Original Broadway Cast, 1983 (RCA) 
(4 / 5) Harvey Fierstein’s book for this musical closely follows Jean Poiret’s stage farce, the film version of which became a huge hit, about the chaos unleashed when the son of a St. Tropez gay couple, one of whom is a drag nightclub star, becomes engaged to the daughter of a conservative politician. But this La Cage aux Folles is the only version — including the American film remake, The Birdcage — that portrays the two men, Georges and Albin, as deeply in love. Indeed, Jerry Herman’s touching “Song on the Sand” is still one of the few gay love ballads to come out of Broadway. Among the other choice items are Albin’s delightful paean to drag, “A Little More Mascara,” and the title song about the nightclub (“You go alone to have the evening of your life / You meet your mistress and your boyfriend and your wife!”) Additional highlights of the score are “Look Over There,” an angry defense of gay parenting, and “The Best of Times,” with its live-for-today philosophy. The first-act closer, “I Am What I Am,” is in a class by itself, and George Hearn’s savage rendition of it is one of the great Broadway performances of the decade. Gene Barry does sensitive work as Albin’s spouse. JimTyler’s brassy orchestrations add a touch of Jacques Brel to Herman’s melodies. This show sends Sondheim fans into a tizzy for having snatched away the Best Musical Tony Award from Sunday in the Park With George, but in my book, the Tony voters were right. — David Barbour
Original Australian Cast, 1985 (RCA Victor) (4 / 5) Australian cast albums are relatively few in number, certainly as compared to recordings yielded by productions on and off Broadway and in London. Here’s one of the best of the lot from Down Under. The cast is headed by the rich-voiced international star Keith Michell in the role of Georges, and he does not disappoint. The rest of the company, little known if at all outside Australia, is also laudatory — none more so than Jon Ewing as a warm, funny, and charismatic Albin, wonderfully campy and deeply moving by turns. Although Gerry Sont in the role of Jean-Michel does not have a singing voice for the ages, he sounds effortlessly masculine and charming, a vast improvement in casting over his counterpart on the original Broadway cast album. The musical direction is sharp and exciting, the sound quality of the recording is excellent, and the overall listening experience is highly enjoyable. For many years, this album was available only on vinyl LP and never transferred to CD, but now it’s far more easily accessible in digital format for streaming and/or downloading. — Michael Portantiere
Broadway Cast, 2010 (PS Classics) (4 / 5) Drastically scaled-down revivals (or revisals) of classic musicals proliferated on Broadway in the early 21st century, mostly due to rising production costs. Many of these offerings left audiences feeling unsatisfied in terms of sets, costumes, chorus and orchestra size, etc., but others worked just fine because the particular shows downscaled were amenable to such treatment. Case in point: The 2010 Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles. In this presentation at the relatively intimate Longacre Theatre, the St. Tropez nightclub around which the action of the musical centers did not appear to be a grand show place with a huge budget, as in the original Broadway production and the 2004 revival, but rather a scrappy little drag club somewhat off the beaten path, which seems more realistic. Wonderful, fully committed performances by Douglas Hodge as Albin and Kelsey Grammer as Georges spark the cast album, and A.J. Shively is the best, most vocally pleasing Jean-Michel on records. (The 2010 production, which had Gavin Creel in this role, did not produce a cast album.) Though Christine Andreas as Jacqueline and Robin de Jesus as Jacob have very little to do on the recording, it’s a pleasure to hear them, if only briefly, for their vivid characterizations. And though the complement of musicians heard here is very small indeed, that fact doesn’t harm the overall listening experience, for the reasons noted above. — M.P.