La Cage to Come Back to Broadway in March 2010

Hot on the heels of The Norman Conquests’ Best Revival Tony, producer Sonia Friedman has announced plans to bring import another revival from the West End to Broadway: La Cage aux Folles. Friedman told The New York Times that she’s aiming for a March 2010 transfer, pending approval from Actors’ Equity—star Douglas Hodge would reprise his Olivier-winning-turn as drag star Albin—and theater availability (she’s looking for a “small musical house or a large play house.”)

La Cage—which a few months ago won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival—is currently running at the West End’s Playhouse Theatre, where it transferred in October 2008 after a smash 15-week run at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The original 1983 production won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book for Harvey Fierstein and Best Score for Jerry Herman (who recently received a special 2009 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement) and ran for more than four years; a recent 2004 Broadway revival, however, met with mixed reviews and lasted fewer than eight months.

“A lot of people will ask why bring it back so soon,” Friedman told The Times, “but the answer is we’ve done it in such a different way… The production really focuses on the storytelling.” The musical, based on a 1973 French play, centers on Georges, who owns a Saint-Tropez nightclub called La Cage, his partner Albin (who headlines under the name Zaza), and Georges’ son, Jean-Michel, who’s engaged to the daughter of a right-wing politico.

Besides Hodge, no names have been mentioned for the Broadway production. The London La Cage currently features Roger Allam as Albin and Philip Quast as George; U.K. stage star and Torchwood heartthrob John Barrowman will step into Albin’s heels from September 14 through November 28.