Goulet can carry a tune, but not the whole show

BY GORDON COX | Gordon Cox is a regular contributor to Newsday.

May 6, 2005

Robert Goulet, standing, has taken over the role of Georges in 'La Cage aux Folles,' with Gary Beach as his partner, Albin, drag club owners pretending to be straight for one night in order to dupe an arch-conservative politician whose daughter is marrying their son. Marquis Theatre, Broadway, NYC. (Newsday/Ari Mintz)

Robert Goulet has played a knight and a king, and now he's adding a queen to his resume. The crooner, who made his Broadway debut as Lancelot in "Camelot" in 1960 and played King Arthur in the show's 1993 revival, has taken over the role of Georges, half of a glamorous St. Tropez gay couple in the Broadway revival of "La Cage aux Folles."

Goulet has a suave bullhorn of a voice, which he shows off to fine effect in tunes such as "Song on the Sand" and "Look Over There," the thoughtful ballads tucked away among the adhesive anthems ("I Am What I Am") of Jerry Herman's score. His singing, however, is the only persuasive part of his performance.

As a nightclub impresario coping with his son's unorthodox decision to marry a woman, Goulet delivers his dialogue without much force or commitment, and spends enough time looking at his palms to make you wonder if some of his lines are written there.

Goulet's stolidity can't carry the rapid-fire, old-fashioned yuks of the Harvey Fierstein book. On the rare occasions when he's asked to dance, his moves are so slight you'd hardly notice them.

His shortcomings do not amount to a fatal flaw for the show. Goulet is cast, after all, as the "straight" man, opposite Gary Beach as Georges' flamboyant partner. More dangerous is the production's tendency toward shrillness, especially during the strenuous, acrobatic exertions of its chorus girls (who are really boys).

If "La Cage" works best when you think of it as a campy Vegas variety show, that's not out of keeping with its nightclub aesthetic.

In a recorded pre-show announcement, Fierstein even quotes Sin City's tag line, telling us confidentially that "what happens at 'La Cage,' stays at 'La Cage.'"