Wayne Brady is celebrating his latest role, which he says aligns perfectly with his own sense of joy. The five-time Emmy winner and host of 'Let's Make a Deal' returns to the theatrical stage this month in the New York City Center Encores! production of 'La Cage aux Folles.' He portrays Georges, a gay man who reunites with his adult son after a betrayal. As a father of two who came out as pansexual in 2023, Brady found a deep personal connection to the character.
'It's not that I'm bringing anything that you can see that I wouldn't have brought before,' Brady told HuffPost. 'What I think is that I can feel it differently than I did five years ago, if that makes sense.'
A Groundbreaking Production
'La Cage aux Folles' is a musical adaptation of a 1973 French play, featuring music by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein. It tells the story of Georges, who owns a drag club in Saint-Tropez, and his partner Albin (played by Billy Porter), the club's star drag performer, ZaZa. When Georges' 24-year-old son Jean-Michel (Alaman Diadhiou) returns home to announce his engagement to Anne (Rachel Webb), the daughter of an ultra-conservative, anti-LGBTQ+ politician (Peter Francis James), he asks his father to pretend to be straight and for Albin to stay away.
When it premiered on Broadway in 1983, 'La Cage aux Folles' won six Tony Awards and was celebrated as a forward-looking portrayal of a same-sex parent family. The Encores! production marks the first time the musical has featured an all-Black cast. Director Robert O'Hara and Fierstein have updated the story for the present day, evident in the Act 1 opening number 'We Are What We Are,' which includes drag homages to Beyoncé and Rihanna.
'When you add the layer of representation, and the Black queer context on top of it, it takes it to another place,' Brady said.
Personal and Political Resonance
Brady first saw 'La Cage aux Folles' in a regional theater production in Florida in the early 1990s. About five years ago, he approached Fierstein with the idea of an all-Black production, originally envisioning Tituss Burgess as his co-star. 'Harvey wrote an amazing book and the music is amazing, so all of that stands on its own. But when you add the layer of representation, and the Black queer context on top of it, it takes it to another place,' Brady explained.
He noted the story's urgency in 2026: 'We live in a time when people seem to judge you even harsher on who you love, what you have between your legs, where you want to use the bathroom and on the color of your skin, even when some people thought we were all past that.'
'It's beautiful that someone who looks like me can be on-stage and on TV and enjoy certain rights. But someone who looks like me can still be condemned for the color of my skin, if I'm in the wrong place, or if I'm loving on the wrong person. As long as those things are still possible, we need pieces of art like this to fight the fight,' he added.
Future Plans and Upcoming Projects
'La Cage aux Folles' ends its run on June 28, coinciding with New York's LGBTQ+ Pride March. While no transfer plans have been announced, other recent City Center productions like 'Ragtime' and 'Into the Woods' have moved to Broadway. Brady said he would commit to a future iteration 'in a heartbeat.'
This fall, he will star off-Broadway in 'Ms. Blakk for President,' portraying activist Terence Alan Smith, who ran for president in 1992 as drag persona Joan Jett Black. Brady distinguished this role from 'La Cage aux Folles,' saying, 'It's drag in defiance, at a time when the AIDS epidemic was tearing through the gay community.'
'This is about Black activism and queer activism, and someone trying to make a difference because of what they look like and who they love. I feel a deep responsibility to have his story told right now,' Brady concluded.
