At the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, La Cage aux Folles returns: Laurent Lafitte takes on the role of Albin/Zaza Napoli in the new production of La Cage aux Folles directed and translated by Olivier Py. From December 5, 2025, to January 10, 2026, the cult musical returns, a flamboyant cabaret with restrained emotion, to tell a story of family and freedom. In a tense era, this return embraces a tender and political gesture that overflows the stage.
A Burgundy Red Stage, a Smiling Mask
In Paris, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, a reference for theater in Paris, the stairs shine like a promise. First, you hear a rustle of feathers. Then, the clicking of heels joins in. Finally, the orchestra lifts the central aisle. At the top of the steps, Laurent Lafitte, 52 years old, appears as Albin, cabaret star, conscientious diva, alias Zaza Napoli. His smile shows enthusiasm, his gaze holds the melancholy of an artist who knows the price of every sparkle. The immense hall ignites. Barely the first song launched, you can guess the color of the evening: the spark of a grand spectacle and, beneath the glitter, the raw emotion of a family story.
This new French production of La Cage aux Folles, inspired by the musical created on Broadway in 1983 by Jerry Herman (music and lyrics) and Harvey Fierstein (book), celebrates French cabaret while remaining faithful to the American material and Olivier Py’s translation. The director of the Châtelet claims a "softer" perspective, where comedy never masks the dignity of the characters. The audience, captivated, responds from the first with a standing ovation, as one salutes a clear proposition: to celebrate identity, tenderness, and the chosen family.
Musical Comedy in Paris: A Reenchanted Emotion
A couple runs a cabaret in Saint-Tropez: Georges manages, Albin triumphs as Zaza. Georges’ son is about to marry the daughter of a conservative political figure; he demands a dinner where truth retreats and glitter withdraws. The whole structure wobbles. We know the mechanics, nurtured by Jean Poiret in the original play, popularized by Édouard Molinaro‘s film. This time, the scenography creates a living cabaret. Moreover, it installs a family living room at the heart of the stage. The numbers are inserted as impulses, not breaks. The Cagelles burst in, exquisite and fierce, synchronized bodies, frank humor, gestures that defy the gaze. The famous tunes, carried by the orchestra, unfold without vain glitz: here, virtuosity aims at the soul.
Laurent Lafitte‘s performance surprises with its dramatic precision. He does not seek caricatured contortion but the true envelope of a man who has learned to hold his place against the gusts. His Zaza does not simper. She reigns through words, poise, and precisely measured abandon. In the silences, the actor lets the shadow of solitude surface. In the crescendos, he ignites the stage. You can feel the former member of the Comédie-Française taming the vastness of the Châtelet without sacrificing nuance. He sings just right, dances just right, acts just right: a triptych that cannot be decreed. And suddenly, you understand what he recently confided. Indeed, he chose this role for its political charge. Moreover, it is for the stubborn defense of individual freedom and the right to intimacy.
Olivier Py, a Directorial Gesture in Service of Meaning
At the helm, Olivier Py unfolds a cabaret aesthetic that avoids the museum-like wink. The feathers and glitter are not accessories but the substance of the story. The monumental stairs open the perspective, the entrances in heels punctuate a dramaturgy in almost cinematic sequences. Faithful to Harvey Fierstein‘s book, the translation retains the sharpness of the punchlines and the precision of Jerry Herman‘s lyrical impulses. Py’s approach adds a tenderness, a way of softening the edges without diluting the message. It evokes Parisian cabarets, a local memory that the stage tactfully reactivates: cheekiness meets nobility, and the spectacular remains at the service of the heart.
The director embraces the relevance of the endeavor. He repeats that La Cage remains prophetic, as the play anticipates what our era sees resurfacing: discourses that strive to reduce lives to norms. Here, the stage says something else: the family is also told through the prism of a queer couple, solid, anxious, loving, refusing assignment. In the audience, one measures the effect of such a representation, especially on the younger ones: we laugh, we cry, we breathe more freely at the curtain call.
Steps, Heels, and a Television Moment
The show overflows the stage. On December 7, 2025, Laurent Delahousse follows Laurent Lafitte backstage for "20h30 le dimanche". A light sequence, almost burlesque: the journalist tries on heels under the amused eye of the actor, then strides up the Châtelet’s staircase. The video circulates everywhere. What remains is the camaraderie and the simple idea the show defends: dress codes only matter by the freedom we take to reinvent them. Beyond the viral anecdote, one senses the benefit for the production: a national exposure, a curiosity piqued, an audience at the door from December 5, 2025, the date of the premiere.
