Here are our 10 favorite plays and musicals of 2024

The theatrical year which is coming to an end will have been rich in emotions, bringing spectators from laughter to tears, provoking them to deep reflection, or granting them a simple – but sweet – moment of respite, far from their daily worries. Whether traditional or musical, here are 10 productions that will have marked 2024, each in its own way.

Tootsie

Director Alexis Pitkevicht signed an irresistible love letter to Broadway with the show Tootsiethereby laying the foundations for a very promising career. With its colorful gags, its captivating choreographies and the presence of a frankly astonishing José Dufour at the head of the bill, this musical comedy – still playing in Montreal, in fact – is undoubtedly in the image of its title the most striking: Irresistible.

The Crazy Cage

An escalation of feathers and sequins, a delicious 100% Quebecois text and, above all, an absolutely fabulous Alex Perron: the new version of The Crazy Cage quickly established itself as the funniest show to have appeared in Quebec in a very, very long time. And that’s good: the play will be presented in the old capital in January before returning to the Espace St-Denis in Montreal the following month.

Waitress

Expectations were high for Marie-Ève ​​Janvier’s big return to musical comedy. And the singer did not disappoint in any way – quite the contrary, in fact! – by slipping into the uniform of Jenna, a waitress trapped in a loveless marriage finding comfort in her kitchen. A funny and touching show, whose echoes and songs continue to resonate in our ears.

Chimerica

It was like a punch in the sternum that we received Chimerica last winter. Director Charles Dauphinais delivered a gripping political thriller to the stage of the Théâtre Duceppe, carried by 12 brilliant and perfectly embodied performers. A true stroke of genius, indeed.

Titanic

Véronique Claveau amazed us – and our ears! – this year by slipping into the shoes of Céline Dion for the purposes of the musical Titanic. A delightfully irreverent show, at times crude and vulgar, but always incredibly entertaining.

The Boulevard

It is nothing less than a tour de force that Alexandre Lagueux performed on the stage of the Théâtre du Rideau vert this fall, offering night after evening a performance worthy of the greatest in The Boulevard. Deeply embodied, endearing and vulnerable, the actor brought to life this sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving show, in which a “different” young man is abandoned by his mother on his 18th day.^e birthday.

Never, always, sometimes

Let’s say it bluntly: we were deeply moved by this Quebec adaptation of the flagship work of the repertoire of Australian playwright Kendall Feaver. And that is largely thanks to the grandiose performances of Lauren Hartley and Annick Bergeron, disturbingly true in the skin of a mother-daughter duo tested by mental illness.

The Glass Menagerie

It’s possible to dust off a classic without distorting it. We saw proof of this on the stage of the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier this year, with a rereading of The Glass Menagerie skillfully translated and directed, respectively, by Fanny Britt and Alexia Bürger. Tennessee Williams would have been proud of it.

The woman who fled

The incredible life of Suzanne Meloche was recently transposed onto the stages of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde where it was particularly well served, both by the talent of Catherine De Léan and by the audacious direction of Alexia Bürger. In short, we offered the perfect setting for the text, sometimes harsh, sometimes poetic – but always divine – by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.

Fires

One word to describe Dominique Pétin in the play Fires? Masterful. The actress managed to further enhance the words of Wajdi Mouawad – already formidable and powerful in themselves – thanks to her impeccable interpretation of this woman with violated rights and dignity, victim of rape and unspeakable violence.