I did a piece at Glyndebourne which was wonderful and where I was just cast as a singer. You keep on getting called for the same things. Unless it states on the page that the character is specifically black they are almost always seen as a white character. I started auditioning for musical theatre and operas, but I found that in the theatrical world or the operatic world itâs incredibly streamlined in colour. I studied law then realised I didnât want to be a lawyer. In London you get the opportunity to do that because people are willing to listen. Thatâs the really interesting part about cabaret the opportunity to educate, inform and challenge. Yes I am gay, yes Iâm in drag but you can bring your Nan or you can bring your eleven year old - thereâs bound to be something by Rihanna in there! At the show I did at the Menier Chocolate Factory a woman brought her children including a four year old. The other interesting thing about this piece is to transcend queer identity or gay identity and establish a musical identity as well. The seeds are already planted, they kind of know what they want: the paletteâs a little more evolved. LGC: The London audiences are very informed culturally, especially at the Southbank, where thereâs such a variety of music and performance and art on. LC: You canât seem to get enough of performing on the Southbank. I am in drag but only as a vehicle for all this good music. People think opera should only be in an opera house, sung by someone whoâs gone to the Royal Academy, or Guildhall, but music is for everyone. So Iâm in drag yes, but I wanted to do a little more opera in this piece. In terms of my evolution Iâm trying to carve out a niche for myself, and wanted this piece to do that a little bit more. I wanted the piece to be like a chocolate box, representing a variety of styles and emotion. What I try to do is draw a correlation between some of the songs and particular moments in our lives. Music Iâve fallen in love with, thatâs been on my iPod playlist as well. LC: Clearly you perform a wide range of music then - what do you look for in the songs you choose? This show is more about celebrating the music that I Iove: from pop to opera to musical theatre and jazz. The first piece was an introduction: where Iâm from, my family, painting a picture and background of how I arrived here. Le Gateau Chocolat: This show is like a chocolate jukebox of songs Iâm in love with. London Calling: So what can we look forward to from your new show? We catch up with him ahead of his latest show, I ⥠Chocolat, which opens at London Wonderground on 3rd July. Nominated for Best Drag Act at the London Cabaret Awards earlier this year, he continues his rise through cabaret circles and has also performed at corporate gigs and celebrity weddings - including those of David Schwimmer, Katie Price and Stephen Daldry. Billed as âan opera-singing diva with a penchant for being wrapped in body hugging lycra and a passion for laughter,â he draws big audiences all around the world. Le Gateau Chocolat is certainly a unique act. We talk to cabaret performer Le Gateau Chocolat about performing in drag, the world of burlesque and the lack of colour-blind casting in musical theatre France, the character and the girl, grew up in Cameroon, but neither fully understands what it is even though they can remember how it was.We talk to cabaret performer Le Gateau Chocolat about drag, burlesque and the lack of colour-blind casting in musical theatre He was coming home, but they just thought him to be a little daft. He says that when he came he wanted to call everyone brother. The American black who gives the grown up France a ride in the beginning and end of the movie offers yet another interesting side to the confusion that we in the Western world have when we look at Africa. Theirs is the more scandalous story, perhaps even more interesting in a depraved way, but Denis gives us a remembrance of how it was with all the tension and unresolved relationships. It is this cynical side of the story that ties it to Coup de Torchon. One never is sure what motivates everyone, though some of the characters are required of a remembrance of colonialism. It is the latter that gives the film its driving force, it is the latter that links this movie to Indochine. I was also struck with the love/hate relationship between him and Aimee. I was struck with the dignity of Potee, with his struggle to maintain his dignity among his peers and with his white bosses. Claire Denis has produced a movie that has some of the grand underpinnings of Indochine, the complex and unspoken relationship between France and her colonial subjects. One relatively forgettable but covering the same geography, is Coup de Torchon, the other thousands of miles away and much larger in scope is the unforgettable Indochine. In reflecting on this movie I can think of two others to help put it in perspective.
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