges. (Taking over for Arrested Development’s Jeffrey Tambor who had hip trouble.)
Now Sieber’s taking on the role Firestein originated, which no doubt adds another dimension to the “Two of a Kind” actor’s interpretation of a role that could help bookend dramatically different chapters in LGBT American History.
Still, the road must be traveled, he said.
“With the primaries, conservatives are trying to find something to stick,” Sieber says.
Once again, gay marriage is emerging as a social issue linchpin in the Republican nominating contests, with Rick Santorum shaping up to be the most prominent new face of the LGBT community’s latest menace.
“When they have nothing else to complain about, they come after us,” Sieber said.
Timely as it is timeless, La Cage focuses on the hysteria created when sexuality and relationships are subject to societal disapproval or worse.
“A family can be a family no matter what it looks like,” he said.
Sieber, a resident of New York State, took advantage of his newfound rights there last Thanksgiving and married chef and former Beauty and the Beast actor Kevin Burrows, who was playing the fork when they met during that momentous Broadway production.
“It was meant to be,” he says.
Since then there’s been lots of progress.
“When La Cage’opened in 1983, the gimmick was there was guys and girls dancing and you couldn’t tell who was what,” Sieber says. “We got rid of that completely. The idea was ‘we’re a drag club, let’s just do it!'”
Sieber says another sign of the times included La Cage composer Jerry Herman and director Arthur Laurents going to the premiere with beards”and not the kind so many gay bears showcase.
“That’s how far we’ve come,” he added.
Sieber has particular ire for politicians like Michelle Bachmann and her gay-reparative-therapy-practicing husband Marcus Bachmann, who’s known almost as much for his publicly flamboyant hand gestures he calls waving.
“They keep saying that gay marriage will destroy the fabric of America,” he says. “That gay is so bad. I just don’t see that fabric being destroyed now that we can get married and be just because I can hold my head up high at the fish market now.”
For more information and tickets, visit StrazCenter.org.