The Long Time of a Classic and Its Reinventions
We think we know La Cage aux Folles and rediscover an infinitely modern score. On Broadway, in 1983, the musical already asserted itself as a benevolent manifesto for tolerance. Jerry Herman, who had already conquered New York with Hello, Dolly!, wrote galloping melodies and hymns of intimate resistance. Harvey Fierstein, an engaged playwright, gave the characters a novelistic density that allowed the title to cross decades. The story spread to cinema with The Birdcage in 1996, transposing the plot to Miami and offering, in the grand Hollywood machinery, a delightful number to Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
The Châtelet version does not seek excess. It tightens the narrative and deflates the tics. Thus, it shifts the center of gravity from the gag to the fragile balance of a struggling household. We laugh a lot, certainly, but never against. We laugh with. The writer Jean Poiret surfaces under every line. The French adaptation carries the musicality of the language and the flavor of irony without cruelty. We leave with refrains in our heads, images that stick to the retina, one voice above all: Zaza’s, proclaiming that being oneself remains the first of the arts.
Laurent Lafitte, a French Figure at the Intersection of Theater and Cinema
We hadn’t seen him sing like this in a long time; yet, Laurent Lafitte does not approach musical comedy as a novice. His training took him on a journey, his curiosity led him early to the sung stage. We remember his elegance in Rendez-Vous at the Théâtre de Paris. Meanwhile, cinema has established him alongside Isabelle Huppert and other big names, while television has offered him character roles. At Cannes in 2025, he once again assumed the role of master of ceremonies at the Festival. His clear voice and sense of timing remind us how his career embraces the variety of the arts. Finding him as Albin reveals a coherence: the actor loves projects that demand everything, acting, singing, dancing, and a readiness of spirit.
The portrait that emerges backstage is not one of caprice. Lafitte does not fetishize eccentricity. He works on balance. In the dressing room, eyes on the wig, he speaks little, listens a lot, adjusts a gesture, an intonation, a breath. On stage, the Cagelles troupe becomes his family for the evening. The live orchestra envelops him without ever overwhelming him. Between two scenes, he glances at the audience, a gratitude that is not displayed, but sensed. In this role, he has found an axis: gentleness as strategy, affirmation without violence, pride without defiance, commitment without posture.
A Refined Aesthetic, Assumed Choices
The musical direction makes the pit rumble with brass that swing and strings that invite confidence. The choreography prefers clear energy to feats of strength. The costumes create flamboyant silhouettes. Every detail tells a story. A feather is placed like an accent. A stone captures the light. Moreover, a cut accompanies the dance instead of hindering it. The lighting shapes the cabaret into a cocoon. Then, it expands the stage to the point of vertigo. The ensemble takes over the steps in a collective number. The audience receives this performance like a wave.
The acting holds a high line. Georges is not a dull counterpoint: he is the other half of Albin’s world, his foundation and contradiction. The young lovers possess the myth’s ingenuousness, falsely naive and deeply touching. This exposes the reflex to conform when society demands it. The father-in-law watches over order, but order wobbles when faced with reality. In the end, we celebrate what the music established from the start: love as the only compass.
A Cultural Gesture in the City
In a capital rich with shows, this Cage aux Folles stands out. Its message asserts itself with clarity. It speaks to our present without preaching. It reminds us that art can defuse tensions by giving desirable forms to difference. The promotional setup, very contemporary, skillfully mixed podcasts, reports, and a strong presence in the cultural press. The networks buzz, not with scandal, but with shared pleasure. The performances run from December 5, 2025, to January 10, 2026, enough time for word of mouth to establish the rumor of success. Olivier Py repeats: the word "prophetic" is not a slogan but a warning against discourses that restrict lives.
In the hall, after the curtain call, you meet teenagers laughing. Moreover, couples hold hands. Furthermore, spectators share family memories. You also hear comments on LGBTQI+ rights, on what they carry in terms of debates and counter-discourses. Olivier Py embraces it: the show responds to the spirit of the times. Not to argue, but to show. And showing often suffices to convince. On the steps, outside, the city continues its course. The Châtelet remains behind, burgundy red, its pulse endures.
The Cabaret as a Common Home
You leave the Châtelet with the sensation of having rediscovered a genre believed to be light. Indeed, tonight, it carried a simple message high. Thus, everyone has the right to appear to the world as they are. The cabaret, under Olivier Py‘s direction, becomes a home where one sheds the coat of prejudices. In Albin/Zaza, Laurent Lafitte draws a character who demands neither favor nor excuse; he advances with grace and claims his multifaceted face. The audience responds as one responds to belated truths: with a prolonged applause, and an exit where everyone, quietly, walks a little straighter.
Practical Information: Dates, Tickets, and Show in Paris
La Cage aux folles at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. From December 5, 2025 to January 10, 2026. Reservations on the Châtelet website.
Laurent Lafitte · Olivier Py · Jerry Herman · Harvey Fierstein.