Founded in 1946, this small cabaret from Pigalle, whose stars were the first French transgender Bambi and Coccinelle and which saw Serge Gainsbourg play, has cultivated extravagance and impertinence for 77 years.

Here, no playbacks like at Michou, the neighbor opposite, but talents with bewitching voices and full of repartee, singing in French.

"It's the genre cabaret where I developed, the starting point of my life. The current troupe takes up the torch and it's great! I hope that many artists will be able to reveal themselves as I did, "adds the one who, assigned boy at birth, told his transition in a book ("Marie because it's pretty", Bonobo editions).

Current owner and director of Mrs. Arthur, Fabrice Laffon recognizes that the rescue was done in extremis. "The cabaret remained closed for a long time [from 2010 to 2015]. We started from scratch but made sure that the history of the place continues," he said.

Show at the transvestite cabaret "Madame Arthur", May 25, 2023 in Paris © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

"We had the chance to meet these incredible young artists, around the vocal-piano DNA, transvestites or not, girls or boys, but never transformists [turning into a well-known personality], as elsewhere. We are not in imitation at all!"

"Back to basics"

"In 2015, when we reopened, there were more of us on stage than in the hall!" recalls pianist and composer Charly Voodoo, one of the pioneers of this renaissance, who settles down to his instrument in underpants and sneakers for the second show of the evening.

"We bet on a return to the roots with a cabaret +queer + in the state of mind and singular creatures, such as Diamanda Callas, Odile de Mainville or Lola Dragoness Von Flame, retwisting the French hits. Word of mouth did the rest," he says.

(l-r) Artists Charly Vooddo, Lola Dragoness Von Flame, Diamanda Callas and Odile de Mainville at the transvestite cabaret "Madame Arthur", on May 25, 2023 in Paris © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

Overflowing with humor and madness, fifteen burlesque artists in extravagant costumes appropriate by rotation the heritage of the francophone song but not only, from Stromae to Celine Dion via Barbara, Björk or Michael Jackson duly translated.

The evening continues until the end of the night: after the two daily shows at 21:00 and 23:00, the cabaret that broke the wall separating it from the Divan du Monde, former concert hall, is transformed into a discotheque, from Thursday evening to Sunday morning.

Show at the transvestite cabaret "Madame Arthur", May 25, 2023 in Paris © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

Under the leadership of Charly Voodoo, in his thirties, a former professor at the conservatory who signs arrangements and improvisations, Madame Arthur succeeds in the tour de force of proposing a different show each week.

Recently, the cabaret-club paid tribute to the "queen of Parisian nights", Régine who, shortly before her death in May 2022, had offered her boa to the troupe, which performs every year at the Festival Off d'Avignon.

And, last month, the Centre Pompidou invited Madame Arthur's creatures for a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg who, like his father Joseph before him, was pianist of the first transvestite cabaret in Montmartre.

Artists Lola Dragoness Von Flame (l) and Charly Voodoo prepare in a dressing room of the transvestite cabaret "Madame Arthur", on May 25, 2023 in Paris © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

Success obliges, Madame Arthur regularly goes on tour and offers the live broadcast of her Parisian shows on the Internet.

© 2023 AFP