The famous Jerry Herman’s Broadway hit La Cage Aux Folles will have its French premiere on Oct. 1 at the Theatre Mogador. The long success story of La Cage Aux Folles started in France as a play by Jean Poiret, then as a film directed by Edouard Molinaro. In 1983, Jerry Herman made a musical version that became an instant hit and featured unforgettable showtunes such as "I Am What I Am" and "The Best Of Times." La Cage Aux Folles opened on Broadway on Aug. 21, 1983, and played 1,761 performances.

Now, the Broadway musical will have to conquer the French audiences who are more familiar with the play and the film. Alain Marcel, who has directed several musical and opera productions in France and abroad, is obviously a Broadway lover. Speaking of La Cage, he says "It’s one of the most brilliantly structured musicals I know. What I love in Herman’s work is his genius of musical staging and underscoring. Everything is perfectly set to the music. I think this production can be funny and very touching. The musical numbers can be hilarious and outrageous."

This French production of La Cage will star Patrick Rocca as Zaza and Bernard Alane as Georges/Renato. Rocca has been an impressive (and much more masculine) Javert in the Cameron Mackintosh Paris production of Les Miserables in 1991. As for Alane, he has been a long-time partner of Alain Marcel who has directed him in the lead roles of Kiss me, Kate, Peter Pan and My Fair Lady.

Of course, no Cage Aux Folles would be complete without an ensemble of gorgeous chorus girls, even if they are not real girls. The Cagelles, now renamed "Les Fabuleuses Cagettes," feature a multi-racial ensemble of performers coming from France, Italy, Argentina, the United States or the Nederlands.

For tickets and information on La Cage Aux Folles at the Theatre Mogador, call 33-1-53-32-32-00. -- By Stephane Ly-Cuong