Bravo to veteran Queenstown actor Alex Derbie and guest star Rutene Spooner, who together provided the tent pole which supported the three-ring circus that was La Cage aux Folles.
Their chemistry charmed the audiences, Derbie playing the long-suffering but devoted Georges, owner of the Saint Tropez nightclub of the play's name, and Spooner bringing to life Georges' flamboyant partner of 20 years, Albin, who is by night his star female impersonator, Zaza.
Domestic bliss is shattered when Georges' son Jean-Michel (Finley Brentwood), the boy raised by Albin as if he was his own, announces his engagement to the innocent Anne (Tiffany Menzies).
Jean-Michel rather thoughtlessly persuades his father to play it straight to appease Anne's ultraconservative parents, Edouard (David Oakley) and Marie (Nicole McLean).
The boy goes even further by inviting his long-lost wayward biological mother to dinner, instead of the diva Albin, despite Georges giving his lover a hilarious crash course in masculinity.
When the mother fails to be there for Jean-Michel, it is up to Albin to save the day with outrageous identity switches and lots of ''pencils, powders and paint''.
The farcical plot, which has cultures clashing, is just enough on which to hang absolutely fabulous costumes of sequins and feathers, Busby Berkeley-style choreography and the glamorous production values of the golden age of Hollywood.
Belly laughs are mined from the spectacle of strapping thunder-thighed Queenstown men camping it up in war paint, frocks and killer heels, but the message of love crossing all boundaries is timeless.
While the songs may not be as universally familiar as in past productions Chicago, The Sound of Music and All Shook Up, no-one's heart will fail to soar when hearing the ensemble belt out the showstopper ''I Am What I Am''.
By virtue of the setting and stars though, female characters and actresses are unfortunately sidelined in La Cage aux Folles. It really only dawns later how much their elegant presence, graceful voices and comic timing are missed from a stage full of Widow Twankeys.
The next Showbiz Queenstown production is Jesus Christ Superstar, in May 2014, in a second coming 15 years after the company first staged the 1971 rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Auditions open in February.
