On the stage of Chez Michou, in the heart of Montmartre, international stars rub shoulders with the stars of yesteryear in a joyful tribute. The young Antoine found a family among the transformists.
The light goes out and the Michou cabaret room shudders. With their candy pink maxi wigs and matching dresses, the famous loaves enter the scene. They push the song in a millimeter choreography in front of the 75 spectators seated. For an hour and a half, the numbers follow one another. It is within the mythical cabaret thatAntoine said Chouchou, 19 years old, debuted in November. At the time, Catherine Jacquart, Michou’s niece took over the establishment on the death of her uncle, as well as Marie-Pierre, the artistic director.
They are looking for a new new Michette, a curvaceous profile to replace Jacky Hénu, known as “Hydrangea”, a famous Michette who stayed thirty years in the establishment. Antoine responds to the casting with a video of him as Rika Zaraï, the popular singer of No shirt, no pants,whose repertoire includes 500 songs. “I’m a fan of Rika Zaraï, whom I had the chance to see on the Age tender and head of wood tour. I was born thirty years too late!”
“My first wigs, my costumes, my parents gave me everything”
Bingo! Among hundreds of applicants, he was selected to come and meet the team in Paris. “Imagine my stress, I had never come, if only to see the show”says Antoine, who has known the house since he was very young. “One day, I typed ‘cabaret Michou’ on YouTube and said to my mother: ‘Look, this is what I want to do when I grow up.’ My mom is a cashier and my dad is a car repairman.. The cabaret is far from their universe, but they have always supported me. My first wigs, my costumes, they gave me everything. I started with small shows in my circle of relatives.
When he appears in front of Marie-Pierre, it’s a crush. “I knew he was the right person, explains the transformist and artistic director. Antoine had the perfect physique, tall and round and, above all, he had the ‘Michou spirit’. No vulgarity, real sensitivity and respect of the artists we perform.” Antoine becomes the youngest transformist artist of the troop. He leaves his room with his parents, in the Val-de-Marne, for a studio in Montmartre.
“On stage, you alone decide when people will laugh at you”
“Marie-Pierre changed my life. It’s like my godmother the good fairy. I owe my career to him. Transformist, it’s a profession and he taught me everything.” Objective: to cut the rough diamond so that it shines on stage. “When I arrived, I hated myself, I didn’t like my body. Too big, too fat, too effeminate. I apologized for being there… Marie-Pierre said something to me that really touched me. marked: ‘If before, people laughed at your physique, now, on stage, it is only you who decides when they will laugh at you.’ Chez Michou freed me. Today, my body is my working tool.“
Assuming his difference is a balm on his adolescent wounds. “In college, I was constantly mockedI was being bullied and harassed.” Since November, that’s it, he goes on stage. “I perform almost every night, I play Brigitte Bardot and Rika Zaraï, of course. My parents have seen the show and love it. They are also reassured, because Chez Michou, we are a family. And I am part of it. !”
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