2023-12-28 05:05:00
The cultural offering was particularly abundant in 2023, the different productions making us laugh as much as dance, cry or get high. After spending the last 12 months in the province’s performance halls and concert halls, the Journal team presents to you today its 10 favorites of the year.
• Read also: Cultural retrospective 2023: a year of controversy and great mourning
Lili St-Cyr, musical theater
Marie-Pier Labrecque brings Lili St-Cyr back to life in the musical theater of the same title. Photo courtesy Hugo B. Lefort
She was the queen of Montreal nights, bringing crowds from the Gayety Theater to the El Morocco cabaret during the 1940s. But the stripper Lili St-Cyr is reborn on our stages in words and music thanks to the impressive work of Mélissa Cardona and Kevin Houle. The author and composer of this large-scale musical comedy have succeeded in injecting a large dose of humanity into the woman behind the glitter, played brilliantly by Marie-Pier Labrecque. And the best news in all of this? The show continues its journey in 2024 to explore new regions. (BL)
One Night at a Time TourMorgan Wallen
Morgan Wallen AFP
Cowboy hats flooded our amphitheaters for the arrival of this country star and Morgan Wallen, like his opening acts, was up to the task. Mixing his classics with his most recent hits, the singer kept the crowd on their feet throughout the show before putting the icing on the sundae by appearing on stage with a Remparts jersey in Quebec and another from the Canadiens in Montreal for his encore. (AC)
In the secondtoo
Chantal Poirier / JdeM
Interpret only the parts of In the second for their return? No thanks. Fortunately, the rock group has no shortage of hits to revisit. If the musicians have already more than proven themselves, they manage to raise the bar of virtuosity with this show which is at once soaring, explosive and filled with humor. A reunion worthy of the name! (PM)
The Foo Fighters at the Verdun Auditorium
Performance by the American hard rock group the Foo Fighters at the Verdun Auditorium on Monday, July 10, 2023. MARTIN CHEVALIER / LE JOURNAL DE MONTRÉAL
After three appearances at Osheaga canceled due to the pandemic and the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters pleased 3,763 lucky music lovers by giving an intimate concert at the Verdun Auditorium, where they had played 20 years earlier . A classic evening that we won’t soon forget. (RGM)
The Smile, Parc de la Francophonie in Quebec, and Place Bell in Laval
The Smile in concert at the Parc de la Francophonie, July 14. Photo Cédric Bélanger
Outside of Radiohead’s sandbox, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have lost none of their creativity or relevance in their new musical project, which gave two evenings of exquisite music to Quebecers last summer. (CB)
The Addams Family
The musical comedy “The Addams Family”, directed by René Simard MARIO BEAUREGARD/AGENCE QMI
We thought we knew Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday, Pugsley and company. But director René Simard lets us discover them in a whole new light with the musical The Addams Family. Both gloomy and luminous, funny and touching, this Quebec version is carried by high-caliber performers, including Rita Tabbakh, Luc Guérin and Tommy Joubert, all absolutely enjoyable as members of the Addams clan. (BL)
Neo-RomanceAlexandra Stréliski
Alexandra Stréliski concert at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal, Tuesday April 11, 2023. Photo from the Mario Beauregard archives/QMI Agency
It is not without reason that the Montreal composer received a golden ticket for the 50,000 tickets sold for her show Neo-Romance. When presented indoors, all his musical poetry seems to be placed in a perfect setting and, presented outdoors, the fusion between natural beauties and softness of the pieces delivered on the piano borders on perfection. (SEN)
Queen of Me Tour, Shania Twain
Shania Twain, “Queen of Me Tour” show, Videotron Center, Quebec, Tuesday October 24, 2023. Photo Agence QMI, PASCAL HUOT
Generous, with the on-stage energy of a young 25-year-old singer, Shania Twain maintains the beautiful love story between her and Quebec wonderfully. During the Queen of Me Tour, the Canadian countrywoman ignited the biggest Quebec arenas, despite lesser-known titles, before blowing the roofs off with an encore composed of her greatest classics. (AC)
Around the blockMichel Rivard
It was in the company of a group of 12 musicians, the Flybin big band, that Michel Rivard presented his “tour du bloc”, a show-event that he has been presenting across Quebec since last January. Photo credit: Alexandre Cotton
It’s a great journey through “the furrows of time” of his 50-year career that the songwriter offers with Around the block. Surrounded by eight musicians and three backing singers, Rivard wandered through his immense repertoire, playing several hits from his solo career and from Beau Dommage. (RGM)
Les Cowboys Fringants on the Plains of Abraham, Quebec
Cowboy Fringants show on the Bell stage at the FEQ on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, Monday July 17, 2023. Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Robert Charlebois, who was the opening act, said he thought it was the biggest deal in Quebec since the SuperFrancoFête. The 90,000 people who attended, with heavy hearts, the extraordinary lesson in courage from the late Karl Tremblay certainly did not want to contradict him. An unforgettable night! (CB)
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