Dominique Vitali is a remarkably relaxed man when we meet, given that he is just weeks away from the opening night of possibly the biggest production ever undertaken by an amateur dramatic society in Luxembourg. He only has himself to blame if the tension gets to him, of course, the show was his idea and he sort of had an inkling that he would end up starring in the production as well.
La Cage been in Vitali's plans since he wrapped up Showtime, the show Pirates put on at the Esch theatre two years ago. "I am very grateful to Pirates," he explains, "because not only is it a big and difficult show, but it's the biggest budget they have ever put into a show. So I really hope we fill the theatre and get some of the money back," he says with a slightly nervous laugh. "They will probably never let me do another one after this," he jokes.So how did Vitali end up playing Albin himself? "We knew that part would be particularly hard to cast for my vision. Pretty early on it was clear I would have to do it if I wanted to go in that direction." Luckily for him, Chris Wilson, who was originally going to be only the stage manager ("a huge job in itself, for a show on this scale," says Vitali), agreed to co-direct with Vitali. "I couldn't have done it without her," he says.
There are scene differences between the play and musical and the film. For in the play and the musical, the dinner goes pear shaped and the ensemble goes to a restaurant, and so the scandal explodes in public, whereas in the film it unravels in private in the apartment. Having said that, Vitali is keen to encourage non-English speakers who have seen the French film to come and see the show.
"They can follow the same story," he explains. As for The Birdcage, the American remake of the film with Nathan Lane and Robin William's, Vitali says it is a good attempt and fine for those who have not seen the French film. "But for those who grew up with Michel Serrault and Jean Poiret and afterwards Ugo Tognazzi [who took over Poiret's role in the film], it's so hard to compare to the original cast."
The original film, released in 1978, was hugely popular in France and in the United States, where for some time it held the record for the foreign film with the highest box office receipts. It was seen as a vanguard film for the acceptance of homosexuals in society, and helped bring the subject into the mainstream. That was in the days before Aids, of course -a subject that made the director of the first Broadway musical of the play, which opened in 1983, tread very warily indeed. Arthur Laurents managed to get his characters through the show without coming even close to a kiss, he was so worried about offending the mainstream Broadway audience. Nowadays, the musical is seen as a great family show with fun and extravagant dance numbers, a great story and fantastically memorable songs.In fact, Vitali is not that keen on viewing the show as political. "I'm not somebody for messages, and when artists or singers or actors, whatever, get too heavy on the message side I am not very happy. You know, I think we are there to entertain; leave messages to others." Nevertheless, he feels that it is fine if the show does brig up the subject of tolerance and acceptance and standing for one's identity. "But the philosophy is packaged in a fun show with really funny lines and great songs, I mean Jerry Herman wrote fantastic stuff," Vitali explains.Herman, who had written huge hits such as Hello Dolly!, was almost washed up on Broadway before he wrote the music and songs for La Cage, for which Harvey Fierstein wrote the book.
Perhaps the best-known song Herman wrote for the show is I Am What I Am, which was later made a worldwide hit by Gloria Gaynor. But hardly anyone who has not seen the musical realises that the song comes from La Cage Aux Folles. "Once you know, it makes perfect sense that it is the main song of the show, but if you had only seen the movie you wouldn't know," says Vitali. He clearly loves the music in La Cage. "What was really important for the show was to have a really able musical director [Philip Dutton], someone who understands theatre, who is a great musician who can re-arrange a lot of things. We have a 21-man orchestra with strings and the lot."
