Will Mandy Patinkin Return to Broadway in La Cage aux Folles?

After an absence from Broadway of almost 10 years, Mandy Patinkin is said to be interested in playing Georges in the forthcoming Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles. According to the New York Post, the Tony-winning star would like to take on the role of the French Riviera nightclub owner opposite Olivier Award winner Douglas Hodge as Albin, his flamboyant star attraction and lover.

As previously announced, La Cage aux Folles will open on April 18, 2010, at a Shubert theater to be announced, directed by Terry Johnson. The production is a transfer of the hit London revival, which began life at the Menier Chocolate Factory and moved to the West End, where it is still playing. A spokesperson for the upcoming Broadway production had no comment on rumors that Patinkin might join the cast.

“I can think of 20 people who could play Georges, and Mandy is right at the top of that list,” book writer Harvey Fierstein told the Post. “First of all, he’ll sing those songs beautifully. Second, he’s a great actor. And third, I know how much he values his family, and that is what La Cage is really about—family.”

Patinkin most recently appeared on the New York stage as Prospero in Classic Stage Company’s fall 2008 off-Broadway production of The Tempest. A Tony winner for Evita, he has appeared on Broadway in Tony-nominated performances in Sunday in the Park with George and The Wild Party, plus The Secret Garden, Falsettos (as Marvin, part of a gay couple) and various solo concerts. Off-Broadway productions include The Winter’s Tale, Henry IV, Part I, The Knife, Leave It to Beaver is Dead, Rebel Women, Trelawney of the ‘Wells,' The Shadow Box, The Split and Savages. A popular concert artist, he is well known to TV audiences as a series regular on Criminal Minds and Chicago Hope.

Featuring music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Fierstein (based on the play by Jean Poiret), La Cage aux Folles centers on nightclub owner Georges, 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.

The original 1983 Broadway production won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book for Fierstein and Best Score for Herman and ran for more than four years. A 2004 Broadway revival met with mixed reviews and lasted fewer than eight months.