nytimes.com – By Patrick Healy
At a rehearsal of the Broadway musical “La Cage aux Folles” this month the British actor Douglas Hodge paused during the number “The Best of Times” to hash out a detail with the director, Terry Johnson. Mr. Hodge asked if he could improvise where to sit on the lip of the stage as he banters with the audience midway through the song. “There will be people who are too embarrassed to talk back to me,” Mr. Hodge explained. Mr. Johnson said he trusted the actor to choose his spot; nodding, Mr. Hodge began silently conversing with invisible theatergoers, feigning delight at their imagined responses.