A Gay Old Time

Broadway’s La Cage aux Folles is one of those everlasting crowd-pleasers; you don’t have to be a cross-dresser to end up laughing in the aisles over this musical comedy of errors surrounding a gay cabaret owner, Georges, and his vivacious drag queen of a mate, Albin. The role of Albin is a nugget for the right actor, but if you ask the eternally tan, septuagenarian actor George Hamilton, so is the role of Albin’s foil and lover. “It’s a challenging role for me,” Hamilton says. “In many ways, I’m envious of Chris Sieber playing Zaza, because Albin is such a fabulous, flamboyant character. It’s seductive to want to be the farceur.” Hamilton will reprise that most serious character, million-dollar smile and all, beginning tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Buell Theatre, where La Cage aux Folles runs through September 16.

The story — as packaged and repackaged on Broadway, as well as in two hysterical movie versions — remains the same: When Georges’s grown son announces he is to be married, the inevitable meeting with the conservative in-laws becomes problematic, and the planned subterfuge, in which Albin is initially presented to them as a woman, goes berserk. Like we said, rolling in the aisles is a given.

La Cage continues daily except Mondays at the Buell, in the Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. Tickets start at $25; for reservations and information, visit www.denvercenter.org or call 303-893-4100.

Tuesdays-Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Sept. 4. Continues through Sept. 16, 2012