Review: Leonard Cohen show will make you feel all the feels
An impassioned ensemble of musicians and artists sheds new light on the Montreal-born poet/songwriter’s work
Confession: I’m not a big Leonard Cohen fan. Sure, I know a handful of songs, including that one-word number that’s been done to death by other singers, and I’ve read several poems and half of one of his two novels. But The Secret Chord (Rating: ✭✭✭✭), subtitled “a Leonard Cohen Experience,” whatever that means, has made me want to seek out more of his work.
The show kind of falls into that hybrid genre that Soulpepper (who’s producing the show, presented by the Mirvishes as part of their Off-Mirvish season) has made its own: a bunch of songs, often in unusual arrangements, along with some biographical material, hazy imagery and a narrator of some sort.
But there’s no narrator in The Secret Chord, and you have to piece the biographical material together from snatches of the text, which is all drawn from Cohen’s works (none of it attributed onstage).
Which means the show, created by Frank Cox-O’Connell (who also directs), Marni Jackson and Mike Ross (who did the musical arrangements), has to draw you in by other means. Forget labels. Sure, it’s a concert, but it’s more than that. It immerses you in Cohen’s world, or rather conjures his sensibility and philosophy.
In lieu of an intermediary, we’re given the interpretations of a dozen or more artists: the way they sing a song, wail out a jazz solo, speak a bit of poetry, dance (enter Travis Knights, tap-dancer extraordinaire) tells you about the vibe of a scene or a character’s POV. Heck, even the way a performer like Divine Brown settles into a chair amounts to a dramatic statement.