Every evening, around 11 p.m., Serge Postigo takes off his stage costume, wipes off his make-up with three or four strokes of a wet wipe and, after greeting his comrades, gets on his electric scooter. And there, at full speed in the streets of Paris, he goes in the direction of Levallois, where he has been living for months with his wife and children.
“After being warm for two hours, I’m finally breathing,” he confides to me, seated at the back of a room in the famous Café de la Paix. I feel so good. I am the king of the world at that time. »
If I wanted to meet Serge Postigo in Paris, it’s because since November 2021, the Quebec actor and director has been playing the musical show The producersby Mel Brooks, at the Théâtre de Paris, which has been a huge success since its creation.
Even if his name is no bigger than that of his comrades, it must still be said: Serge Postigo carries this show in large part on his shoulders. And does it brilliantly!
As often happens in the art world, the way he landed this role was the result of an alignment of the planets. One evening when he was enjoying a meal at the restaurant with his spouse, the French singer and actress Karine Belly, she received a message announcing auditions for a first French production of producers, which was first a movie in 1968.
I encouraged her to go because she had always dreamed of playing Ulla, the female character in the show. She replied that she was no longer old enough for this role, but that I should audition for that of Max Bialystock. I said to myself that I was a nobody in France and that I had no chance of getting it.
Serge Postigo, actor and director
Serge Postigo still sends a video in which he performs the song This Is the Moment. To his surprise, he is called for an audition. A few days later, while he is on a beach with his son, he receives a call confirming that he has the role.
We are then in March 2020. All over the world, theaters are turning off their neon lights one by one. Serge Postigo must put the preparation of this role on hold, in the company of the director Alexis Michalik.
A comedy with the Führer
The character played by Serge Postigo, Max Bialystock, is a Broadway producer on the verge of bankruptcy who decides to put on a show of endless nonsense entitled Flowers for Hitler. The producer-gigolo (he extracts money from old mistresses to finance his productions) hopes that the show will die quickly in order to get his hands on the jackpot offered by his generous donors. But now, things do not go as planned and the show is finally a triumph.
It’s the first time that The producers, the most awarded musical show at the Tony Awards ceremony when it was adapted for the stage in 2001 (it won 12 awards), is presented to the Parisian public. Those who have not seen it should know that there are some astonishments during this musical comedy where the Hitler salute is served.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRODUCTION
Serge Postigo in The producers
I must admit that during the first third of the show, I didn’t really know which foot to dance on. The representation of homosexuals (all mad women), old women with their walkers and soldiers from the Third Reich, all of this made me feel uneasy. Then comes the scene of the failed show with Hitler, and everything falls into place.
I don’t think this show could have been presented in Paris 25 years ago. You should know that next to the theater, there is a school, and on a panel, we can read that 300 Jewish children were kidnapped, deported and exterminated under the Vichy regime. The show goes well with the public, because everyone takes it for their cold.
Serge Postigo, actor and director
Seven times a week, Serge Postigo puts on Max’s suit to give a very physical performance in the company of Benoit Cauden (a “wonderful” playmate, according to Postigo) and the rest of the imposing cast. This show, acclaimed during the last presentation of the Molières, last May, made Producers one of the great successes of the year in Paris. The team is guaranteed to offer it at least until April 2023.
Family stability
As surprising as it may seem, this is the first stage experience in France for someone with French origins. Much loved in Quebec, Serge Postigo is not entitled to the same recognition in Paris. The one who made himself known to us in the popular series 4 and a half enjoy this anonymity.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRODUCTION
Serge Postigo in The producers
“You walk into a rehearsal room and you are asked if you have done this often in your life. I think it’s great, because I feel a sense of starting over. It’s good to lower your ego sometimes. Since the day when people stopped me in the street to ask me to hold the camera so that I could photograph them with my dog who was with me in 4 and a halfI understood how stardom worked,” he laughs.
The strong presence of private theaters in Paris offers a very different system from ours. We create a show and throw it like a bottle into the sea, not knowing how long it will last.
As I always say: in Quebec, a hit lasts a month and a flop, 30 days, says Serge Postigo. Here, you never know.
Serge Postigo, actor and director
This “biorhythm” of 30 or 40 performances to which Serge Postigo is accustomed, however, played a trick on him. “After 90 shows, I had a hollow. I had to rediscover the happiness of going to play every night. And it is through my comrades that I drew this new energy. »
This long-term commitment allows him to have a certain family stability. Her two youngest children, Scarlett and Valentin, were already living with their mother in Paris. So they have their full-time dad. “My great Thomas [qu’il a eu avec Marina Orsini] comes to stay. »
Serge Postigo is taking advantage of this long installation to introduce the Parisian milieu to the other strings of his bow, in particular that of the director (he has already staged Grandpa resists in France). “They offer me things,” he said, his eyes shining. I am currently reading projects. »