La Cage Star John Barrowman Dishes on Being a 'Big Old Queen'... Onstage and Off!

John Barrowman is something of an anomaly on the U.K. theater scene: a musicals regular who has made his name on TV as Captain Jack Harkness on the popular Torchwood and as an entertainment personality and judge on one or another of the reality TV competition programs that are everywhere lately. Barrowman is the latest in an eclectic string of stars in director Terry Johnson's Broadway-bound revival of La Cage aux Folles. To date, this production has combined straight, married performers (Douglas Hodge, who won an Olivier Award, and Roger Allam) in the roles of Albin and his drag alter ego, Zaza, with out gay stars like Graham Norton and now Barrowman. The London-based American chatted with Broadway.com about donning heels and a dress in his return to the stage and answered those critics who have argued that he is simply too good-looking (and young) to play this particular part.

You're the fourth Albin this production has had to date. Are you surprised that you were asked to be in it?
Yes and no. Yes, for the fact that it wasn't on my agenda when I came to see Graham [Norton] in it, and no, because it's something that Jerry [Herman, the composer] said to me I would do one day when years ago I was doing a Boston Pops concert and sang, "I Am What I Am." I always thought I would play Georges [currently played by Simon Burke], but here I am playing Albin.

Did you already know Jerry at the time you did the concert?
That was my first actual introduction to Jerry, but honey, I'm a big old queen from musical theater, so of course I knew his work. Then when we met, I flipped for him. He's lovely—a big personality and a very genuine man. At the time, I basically adopted him as a surrogate uncle and then I saw him again when Robert Goulet went into La Cage on Broadway. He was thrilled when he heard I was going to be doing this.

What about the obvious worry—which I suppose is no bad thing in other ways—that you might be too young for the role?
That was my first reaction as it was for everybody, but I'd been told that Jerry originally had in mind somebody not much older than I am, and I'll be 43 in March. The way we're looking at it this time around is that Simon Burke's Georges is older than I am but that I could conceivably still have a son the same as Jean-Michel. My Albin is slightly on the cusp of being past it though he hasn't quite reached that point. He's at that place where the love handles are just starting to develop.

You? Love handles?
Honey, I've put handles there for the part, but as soon as I'm done, they're goin'!

And with the worry that you're too young has come the concern that you're essentially too attractive to play a misunderstood, middle-aged drag queen.
Those comments are perhaps coming from the purists! My politically incorrect answer is that you've got to go with some change. You've got to be able to adapt. Anyway, who says Albin has to be not good-looking? You can be a good-looking man and still have issues and problems.

How did the opportunity to do this run come up?
It was from Sonia's office [Tony-winning producer Sonia Friedman]. She got in touch with Gavin [Barker], my manager, at the time that I was doing my BBC1 Saturday night TV show, Tonight's the Night, on which we were going to feature the Cagelles. One of the main things I have tried to do is integrate the musical theater world into TV. On every show, I've wanted to have a company come in and do a big musical number. We had decided to have the Cagelles and it was literally the week after we'd made that decision that I got the call.

Being a musicals devotee, you must have known of and about the show for years.
I had several early acquaintanceships with it. For two summers I did a show in Opryland U.S.A. called Music Music Music—which was, funnily enough, the name of my last album—and it had a whole section from La Cage, so that was probably my first introduction. But then I heard a recording of George Hearn singing "I Am What I Am," and there was something about that song in particular, and I say this proudly, that I then decided to close all my concerts with it. It's become my anthem over here and people expect me to sing it. I then did Putting It Together [the Sondheim revue] on Broadway 10 years ago or so and I talked to [co-star] George Hearn a lot about La Cage then and he said, "Give yourself some time, and you'd be perfect for it."

You presumably never saw George Hearn actually do the role.
No, but the really weird thing is—and George said this to me and I hope it's not a breach of confidence—that at the time he was going through some pretty tough drinking, so he would go on as Albin and then be Zaza and he couldn't remember what he had done because he had had a drink. But I'm sure he was absolutely brilliant.

