It continues to swarm around the musical universe of the Cowboys Fringants. After the concerts with the OSM and the tribute show with the Cirque du Soleil, now the repertoire of the popular group will be at the center of a musical, entitled Pub Royal and made by The 7 fingers of the hand.
It was already whirling Wednesday morning at Place des Arts, when the twenty actors-singers, dancers and circus artists were present where they will give about fifteen performances in December, just after having inaugurated this ambitious show at the Grand Théâtre. of Quebec.
“I tackled a group that is an icon of the Francophonie”, launches Sébastien Soldevila, of the 7 fingers of the hand, who wears the hat of director of Pub Royal. According to him, the interest of such an exercise is to “contextualize the songs of the Cowboys Fringants to try either to give them a new meaning or to expand the meaning they already had. »
The four members of the group will not be on stage, assure the composer Jean-François Pauzé and the bassist Jérôme Dupras, the only representatives of the quartet during the announcement. But it is their music and their universe that will be at the center of the production.
Pauzé admits to having been “doubtful” during the first meetings with Mr. Soldevila, but today he is a convinced cowboy: he was caught up in the result of the first segments he was able to see and hear very recently. “What seduced us at first was when Sébastien [Soldevila] told us: we are going to make an anti-musical comedy, with an approach where we take up the codes, but by deconstructing them”, adds Jérôme Dupras, initially a little cautious but ultimately enchanted by the “a little punk” connection with Les 7 fingers of the hand.
The vast production team relies in particular on the work of Olivier Kemeid on the dialogues and on the talent of the choreographer Geneviève Dorion-Coupal.
Behind closed doors and surprises
The director Sébastien Soldevila says he immersed himself with humility in the repertoire of the formation, to which he has a clear admiration. He first selected about fifty pieces, before beginning the imposing work of sorting, coupled with that of creating a coherent narrative framework.
Pub Royal now has about fifteen titles, some of which were composed expressly for the occasion by Jean-François Pauzé, a question of filling in the gaps in the story – a bit like the use of amphibian DNA to recreate the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park — less catastrophic outcome, we hope. “Why did it work? Between Jean-François, me and Olivier Kemeid, we left our ego aside. We have worked together to make it work,” says Soldevila.
On Wednesday during the announcement, the creative team could say little about the narrative framework of the musical, preferring to avoid spoiling the surprises that the story conceals. We know, however, that everything takes place behind closed doors.
Mr. Soldevila still gives a few handfuls to hang on to. It is therefore the story of a man who “arrives in a bar following a small car problem – in the Royal Pub, which is also the name of one of the songs – and he goes to meet of several people who will change his life considerably. »
Bassist Jérôme Dupras sees a certain logic in the choice of the place where the action takes place, because Les Cowboys Fringants often refer to bars or taverns in their universe. The original song Pub Royal depicts a woman trying to rebuild her life in Chibougamau, far from the demons of Montreal. “It’s a bit of an isolated place, everything led to this song,” he says. It makes a good punchy title, which recalls the repertoire”.
It is still difficult to imagine the final result, where so many art forms intersect. But the director is reassuring, and insists that the circus has its place there, just like the dancers, who are not used “like a ballet choir”.
In addition to the Quebec dates, the production intends to set off to meet French-speaking Europe next year, a field where the Cowboys Fringants have many admirers. “The idea is to play in Paris, in Lyon, in several big cities in France”, explains Mr. Soldevila.