The team of Royal Pub A few days after Karl Tremblay’s death, he certainly wouldn’t have thought of starting his show. But life does funny things, and this musical comedy about the world of Cowboys Fringants will now help the group’s fans ease their pain during the holidays.
In early November, Le Journal attended one of the Pub Royal rehearsals at 7 Doigts Studios in Montreal. At the time, no one knew that Karl Tremblay would die a dozen days later. Even though the singer’s health problems have been public since the summer of 2022, everyone remained confident that he would be able to attend one of the musical’s performances.
In September, the singer even sang the new Pub Royal songs that Jean-François Pauzé had written himself. “We wanted Karl to sing all the songs in the show, including the new ones,” says Jean-François. We recorded them and will eventually put them on an album.
For the Cowboys, Jean-François Pauzé was particularly involved in the Pub Royal’s creative team. The songwriter worked closely with director Sébastien Soldevila.
“When Jean-François offered me to write new songs, I was able to make connections in the story,” says Sébastien. From this I wrote a guide, similar to a play.”
Pub Royal aims to be an anti-musical and will follow various characters in “the most chaotic bar in Quebec.” All this in the world of Cowboys Fringants songs. The show will feature seven actors/singers, seven dancers and six circus performers.
“We held auditions for the singers this summer,” says Sébastien Soldevila. We were looking for different timbres, different voices. We are really proud of the work done. It was a challenge for her because Karl Tremblay’s voice is not nothing. It is also part of the collective unconscious. Everyone has it on their minds. We can’t distort it, but we can’t go completely to the other side either.”
“They also noticed that there were a lot of words, that the river was fast,” the director continues. There are words per square foot! They didn’t save. It was a real source of pride for them.”
Although Karl Tremblay will never be able to see an official performance of Pub Royal, Jean-François Pauzé told us that all members of the group saw a dress rehearsal at the Théâtre Maisonneuve in August.
√ Royal Pub will be performed tonight through Sunday at the Grand Théâtre de Québec. The show will then be at the Théâtre Maisonneuve in Montreal from December 6th to January 6th. For all information: pubroyal.ca.