(Quebec) Barely a week after the death of singer Karl Tremblay, some will say that the Cowboys Fringants musical created by Les 7 Doigts comes too soon. Others, it comes at just the right time…
The show launched Wednesday at the Grand Théâtre de Québec has nevertheless been in preparation for more than two years. But in the current context, he could of course only be highly emotional – whether for the creators, the members of the Cowboys, including his lover Marie-Annick Lépine, who were present, or the public, who sang with the interpreters, often clapping their hands, sometimes with tears in their eyes.
Far from being a hagiography, Pub Royal celebrates first and foremost the group’s music. Throughout a dreamlike fictional story that does not lack humor, 14 songs were sung during this 90-minute show, including five new original pieces by the Cowboys.
Before the start of the performance, the producer of La Tribu, Claude Larivée, dedicated Thursday’s media premiere “to our dear Karl”, whom he had accompanied since his beginnings, while the director of 7 Fingers, Sébastien Soldevila , who signed the booklet, assured us that the show was presented “as it was designed”, that is to say that it has not been retouched since last week.
However, the lyricist Jean-François Pauzé, who composed the new pieces – which will be found on the next Cowboys album –, knew that his friend Karl was in the cables and that he had little chance of get out. He wrote at least one song that addresses his departure head-on. And it hits hard.
“Tonight, I am the shadow of myself, it is already the end, I am tired, I can sing […] The singer gave his last show, I no longer need to be told ‘light up, I’m going out the back door…’, sings in The End of the Show the character of Johnny Flash (Martin Giroux), an old rocker who is about to take his last breath and who is the alter ego from the late singer of the Cowboys…
But we’re talking to you here about the end of the show… Let’s go back.
Pub Royal tells the story of an insurance broker named Jonathan Doyer (Richard Charest), who lands in the famous pub from the song of the same name (found on the album October) following a car accident.
The opening number – so critical in musicals – sets the tone. The troupe made up of around twenty artists – seven singers and actors, seven dancers and six acrobats – performs a new (very festive!) Cowboys piece entitled Bienvenue chez nous, which stretches for almost eight minutes, led by singer Kevin Houle as Siriso, a sort of male artificial intelligence.
The rest is a succession of scenes of beautiful musical coherence which take place inside the pub, where we find several of the characters from the Cowboys songs, including Loulou Lapierre, this “ordinary little mother” in Happy ordeal!, the Catherine who found a job as a waitress in Pub Royal, or Normand and Yves, newly unemployed in their fifties who drown their sorrows in Shooters.
What connects all these characters? This is where the creative team led by Sébastien Soldevila, with help from Olivier Kemeid on the dialogues, was quite inventive.
The character of Jonathan cannot therefore leave the pub, “a refuge” where people sing joyfully – their joy as well as their sorrow. Most of the pieces chosen by the Cowboys and the creative team are rather festive (Happy calvary!, Shooters, The crossing or the two short stories Welcome to our home and If life interests you…), even if there are of course has more touching moments, especially towards the end, with the poignant The End of the Show, No More Nothing and The Shooting Stars.
A great shiver runs down our spines when four, five or six of them sing the Cowboys songs. Because it is not easy to replace the familiar voice, sometimes rebellious, sometimes benevolent, but always true of Karl Tremblay. We therefore have the impression that this troupe of artists comes to support, with a lot of heart, the members of the Cowboys. It’s moving.
But when the pieces are sung solo, what do you want, he has just left us, it is more difficult to receive, even if the solo performances are generally quite solid. Whether it’s Kevin Houle in D’une sadness, Richard Charest in Les maison tous parelles or even Alexia Gourd in Pub Royal, who sings her heart out. Only Yvan Pedneault’s interpretation in America is crying, perhaps too emotionally charged at the moment, goes down less well.
On the staging side, hats off to the team who managed to subtly interweave dance and circus without it being heavy or making us say: hey, here’s a Chinese pole number. No, there is a full integration of the performing arts in Pub Royal, which is quite fabulous, with the circus adding just enough spice to elevate the performances.
Was this the way the Cowboys and the 7 Fingers creative team found to pay homage to the great Karl? We would have liked to ask Jean-François Pauzé or Sébastien Soldevila the question, but it was not possible to speak to them.
Basically, if we had presented this show in two weeks, in a month or in six months, the result would have been the same. The Cowboys songs already belong to the public who have been singing them for over 25 years and the new ones will be delivered soon. As for Karl Tremblay’s voice, as the character Johnny Flash says so well about his, “my voice, my songs, it will stay in the hearts of the world.”
With Pub Royal, the wave of love for the Cowboys singer is not about to subside. But the mourning remains to be done.
