History YMMV / LaCageAuxFolles

* CoveredUp: Gloria Gaynor's disco cover of the song "I Am What I Am" became so famous and popular on its own, that most people don't realize this is where it came from, and claim the gays "stole" the song.

* AmericansHateTingle: Played straight initially, but later averted. The original London production in 1986 was a flop, though this was partially because it got lost in the shadow of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', which opened a few months later. Ironically, it was the 2008 Menier Chocolate Factory staging, which transferred to the West End and then to Broadway in 2010, that rescued the show's reputation after the poorly-received 2004 Broadway revival suggested it was no longer relevant to modern audiences (as a product of a time when positive gay portrayals were a rarity in media, particularly musical theatre, it had fallen victim to SeinfeldIsUnfunny in the ensuing two decades).

* {{Tearjerker}}: As a standalone song, "I Am What I Am" is an awesome anthem about being yourself and ignoring the haters. In context, it's ''still'' an awesome anthem... but also massively heartbreaking when put in the context of the finale of the first act for the show. [[spoiler:Albin sings it after his son has asked him to pretend to be his "uncle" so he can tell his fiancee's family he's from a "normal" family.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Jacob, Georges and Albin's cross-dressing butler prefers to be called "Claudine" or at least refer his job title as maid instead of butler. Is it a drag AlterEgo like [=ZaZa=], an endearingly playful female expression out of sheer {{Camp Gay}}ness, or is she possibly UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}}?

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Jacob, Georges and Albin's cross-dressing butler prefers to be called "Claudine" or at least refer his job title as maid instead of butler. Is it a drag AlterEgo like [=ZaZa=], an endearingly playful female expression out of sheer {{Camp Gay}}ness, or is she possibly {{Transgender}}?

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Jacob, Georges and Albin's cross-dressing butler prefers to be called "Claudine" or at least refer his job title as maid instead of butler. Is it a drag AlterEgo like [=ZaZa=], an endearingly playful female expression out of sheer {{Camp Gay}}ness, or is he possibly {{Transgender}}?

* AwardSnub: The original production ''curbstomped'' the original production of ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge'' at the 1984 Tony Awards; bringing this up is a good way to flare up the FandomRivalry between Creator/StephenSondheim and Jerry Herman fans.

!!General

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While certainly unintentional, one might not help thinking of the UnfortunateImplications regarding a story that, traditionally, is about a fairly upscale white family where the most prominent TokenMinority character (who's usually a black man no less) ''is the help''.
** More-or-less lampshaded in the 1978 film where Jacob (Benny Luke) is given to self-pleasing wordplay such as referring to Laurent (Jean-Michel in the musical) as "the little white master".

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While certainly unintentional, one might not help thinking of the UnfortunateImplications regarding a story about a fairly upscale white family where the most prominent TokenMinority character (who's usually a black man) ''is the help''.
** More-or-less lampshaded in the 1978 film where Jacob (Benny Luke) refers to Laurent (Jean-Michel in the musical) as "the little white master".

!!General:
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While certainly unintentional, one might not be able to help thinking of the UnfortunateImplications regarding the scenario of what, traditionally, is a fairly upscale white family and the most notable TokenMinority character (in this case, Jacob, who is usually a black man) ''is the help''.
** More-or-less lampshaded in the 1978 Franco-Italian film where Jacob (Benny Luke) refers to Laurent (Jean-Michel in the musical) as "the little white master".

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While it's certainly unintentional, one might not be able to help thinking of the UnfortunateImplications regarding the scenario of what, traditionally, is a fairly upscale white family and the most notable TokenMinority character (in this case, Jacob, who is usually a black man) ''is the help''.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While it's certainly unintentional, one might not be able to help thinking of the UnfortunateImplications regarding the scenario of what, traditionally, is a fairly upscale white family where the most notable TokenMinority character (in this case, Jacob, who is usually a black man) ''is the help''.
** More-or-less lampshaded in the 1978 Franco-Italian where Jacob (Benny Luke) refers to Laurent (Jean-Michel in the musical) as "the little white master".

!!The Show:
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While it was most certainly unintentional, one might not be able to help thinking of the UnfortunateImplications regarding the scenario of what, traditionally, is an upscale white family whereas the most notable TokenMinority character (in this case, Jacob, who is usually a black man) ''is the help''.

* CoveredUp: Gloria Gaynor's disco cover of the song "I Am What I Am" became so famous and popular on its own, that most people don't realize this is where it came from, and claim the gays "stole" the song.

* AmericansHateTingle: Played straight initially, but later averted. The original London production in 1986 was a flop. Ironically, it was the 2008 Menier Chocolate Factory staging, which transferred to the West End and then to Broadway in 2010, that rescued the show's reputation after the poorly-received 2004 Broadway revival suggested it was no longer relevant to modern audiences (as a product of a time when positive gay portrayals were a rarity in media, particularly musical theatre, it had fallen victim to SeinfeldIsUnfunny in the ensuing two decades).

* CoveredUp: Gloria Gaynor's disco cover of the song I Am What I Am became so famous and popular on its own, that most people don't realize this is where it came from, and [[DidNotDoTheResearch claim the gays "stole" the song.]]