The press night of the illness-troubled Menier Chocolate Factory production of La Cage Aux Folles has been postponed again due to the continuing ill-health of lead Douglas Hodge. The media will now see the show on 9 January.
The show, which held its delayed first preview last night, had already shifted its press night by 10 days to 13 December due to the illness of several members of the cast. A statement today confirmed that Hodge is still unable to perform: “During rehearsals Mr Hodge contracted a chest infection which resulted in bronchitis across both lungs and caused a severe bronchospasm. He hopes to return to the production in mid-December.”
Previews will continue with Hodge’s understudy Spencer Stafford in the role of Albin. The rest of the cast is: Philip Quast as Georges, Tara Hugo as Jacqueline, Neil McDermott as Jean-Michel, Jason Pennycooke as Jacob and Iain Mitchell and Una Stubbs as Monsieur and Madame Dindon.
Based on the French play by Jean Poiret, La Cage Aux Folles is a comedy about middle-aged lovers Albin and Georges, who run a drag nightclub in St Tropez where Albin’s alter-ego ZaZa is the star attraction. Complications ensue when Georges’s son invites his moralistic future in-laws to dinner.
La Cage Aux Folles is booking until 8 March.
CB