Not since Les Miserables has grocery theft inspired new musical creations, and just days after the release of a viral song about the upcoming “Steal from Loblaws” day, there’s a new musical parody playfully slamming the grocery titan.
The new video produced by Toronto-based Opera Revue, creatively titled “Les MisérLoblaws,” is a parody of the iconic musical Les Misérables, adjusted to reflect current times and the declining public opinion of large grocers like Loblaws.
“Shrinkflation. Skimpflation. Greedflation. Protest nouns we never heard before food prices started rising and Loblaws started raking in the profits at the public’s expense. The public has something to say about this. And now, so does Opera Revue,” reads a release from the company.
Set to the tune of “At the End of the Day” from Les Misérables, Les MisérLoblaws features new situationally appropriate lyrics by Alexander Hajek and is performed by Hajek along with Danie Friesen, Claire Elise Harris, and Gregory Finney.
There’s a new musical parody urging people to join the Loblaws boycott – 📹 Opera Revue pic.twitter.com/1z3ouWG8IX
— blogTO (@blogTO) April 29, 2024
The choice of music was not lost on Opera Revue, which notes “the irony of Les Miz‘s Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child.”
“We chose the music of Les Misérables to ‘parody’ because the anger, starvation, and desperation that existed in revolutionary France is becoming an all too familiar scene here in Canada,” says Hajek.
“Food bank usage is up at an alarming rate while grocery chain monopolies are posting record profits. Price gouging will be met with public ridicule and, hopefully, a meaningful boycott,” adds Hajek, who calls the performance a call to action for people to “join this well-documented crusade against greedflation,” and asks people to boycott the grocer.
The company previously lampooned public sentiment in Toronto when it produced an opera about the TTC covering everything from crime to the pervasive Cinnabon smell at Eglinton Station.