Brought to Montreal, The Secret Chord is a tribute to the life, poetry and music of Leonard Cohen. Is it is play? Is it a concert? Some people are stumped and don’t know if it’s worth going to see, especially if they are not super fans of his work. In my review, I explain the performance and I had the pleasure of speaking with Montreal-born Travis Knights, one of five performers in this experience.
Confession: Leonard Cohen was never in my playlists
This is bold statement, especially for a Montrealer. I mean, have you seen our city? We have not one, but two giant murals dedicated to Leonard Cohen. As a city, Montreal loves Leonard Cohen. And if you mention Cohen in conversation, it’s usually filled with praise and appreciation for his work. Who doesn’t know the world-famous song, Hallelujah? So why was I never a fan?
As an 80’s kid, I can tell you I love music in almost all genres. I was lucky enough to have a dad that for a brief time in his life was a DJ, and I had a mom who had performed on stage at a young age and loved multiple genres of music as well. My dad was more into 70s dance, R&B, blues and jazz, and loved Italian pop music too. My mom was raised on crooners by her parents, and her favourite singer was Rod Stewart. The repertoire was vast and fantastic at home.
But I can tell you in honesty, Leonard Cohen just wasn’t on our radar. Sure, I heard of him growing up, I don’t think there is a Montrealer that hadn’t. But I’m going to be brutally honest here – I didn’t love his tone in his music. His deep, dark, and low voice didn’t really do it for me. I wanted to dance to music, and I wanted to belt out songs, so it just didn’t vibe with me.
A Tribute in an Experience
When I was invited to see the opening of the Segal Center’s The Secret Chord: A Leonard Cohen Experience, I thought two things. First, I should go as a Montrealer to see this tribute of a man everyone clearly loves, and second, I should bring my husband, because he has wanted me to love Leonard Cohen for a while, and I haven’t given him too much of a chance.
Attending the show with a fairly clean slate and an open mind, we were quite literally amazed.
As most people that are unfamiliar with the performance, I was not sure what The Secret Chord would be. I didn’t know if it would be a musical, a play or a concert. Well, I can tell you it was none of those things. As Travis Knights explains in our conversation, Mike Ross, Marni Jackson and Frank Cox-O’Connell, the co-creators of The Secret Chord put together a concert/documentary/theatrical performance. The cast and the band work together to transpire bits and pieces of Leonard Cohen’s life through his poetry, his songs and his other journal entries. Together, a story is conceived. The show builds with each new song, each new poetry reading…and by the end of it, the audience is singing along. It was incredible.
Whatever you think you knew of Leonard Cohen, or whatever you liked about his work, this show takes all that and makes it into something unique, and absolutely fantastic.
The Cast and Band of The Secret Chord
The cast consists of five people and the band is also only five people. Together, they create an ambience and energy that is palpable, the more the show goes on.
I must admit, when I read the cast included Divine Brown and Travis Knights, I was giddy. I have loved both of their work for some time and to be able to see them perform in such an intimate setting at the Montreal Segal Center is a true privilege.
Evan Buliung, Andrew Penner and Emily Schultz make the rest of the cast and they are unbelievable in their range and power in their performances. I loved each of their takes on the songs they sung, and it made me immediately search them up to find what else they have done.
The band consists of David Theriault (piano), Frederic Bourgeault (trumpet), Jacob Gorzhaltsan (reeds), Tyler Parent (bass) and Jonah Baetz (drums). They are phenomenal.
Each performer has a moment where they shine all on their own and together, they are a masterpiece on stage.
I had the opportunity to speak with Travis Knights about his experience with The Secret Chord, as well as his upcoming project, also in Montreal. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with him, and I’m sure we could had gone even deeper into the conversation regarding parenting and the arts. But there are some gems in this chat. I hope you enjoy!
The Secret Chord: The Leonard Cohen Experience is on until January 12th in Montreal and I highly encourage you to go see it. I would not recommend this for younger children due to its content. I believe if you have teens in your home, you should definitely take them to see this. It has so much energy and entertainment in such an intimate setting. I think they will love it.
For tickets and more information, visit The Segal Center’s website. To learn more about Travis Knights’ The Mars Project, click here.
Disclosure: I was offered tickets to facilitate this review. All opinions, as always, are my own. Photos provided by The Segal Center.