As with any good old tradition, we know roughly what to expect from the annual retrospective of the Théâtre du Rideau vert. That is to say to a show very effective, energetic series of numbers where the funniest ones quickly make the lukewarm sketches forget, served by a parade of impressive performances. And we can count on the fact that, even during a generally depressing year – like the one that is ending – we will come out entertained.
2023 revised and corrected starts strong, with an inspired opening number, proving its production “100% by humans”, these fallible beings, by a multiplication of stage errors. AI – or “artificial insignificance”, as renamed by François Legault who we then see relying on artificial intelligence for his disastrous decisions – is indeed among the subjects which have most fueled the authors, with the “decline” of the CAQ government, the unbalanced environment, the housing crisis. But the show casts a very wide net, from the incomprehensible metaphors of Martin St-Louis to Ginette Reno revisiting her successes at Jean Coutu, a highlight, including a beautiful sung tribute to the Cowboys Fringants.
And as always, in this 18e edition, we are seduced by the multiple performances of the performers, the same solid team as last year: Pierre Brassard, Monika Pilon, Marie-Ève Sansfaçon (hilarious as Sisters Boulay, and generally formidable as singers), Benoit Paquet, who plays here a desperate Bernard Drainville and the breathless Marc St-Martin, who perfectly reproduces the intonations of Yvon Deschamps, in a number in homage to his style.
The year 2023 will also have been that of the return of cultural icons, which the magazine highlights, with parodies ofA boy a girl and of The little life, against a backdrop of real estate eviction. A well-executed painting, but which seems a little long, despite the high quality of the imitations.
Several issues transpose a satire of current events into a popular fictional context. The prize goes to the very elaborate pastiche, with supporting video, of Impossible mission, where the agent is faced with the incredible challenge of transmitting his medical file to a specialist by… fax. On the other hand, the Survivor CAQ, with three ministers in danger, starts from a promising idea, but turns out to be incomplete. As for the sketch transporting the trials of Donald Trump into the universe of the series Indefensible, the sequence falls rather flat. The problem is always the same: how to ridicule a character who is already a caricature?
Conversely, several video capsules hit their target, skillfully exploiting good flash. We think in particular of the very grating Mr. Niet (Vladimir Poutine). Among the important current affairs issues ignored, let us note the saga of the Quebec tramway, Chinese interference. And the war in Israel, a tragedy for which we imagine it is difficult to find a humorous angle at the moment.