The original Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles was a major success, winning six Tony awards and having a run of 1761 performances at the Palace Theatre. The original London production, a recreation of the NY staging, wasn’t nearly as successful, running a mere 301 performances at the London Palladium. George Hearn was able to recreate his Tony-winning performance as Albin, as part of the Equity exchange (as a result, New York was treated to Robert Lindsay’s eventual Tony-winning star turn in Me and My Girl). The show would find eventual success in London thanks to the Menier Chocolate Factory revival that transferred to the West End in 2008.
Here is the original London company performing “The Best of Times” (slightly abridged) led by Hearn, with co-star Dennis Quilley as Georges on “A Christmas Night of a 100 Stars.” Phyllida Law (Emma Thompson’s mother) is Jacqueline (take note of the way she claps during the song’s final section).
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