George Hamilton brings tour (and tan) to town

Take a deep breath, George Hamilton. The manifestation of sun-drenched informality has signed on for one year to visit such places as Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Schenectady -- not to mention Minneapolis. How do you get a tan in Minneapolis in October? Hamilton is starring in the national tour of "La Cage Aux Folles," which kicked off last week in Des Moines and glides into the State Theatre in Minneapolis for eight shows, beginning Tuesday.

Hamilton spoke by phone from New York last month, on his only day off during a short, intense rehearsal period. After this phone call, he promised, he would be doing no more publicity and working on no other projects. It would be "La Cage" 24/7 -- lines, blocking, learning the stage geography and then, once he got his legs, "enjoying the fun of it."

He had been out the previous night to see Tony Bennett and found inspiration in the 85-year-old singer's ability to command a room.

"At a certain point in your life, you have to make a decision," said Hamilton, 72. "Either you want to rust out casually and hopefully elegantly, or you decide that you're going to go back and get yourself into the best shape you can possibly get into."

Wow. That sounds like a guy who is rising early, wolfing down an egg-white omelet and then heading to the club to work up some serious sweat.

"I thought about that," he admitted. "I remember Mary Martin always telling me that she went to the gym before she went out on the road or Broadway."

But the thought passed, and Hamilton said he was confident that once he got out on the road, he'd naturally build stamina and strength.

"I remember being on a ski trip once, and I said to the instructor that I wasn't in very good shape, and he said, 'You just ski into shape,'" he said. "That's what I'm applying to this."

Taking the stage

Hamilton hooked onto the "La Cage" tour about a year ago. He had enjoyed playing Billy Flynn in "Chicago" and wanted to get back on Broadway. But "La Cage" closed before he could take over from Kelsey Grammer in the role of Georges. Producers asked if he wanted the national tour "and I asked where, and the places didn't sound bad."

His co-star is Christopher Sieber, who grew up in Forest Lake, competing for high school theater roles with Jim Lichtscheidl, the popular Twin Cities area actor ("We just caught up on Facebook," Sieber said). At 18, Sieber took off for New York and never looked back.

"I knew what I wanted to do," he said. "Minnesota people tend to stay because it's a nice place to live, but I'm not one of those people."

Sieber has earned two Tony nominations and is considered a top-ranked Broadway actor. "La Cage" is his first national tour, but he said the opportunity was somewhat irresistible.

"I get to dance with George Hamilton, come on!" Sieber said. "And I get to play my home state."

For his part, Hamilton called Sieber "a helluva actor" who forces the old man to raise his game.

"It's testing me to my deepest level of professionalism," Hamilton said.

Popular show

"La Cage" was written by Harvey Fierstein, based on the 1973 play of the same name. Jerry Herman wrote music and lyrics, and the show has won Tonys for best musical every time it's come near Broadway -- for the original in 1983 and revivals in 2004 and 2010. In the story, Hamilton's character, Georges, owns a nightclub in Saint-Tropez, where his partner, Albin (Sieber), performs as a glam chanteuse. High jinks ensue when Georges' son comes home with his fiancée's conservative parents, who are horrified by the flamboyant couple.

Hamilton started in show business in 1952. A few serious films notwithstanding, he has earned his place in culture as a symbol of savoir-faire. He got famous in part for dating the president's daughter (Lynda Bird Johnson), and making eyes at Imelda Marcos. Recently, he revealed that when he was 12, he had an affair with his father's wife, June Howard. No big deal, Hamilton said. If anything, the experience demystified sex for him. "Love at First Bite" was a sensation in 1979 in large part because it allowed Hamilton to be Hamilton -- carefree, funny, at ease with himself and popular with the ladies.

Above all, though, Hamilton is known as the man with the tan. He's been parodied, scolded and celebrated for his dedication to chasing the pallor from his countenance. In August, he had a procedure to remove what were described in press reports as "potentially cancerous tumors" from his face.

"It's not true," Hamilton said, while cheerfully admitting he could understand why this was such a deliciously ironic story for the press. "It was in the Enquirer on the front page and when they called me and said, 'What are you doing today?' I said, 'I'm out on the balcony getting some sun.'"

Take that, muckrakers.

Hamilton said the Twin Cities will be one of the many familiar places he'll visit on this tour -- which ends next fall in Canada.

"Sure, sure, been there many times," he said. "There aren't many places, when you've lived this long, that you haven't been."

Now if we can just make sure the sun shines for him.