Of course, "I Am What I Am" within the context of the musical itself is a slightly different thing, don't you think?
It is. I sing that number on my tour as a celebration whereas in the show, there's so much anger behind it. Albin is pissed off and thinking to Georges, "How dare you?" It's like, "I can't believe this is fucking happening to me!" That title is also the name of my new book, which is weird, as well, since the book was titled in March of this year way before this [run] was ever on the table.

That raises the question of you being a gay performer playing a gay role—something George Hearn obviously wasn't, nor were Doug Hodge or Roger Allam.
You know, I never look at roles when I'm doing them or when I watch them in terms of, “How would this be played differently because of a performer's sexuality?” I just don't. I suppose someone like Harvey [Fierstein] might get upset with me for saying this, but it's not because I'm gay that I'm playing this any more than it mattered that I was gay when I played Bobby in Company [as part of the Kennedy Center's Sondheim celebration]. I played that part as if Bobby had a child trapped inside him, so he's living this child's life and not taking life responsibly.

It’s clever that this show turns any naysayers in the audience into versions of the Dindons, the homophobic parents of Jean-Michel's bride, Anne.
Yes, which also makes La Cage a bit of a period piece. Unlike in the U.S., we have moved on in the U.K., where we have civil partnerships that have a legal foundation. The Christian groups and Bible-belters say we can't have the word "marriage"? Well, let them have the frickin' word. That's my belief—that's John Barrowman's stand. We have our civil partnerships, so for us the story of being a married couple is not the big issue. The real story is the son not wanting Albin around—about accepting that a man can also be a mother.

Does all this make you and Scott [Gill, Barrowman's partner of the last 16 and a half years and husband for the last three and a half] eager to have kids?
We've talked about it, believe me, though we're not actively looking into it at the moment. I'm actually involved in building an orphanage in Cambodia, and Scott physically went and helped build it while I was working. I was banned. What happened was that Scott said I wasn't allowed to go out there because I'm the broody one of us as a couple and he was sure that I'd come back with all of the children: We'd be the gay Brangelina. [Laughs]

Your emergence as both a big name in entertainment—and also a big gay name in entertainment—seems to have been remarkably hassle-free.
Well, I guess that's partly because I didn't have an angsty upbringing during my teenage years. I knew I was gay from the age of eight or nine and in high school I dated girls because everyone else did—and also because there were no boys who would date me. But it wasn't until I was part of the business over here that I felt I wanted to be part of something that could change the attitudes of people, in terms of coming out—something that said that you could be gay and also have a good career and play diverse roles and have your partner and your house and white picket fence and nice car.

You do have a diverse career, including your last West End gig prior to this one, the revival of A Few Good Men with Rob Lowe—a show that in every way could not have been more different!
That's for sure, though there's something about a man in uniform... [Laughs]

On the other hand, American showbiz still really doesn't want to know about gayness, does it?
Let's just say that I was open about my sexuality when I was doing Titans and Central Park West and—this is my opinion, it's not a direct quote—I was calmly asked to keep my personal life quiet, and I wouldn't do it. Whether that hurt me or not, I have too much to do in this world to let small-mindedness stop my career. When someone has tried to say, "No, you can't," my response is, "Yes, I can, absolutely." Believe me, there are so many gay people in Hollywood and you can't tell me all those baseball and basketball players are all straight—that's bullshit. The point is, there aren't enough people who are open enough about themselves who are saying, "This is normal!" I'm sorry, I'm on my soapbox. The point is, all you religious people, God created me and he created me gay.

Speaking of uniforms, as we were a few minutes ago, how are you adapting to the rather delicious wardrobe opportunities you have in La Cage?
Honestly, I find it quite liberating wearing a dress. Although it's silly and fun to do with my nieces and nephews at home, I never normally get to do it to this degree. I wouldn't in my daily life wear a dress and high-heel shoes.

On that note, let's give the last word to your legs. How are they, would you say?
[Laughs] My legs look damn good! Come and see for yourself.