4th Phase: A New Kind of Musical (To be more revised … 3rd Edition)
Notre Dame de Paris Commercial
Belle, Notre Dame de Paris
Richard Cocciante composed and Luc Plamandon lyricized and directed it based on the book by Victor Hugo. Garou starred as Quasimodo, Helene Segara as Esmeralda, Daniel Lavoie as Frollo, Patrick Fiori as Phoebus, and Bruno Pelletier as Gringoire.
Instead of telling the brief summary in this article, I will just mention the differences because everyone knows the story. It differs from the animation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and is based on the original book and Anthony Quinn’s movie. I think that the visualization of the production and other little things are sadder than the book. First, the expressions of actors and actresses are more realistic than the explanation of the book. Second, I did not see many appearance of the character of Fleur de Lys in the book. Third, Esmeralda did not die by a lasso, but by an arrow. Fourth, as for the knife case that happened to the innkeeper, Phoebus and Frollo did not talk at all and Gringoire did not narrate at that part. Fifth, Phoebus did not address the execution content of Esmeralda that day. Sixth, which is the main difference, Quasimodo and Esmeralda met inside the cathedral and met for the second time very shortly. And seventh, Clopin does not appear many times in the movie and book, but he does in the production.
I did not see any ancient style of French music in the production. It was very modernized. I did not see an orchestra, whether old western or modern, but only the musical actors and actresses. Also, the costumes were modernized, too. It looked very comfortable and not tight. Why did Richard Cocciante and Fred Sathal compose and design their work like that? I guess they wanted to show something different about The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Let’s come and take a look at the modernized difference in the theater.