Word: albin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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ANOTHER SEQUEL TO the La Cage Aux Folles trilogy has just hit the silver screen, and the two principal characters, Renato/Zaza (Ugo Tognazzi), the transvestite star of the Cage aux Folles cabaret, and Albin (Michel Serrault), the manager of the St. Tropez nightclub, are still being played by the original actors. Naturally, Zaza and Baldi have aged a little bit since the saga began--they mostly go by the names "Mammi" and "Pappi" as a concession to the passing of time...
...does not plan to. When his fiancee and her parents visit, he wants to pass Georges off as a retired diplomat, bring in his real mother, whom he has not seen for 20 years, and exile Albin for the night...
Georges gives in, but Albin protests being hidden away. In one of the show's best numbers, which might well be adopted as the anthem of Gay Liberation, he sings...
...Albin too eventually gives in. When Jean-Michel's mother fails to show, he puts on his dress and plays Mamma himself. Though his ruse is discovered, the show ends happily, of course, with the girl's parents in retreat, Jean-Michel accepting Georges and Albin for what they are, and the two lovers-Georges and Albin, that is-walking arm in arm offstage...
...that our greatest enemy would be the tendency to hide, to avoid being honest. If a gay show is a hit and doesn't make a statement, what's the point?" Says Herman, who also wrote the music and lyrics for Hello, Dolly! and Mame: "Writing for Albin was no harder than writing for Dolly. We just had to be true to character...