Guylaine Tremblay received at the end of a very popular Montreal premiere of the show ‘I don’t know how, I don’t know why’ in which she pays a sincere and moving tribute to Yvon Deschamps, presented Friday at the Maisonneuve Theater at Place des Arts Congratulations from the humor pioneer.
Yvon Deschamps even sprained his public retirement to attend this show. “I’m totally overwhelmed,” he confided at the end of the evening. That’s a lot of love to collect and a lot of memories. It awakens my whole life. With every bit of a song, I remember where I was when I wrote it. I’m also very moved to be here in Maisonneuve, where I’ve played more than 500 times. Yvon Deschamps also said he was “turned upside down” by the love Guylaine Tremblay has had for him for so long. “It’s pretty amazing, I’m speechless.”
MARIO BEAUREGARD/QMI AGENCY
In his own way
Guylaine Tremblay built her show like an autobiography, intertwined with the songs of Yvon Deschamps. “He’s like a teacher looking at us with eyes that are as sensitive as they are mocking,” she proclaims at the beginning of the show. I also want to share my love for Yvon Deschamps, my admiration for the beautiful and sensitive songs he wrote while telling you a little bit about me.
She begins by recounting her childhood in Charlevoix, recounting anecdotes, staging the colorful characters of her family and tenderly describing the love letter she sent to Yvon at the age of eight, a sequence punctuated by songs like “Life”, “Happiness “is interrupted” or “yesterday”.
Surrounded by four musicians (Jean-Fernand Girard on piano, Michael Pucci on guitar, Patricia Deslauriers on bass and double bass and Francis Covan on violin and accordion), Guylaine Tremblay does not consider herself a singer, but defends the lyrics perfectly She has made up her mind to perform. We already knew that she can push the tone, we could appreciate that in the past especially in “Belles-Sœurs”.
MARIO BEAUREGARD/QMI AGENCY
Then she talks at length about her grandmother, with whom she shared the same room for years. After the departure of her last son, he suffered from depression. One evening while watching Yvon Deschamps’ show on TV, she saw her grandmother crying with laughter. Guylaine believed for a long time that Yvon saved him from his sadness.
She later talks about meeting Robert Lepage, her incredible audition for the Quebec Conservatory, her love for Donald Lautrec, or her deep desire to be useful in life. Every slice of life is an excuse to make the audience laugh or be touched, introducing songs like “Love When You’re There” or “You Boast”.
laugh or cry
Guylaine Tremblay recalls that Yvon Deschamps “taught us to love one another, to laugh at ourselves, to burst from laughter to tears, and lately he also taught us to be old.”
She continues with a series of anecdotes about the hilarious funerals of several family members. “Laugh not to cry,” she concludes, before singing the popular “Aimons-nous,” a song that’s still very relevant.
It also allows us to revive songs that stuck in everyone’s mind, like “Les buttocks”, and others that have been somewhat forgotten, like the touching “Oublions” and “Papa”.
Although she sings around fifteen songs over the course of the evening, Guylaine Tremblay proves once again that she is first and foremost a stunning actress coupled with a real comedic talent for storytelling.
Guylaine Tremblay is on tour with her show “I don’t know how, I don’t know why” until the end of autumn.