The other day I bore witness to something that not everybody sees inside an office: a full-grown man was getting his arm hair waxed off.  It was done very early in the morning before our shift and because he took a couple of painkillers prior to the “procedure”, there wasn’t much noise.  Well, not as much noise as you would expect from a grown man having his arm hair violently ripped off.

Why was he doing this, you ask?  He was willingly going through with it to prepare for a role – he is part of the ensemble cast of 9 Works’ local staging of the 3-time Tony Award Winning musical.  Talk about commitment.  Obviously I was intrigued, so an office mate of mine (the one who was doing the actual waxing) and I decided to catch the opening show.

La Cage Aux Folles, directed by Robbie Guevara (Grease), is a story about a rather unconventional family, and the not-so-unconventional ordeals they go through.  Georges (Michael De Mesa – Hairspray) is the owner of a St. Tropez drag night club, of which his partner of over twenty years Albin’s (Audie Gemora – Cock) fabulous other persona Zaza is the star of.  Everything was going well until Jean-Michael (Steven Silva – The Boston: Kitchen Musicals), Georges’ son borne from a drunken experiment, returns home bearing the news of his engagement to the lovely Anne Dindon (Missy Macuja Elizalde, alternated by Joni Galeste).  They want to get married and Anne’s whole family is coming over for a meet and greet.  The catch?  Anne’s father, Edouardo Dindon (Raul Montesa – Repertory Philippine’s Sweeney Todd) is the head of the Tradition, Family and Morality Army and does not take very well to “alternative” lifestyles.  Desperately wanting to secure his future with Anne, Jean-Michael begs Georges to convince Albin to be away for the wedding, which poses a great problem since Albin obviously has more than a little bit of diva tendencies.

The story itself is very relatable; I mean, it’s a little bit on the extreme side, but what family hasn’t tried to cover up the skeletons in their closets?  Sure, in the musical the skeletons were doing the Can Can and were wearing forty pound sequined dresses, but the situation is still recognizable.  I especially liked Guevara’s treatment because despite the huge numbers, the dizzyingly numerous costume changes and the false eyelashes that can go on for miles, he still zeroed in on the emotional aspect of the play and focused on telling the rather simple story of two fathers willing to do anything just to make their son happy.

The cast was of course pure joys to watch – Audie Gemora shared a magical chemistry with Michael De Mesa and Noel Rayos (The Producers) was a showstopper as the overly eager maid-slash-butler Jacob.  Sheila Marie Francisco (August Osage County) as Anne’s prudish mother Marie Dindon came late in the show but I heard gasps when she entered the stage.  Analin Bantug (The Wedding Singer) as the sharp but surprisingly loyal restaurant owner Jacqueline was a particular stand out to me because the duet that she shared with Audie Gemora raised goose bumps in my arms.  And I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like backstage with all those dress and wig changes, with the males becoming females in the blink of an eye, all I can say is that I hope no one got injured.

I highly recommend La Cage Aux Folles because while I would have been very happy with just the frou-frou that the show delivered, the emotional whammy was truly sealed the deal.

Catch the show!  They’re running until the 29th of March!