JOHN Partridge hardly had time to draw breath between playing slick lawyer Billy Flynn in Chicago and star drag act Zaza in La Cage Aux Folles.

"I finished Chicago on New Year's Eve, only four days before La Cage opened, so I thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but then I'd started Chicago only two days after leaving the Celebrity Big Brother house, when I started rehearsals on the Monday and we opened on the Wednesday," Partridge recalls.

He duly took on the iconic role of Albin, who moonlights as Zaza, in the first-ever British tour of Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical, mounted by impresario Bill Kenwright.

After playing Leeds Grand Theatre in March, the tour returns to Yorkshire next week for a run at the Grand Opera House in York from Wednesday to Saturday. Please note, the show's title may be French but the musical is in English, so just imagine it is called The Bird Cage and don't miss out on a show that has been drawing standing ovations.

Kenwright had invited Partridge to play Albin/Zaza on the recommendation of fellow producer Daniel Shuman, casting him opposite American actor Adrian Zmed in the role of nightclub owner Georges, Albin’s partner, in Zmed's British stage debut after starring on Broadway and appearing alongside William Shatner as Officer Vince Romano in the 1980s’ television show T J Hooker. West End leading lady Marti Webb will be playing Jacqueline, friend to Albin and Georges and owner of the restaurant Chez Jacqueline.

Based on Jean Poiret’s 1973 French play, La Cage Aux Folles follows the story of Saint Tropez nightclub manager Georges and Albin, the club’s star attraction. They live an idyllic existence but this all may change when Georges’ son, Jean-Michel, announces his engagement to the daughter of a right-wing politician determined to close down the local night-life. At a meeting of the parents, can Albin play the role of his life to ensure Jean-Michel can marry his love?

Partridge has loved every moment. "Though I only had four days to rehearse before the first night, I've been doing this life for a long time and I do feel a certain sense of security on stage; it's a familiar place for me, and I'm used to working at pace, like doing EastEnders for five years [he played Christian Clarke]," says the 45-year-old actor, dancer and singer.

York Press:

John Partridge in full Zaza regalia in La Cage Aux Folles. Picture: Pamela Raith

"You get to the point where your muscle memory kicks in and you can learn something fast and then throw it away! But it's not for the faint-hearted and it's not ideal when some of the preparation is done on the hop but I'm fine with it."

It helps that Partridge is such a devotee of La Cage Aux Folles, having seen the original London production at the Palladium in 1987 and myriad revivals since then. "So it's not like I've come to the show blind, but I've still had to put a lot of work into the script," he says. "It was a culture I knew well from first seeing the show at 14/15, though I never thought I would be doing this role, I never thought it would come round, so I feel honoured to be carrying the baton for what is a gift of a script and a score."

Partridge once played Eighties' pop star Marilyn in the Boy George musical Taboo with George in the cast too. "But Marilyn wasn't a drag act; he and George were just a pair of sweet punks!" he says. La Cage Aux Folles is the full-on drag parade. "What I do now is take a good two and a half hours to get ready for each show, with all the make-up and extensive padding and strapping and gizmos, adding and subtracting to look glamorous," he says.

"Albin/Zaza is the Hamlet of musical theatre: it's an exhausting role because I keep going from 'male' to 'female' throughout; I'm laughing one minute, broken the next, and as an actor you have to make it real, you have to find the truth in all of it.

"I'm no spring chicken any more but there's something satisfying and fulfilling about playing this role; I've done everything from classical ballet to musical theatre, to TV and pantomime, and I get the chance to go all out in this role, and that feels wonderful, even as I take the eyelash glue off my eyelashes."

Partridge is the first actor to give Albin/Zaza a northern accent. "I'm from Manchester and I could hear my mother talking when I talk. The fact that I can go on stage and...not be my mother, but to pay tribute to such a heritage, to re-live all those strong northern women, to be able to carry that around the country, is a privilege," he says.

"My mother died three weeks ago, and it's been hard, I can't lie; I've had to dig deep inside myself, but talking in my mother tongue has been very comforting."

La Cage aux Folles plays Grand Opera House, York, May 31 to June 3, 7.30pm nightly and 2.30pm, Thursday and Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york