Parisian drag cabaret club Chez Michou shuts its doors after 68 years
Drag performer and club owner Michou ran the cabaret venue for 64 years.
By Niamh Kennedy, CNN
(CNN) — A Parisian drag cabaret club that has hosted singers such as Liza Minnelli and Serge Gainsbourg is closing its doors due to financial struggles.
Chez Michou, which lies in the hilltop neighborhood of Montmartre in the French capital, announced in a Facebook post Monday that it will be closing its doors with “great regret” due to “financial reasons.”
The club said it staged its last performance on Sunday evening, using its Facebook post to thank its final audience for “making the evening so festive and moving.”
Chez Michou was founded in 1956 by cabaret artist Michel Catty, known simply as Michou. Michou’s colorful drag performances made him a household name in France and he was known for habitually dressing in extravagant blue outfits.
Michou was still running his club when he died in February 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron was one of the many high-profile figures to pay tribute, saying after he died that “the sky of Montmartre, from now on, will be a little less blue.”
His storied club inspired the classic 1978 French film “La Cage aux Folles,” which was later remade into Hollywood title “The Birdcage” starring Robin Williams in 1996.
In recent years, however, the club came into financial difficulty, and will now be unable to honor its bookings for the coming months. Just last week, it announced its participation in a pride event in Liege, Belgium, in August.
The owners hope a liquidator is appointed in the next two weeks to help find a buyer for the property, they said.
“We are deeply sorry to have to cancel our performances and for any inconvenience this may cause,” the club told its patrons on Facebook Monday.
Catherine Catty-Jacquart, the niece of Michou, who took over operations after his death in 2020, previously told French national news agency AFP that life running a cabaret was “difficult.”
“We’re living from day to day,” Jacquart said, adding that bookings for July had not filled up despite the Olympic Games taking place in the French capital.
In its announcement, the club paid special tribute to its patrons who they called “part of the Cabaret Chez Michou family,” adding: “Whatever happens, you will always have a place in our hearts.”
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