Laurent Lafitte future diva in the role of the divine Zaza from “La Cage aux Folles”

The actor, who left the Comédie-Française in the spring, will reprise the successful role at the end of 2025 in a musical comedy at the Théâtre du Châtelet. A modernized version, with Olivier Py directing.

Il dreamed of it: Laurent Lafitte will play the character of Zaza in The Crazy Cage, scheduled for December 2025 at the Théâtre du Châtelet and directed by Olivier Py. The latter confirmed it in the columns of Parisian. The play will be adapted from the Broadway musical created in 1983, itself inspired by the work written by Jean Poiret (1926-1992) in 1973. Harvey Fierstein, the author of the libretto, and the composer Jerry Herman (also composer of Hello, Dolly !) made it a much more political object than the French version, defending the cause of LGBT people.

For his part, Olivier Py intends to follow this path and re-inscribe the work “in its context: the cabaret”. Freed from his obligations since his departure from the Comédie-Française, Laurent Lafitte will therefore play Zaza, this capricious diva embodied in particular by the legendary Michel Serrault in 1973. And there he will realize his “childhood dream”. On social networks, a first photo of his transformation is circulating, revealing the actor dressed all in red, makeup and hairstyle worked, auguring the best.

On the set of the film The imaginary Molière, released in theaters in early 2024, Olivier Py and Laurent Lafitte discovered a common passion for The Crazy Cage. “We often talked about musicals. In his dressing room, Laurent listened to it constantly and I listened to everyone from opera and musicals. entrusts the director to Parisian.

Although scheduled for next year, the show is already open for booking. At each of its operations across the Atlantic, in 1983, 2004 and 2010, The Crazy Cage was a triumph, winning a total of eleven Tony Awards. Will this success be confirmed in France, where the play has long been shunned by theaters, as it was until recently Les Miserables ? We already know that it will be performed in French – translated by Olivier Py. There remains the question of distribution. Only the name of Laurent Lafitte has so far been revealed. Olivier Py is still finalizing the casting. It's up to him to find, within a year, a worthy sidekick to Zaza/Lafitte.