The Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier was sold out for four performances The Queen Boy, clearly shows Quebecers' enthusiasm for opera.
Because he was aware of this trend, Mayor Jean Drapeau fought with all his might for the construction of the Place des Arts. “Opera,” he said, “ordinary Quebecers eat it!” He had even opened Le Vaisseau d'or, carved from the art gold of the old Windsor Hotel, where one should definitely not waste one's time eating and listening to opera. The mayor himself then took it upon himself to silence the unruly customers.
The wealthier Quebecers who love bel canto almost all avoid the Montreal Opera. Instead, they end up at the Metropolitan in New York, where the tickets are overpriced (and so are the singers!). It's a shame for these rich citizens because they sometimes overlook little gems. Fortunately, these do not escape the ordinary world that the Montreal Opera supports from a distance.
Ordinary Quebecers had a full house last week for La Reine-Garçon, the new opera by playwright Michel Marc Bouchard and composer Julien Bilodeau. However, their work is not easy. There are no big arias and the libretto tells of the existential (and lesbian) fears of Queen Christina of Sweden in the 17th century. The philosopher Descartes took the opportunity to show that the soul is located in a small gland in the brain. A very hilarious passage.
A DISTRIBUTION
The outstanding soprano Joyce El-Khoury, the Montreal baritone Étienne Dupuis, the coloraturist Aline Kutan, very funny in the role of the Queen Mother as Isaiah Bell, very entertaining in that of Count Johan: all the actors offer first-class performances. The conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, now an integral part of Bilodeau's music, leads the OSM musicians and choirs intelligently and appropriately.
This is the third opera by Michel Marc Bouchard, a remarkable masterpiece of our time. His first piece, Les feluettes, set to music by Australian composer Kevin March, dates from 2016. The piece of the same name was preceded by a real triumph and had great success.
Barely two years separated Bouchard's second opera, La belle du monde, for which Julien Bilodeau wrote music that served him admirably. But some paintings dragged on, the staging was sometimes chaotic, and the endless list of painters whose paintings were threatened by the Nazis proved boring.
MANON MASSÉ was moved to tears
None of these minor errors affect The Queen Boy. Bilodeau's music is moving and sometimes even humorous. Also frightening, because twice we hear a heartbreaking scream that resembles the scream of a killed animal. A brilliant idea, but surprising.
In the crowd of enthusiastic spectators leaving the Wilfrid Pelletier Hall at the end of the day, I met Manon Massé, the former spokesperson for Québec Solidaire. With her eyes still moist, she admitted to me without embarrassment that she had cried during “The Queen Boy.” This is the magic of opera that Bouchard and Bilodeau know how to exploit so well.
On Sunday night, despite the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift, more than a million Quebecers were still watching La Voix. Quebecers are really crazy about singing and opera.