The Hunchback of Notre Dame (musical)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a musical with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. It is adapted from Walt Disney Animation Studios 1996 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1831 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The musical premiered in 1999 in Berlin as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, with a book by James Lapine. It was produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, being the company's first musical to premiere outside the United States. It ran for three years, becoming one of Berlin's longest-running musicals.
This article is about the Disney-produced musical. For the French musical, see Notre-Dame de Paris (musical).The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- James Lapine (1999 version)
- Peter Parnell (2014 version)
1999 Berlin
2014 San Diego
2015 Millburn
2016 Fredericia
2016 Tokyo
2017 German tour
2017 Budapest
2018 Gothenburg
2022 Vienna
The English-language version, with a revised book by Peter Parnell, had its debut at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California on October 28, 2014 and ran until December 7, 2014.[1] Subsequently, the show went on to open on March 4, 2015 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, with more changes in the libretto.[2] The show closed on April 5, 2015, after it was announced that it would not move to Broadway.[3]
The musical is notably darker and thematically closer to the source material than the animated film, with composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz repurposing and rewriting several songs to match the original tone of the Hugo novel.[4]
History[edit]
Background (1996–1999)[edit]
In 1996, Walt Disney Animation Studios created an animated film adaption of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name. It received generally positive reviews and did reasonably well at the box office. Disney on Broadway, the stage play arm of the Disney Corporation, had staged successful versions of Beauty and the Beast in 1994 and The Lion King in 1997. Disney wanted to move The Lion King to Berlin.
Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (1999–2002)[edit]
For a long time, Berlin Theatre (now Theater am Potsdamer Platz) was in talks to stage The Lion King, but after those negotiations fell through, Disney offered The Hunchback of Notre Dame instead.[5] This project, announced by Stella Entertainment on March 18, 1998, saw the stage musical-producing market leader of Germany depart from its tradition of only importing shows which had proven to be successful on Broadway.[5] Originally rehearsed in English, then retaught in German, the musical opened on June 5, 1999 at Berlin.[6] After a successful run – where 1.4 million visitors saw the play over 1204 performances[7] – it closed in June 2002.[8]
Directed by Lapine, the German translation was by Michael Kunze, choreography by Lar Lubovitch, set design by Heidi Ettinger, costume design by Sue Blane, lighting by Rick Fisher, sound by Tony Meola and projections by Jerome Sirlin.[9][10] The production cost 45 million marks to produce,[11] much of which was subsidised by state funds.[12] The production featured forty-two actors from six different nations.[13] Nine new songs were written for this version.[13] This was Disney's first musical to premiere outside the US,[8] and it became one of Berlin's longest-running musicals to date. As with Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame opened three years after the release of the movie on which it is based.
Intermediate period (2002–2013)[edit]
Der Glöckner von Notre Dame was an isolated show, i.e., it only played in one German theatre and was not licensable to other companies. The musical was not staged again in this format for many years, however adaptations of the 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame could be seen in various productions around Disney theme parks and cruises.
In 2008, lyricist Stephen Schwartz revealed, "I think we're starting up Hunchback of Notre Dame, hopefully, next year."[14] In a November 2010 interview, composer Alan Menken confirmed that he was working on an American production, and that they would use James Lapine's book.[15] On January 9, 2013, it was announced that the musical would finally be produced for a Broadway performance with a new book by Peter Parnell and new songs by Menken and Schwartz, who did the songs for the movie and the original musical.[16] In April 2013, the very first English adaptation of Der Glöckner von Notre Dame was staged by the Fine Arts Department of The King's Academy Sports & Fine Arts Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.[17] According to The King's Academy, Walt Disney Productions personally selected them to adapt and premiere the work,[18] and received a license to stage the English version, noting that Disney was workshopping this musical for a possible run on Broadway.[19] The King's Academy collaborated with Disney Executive Studios.[20] Their director, David Snyder, helped Disney cast talent for the new show.[19] This version did not include all the songs from Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, and excludes the deaths of Esmeralda and Frollo. While being an amateur production, it is notable as the first English staging of the musical, rather than a translation of the film.
At the D23 expo, which took place on August 9–11, 2013, Josh Strickland performed the first official English version of a new song written for the stage musical version, Made of Stone.[21]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2014–present)[edit]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame had a workshop in February 2014, and its North American premiere at La Jolla Playhouse on October 28, 2014 and ran through December 7, 2014, directed by Scott Schwartz.[22] The production featured Sacra-Profana, a local 32-voice chorus, appearing onstage during the entire show.[23] The La Jolla Playhouse production transferred to the Paper Mill Playhouse with the 19 person core cast with three new cast members Jeremy Stolle, Dashaun Young, and Joseph J. Simeone, (replacing San Diego locals Brian Smolin, William Thomas Hodgson, and Lucas Coleman respectively) with a new choir local to New Jersey, the Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus from March 4 through April 5, 2015,[24][25] after which it was announced the show would not move to Broadway, but it was never officially planned to transfer. The structure of the show was finalized (with one song, Agnus Dei being cut from the show) and turned into a licensable work.
2016–17 saw the first wave of US regional theatres to produce the musical; one theatre (Music Theatre Wichita) received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to financially aid the production.[26] In December 2017 the show finally got its New York debut with its NY Regional Premiere at the White Plains Performing Arts Center and opened to outstanding reviews.
An adaption of the musical, debuted in 2016 at the Music Circus in Sacramento, embraced the novel's assertion that Quasimodo had become deaf after constantly ringing bells all his life by incorporating sign language into the show. Deaf actor John McGinty was cast as Quasimodo,[27] with a surrogate singer (one of the Notre Dame saints, played by Jim Hogan) singing Quasimodo's songs while McGinty signed.[28]
A Japanese production opened in 2016 at the Shiki Theatre Company which is one of the largest theatres in all of Japan.[29] The production opened in 2016 and released their cast album in 2017.[30] Unlike the 1999 German cast, this production is a direct translation of the current revision of the Disney production translated into Japanese. No songs or scenes have been changed outside of translation.
In April 2017, a new German production based on the reworked US stagings opened at the Theater des Westens in Berlin.[31] After closing in Berlin, the musical moved to Munich and Stuttgart.[32]
A production featured an intimate rotating cast of 18 (with no additional choir), and reduced orchestrations with the cast playing their own instruments. The production was directed by Nicholas Wainwright at The University Of The Arts in December 2017; making its Center City premiere in Philadelphia.[33]
Another production was a staging done outdoors in the amphitheater at Tuacahn Center for the Arts, which was performed from July 29-October 15, 2016.[34]
The show was performed for the first time in the UK at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama by the Richard Burton Company in 2019, directed by Graham Gill.[35]
The National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) staged the first production of the show in England at Manchester Cathedral in August of 2021.[36][37]
Captivate Theatre staged the first Scottish production of the show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2023.[38]
OSMaD staged the first Victorian production of the show in Australia at the Geoffrey McComas Theatre in 2023.[39][40]
Due to union restrictions regarding the inclusion of the choir and the profitability for Disney from licensing to local productions, the musical has never been staged on Broadway, which has garnered some criticism.