La Fabuleuse Histoire d'un Royaume

The Fabulous Story of a Kingdom ranks among Quebec's most important community theatre productions, attracting tens of thousands of spectators each season from across the province and beyond. The show traces, through a series of strikingly ambitious theatrical tableaux, the major milestones of the region's settlement: the arrival of the first colonists sent by the Society of Twenty-One in the 1830s to exploit the forest resources of the "Kingdom of Saguenay," the challenges of agricultural colonization in a northern climate, the rise of the forestry and pulp-and-paper industries that shaped the regional economy, and through to the upheavals of the twentieth century, including the historic Saguenay flood of 1996 that profoundly marked the local collective memory. Presented at the Municipal Palace Theatre, an amphitheatre with over 2,300 seats and the largest gathering place in the La Baie district, the production mobilizes an exceptionally large cast composed largely of volunteers from the local community, perpetuating a tradition of regional pride passed down from generation to generation since the show's creation in 1988. This participatory dimension, rare at such a scale in Quebec's cultural landscape, makes The Fabulous Story more than just summer entertainment—it is a true identity ritual for many Saguenay families, whose members have succeeded one another on stage for decades.