The Hunchback of Notre Dame on Stage

[disneyprincess11]

HOLY CRAP: The gargoyles have been removed COMPLETELY from the musical!!!!

http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/downloa ... k_KBYG.pdf

[DisneyJedi]

HOLY CRAP: The gargoyles have been removed COMPLETELY from the musical!!!!

http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/downloa ... k_KBYG.pdf

I really don't know what to think of this. All I can hope is that it does manage to balance the dark tone with some humor and keep Esmeralda alive (WITHOUT making it seem like she dies for real, only to actually be alive).

[Disney's Divinity]

Good. Now, just kill off Esmeralda at the end and this would actually be a pretty nice show.

[PatrickvD]

Good. Now, just kill off Esmeralda at the end and this would actually be a pretty nice show.

[Tangled]

I was actually kind of looking forward to see how they would have handled the gargoyles. The German production already sounded like an improvement over the movie with how they actually made it clear that they were figments of Quasi's imagination.

Then again, Clopin fits in the story more as a comic relief character.

[blackcauldron85]

From reading that, I got the impression that maybe there will be gargoyles, the "friends" Quasi has, but they won't come to life and have personalities...

[Prince Edward]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame sounds like a great stage adaption. I really hope Disney will take this to Broadway, I imagine that will be the only way we would get a cast recording of this stage production in English. (Got the CD version of the German stage version, but it would be great to hear Hunchback on stage in the original language.) Also, this would make one less Menken musical left to get the Broadway treatment - only Pocahontas, Hercules, Enchanted and Rapunzel left!:D (I forgot about Home on the Range on purpose.)

[taei]

I am so excited for this show!!

I was so mad a month ago cause I went to see Pippin with my friend and I didn't know what Stephen Schwartz goes to the first tour location. We missed him by a day.

But the changes to Hunchback and definitely welcome. I'm just so excited right now.

How much of an impact does Menken have on these songs? Do the writers just write them and he scores them or do they collaborate?
I absolutely loved the music of the Hunchback songs. Easily the best background music written for Disney.

[Disney's Divinity]

(Also, this would make one less Menken musical left to get the Broadway treatment - only Pocahontas, Hercules, Enchanted and Rapunzel left!:D (I forgot about Home on the Range on purpose.)

And I think Rapunzel and Pocahontas will get there, especially if Hunchback has. I really really hope Hercules will, too. Enchanted, I doubt. They probably could have made a moderately successful show a couple years after the movie first came out, but I'm not sure it's being remembered like the animated movies are? Who knows, maybe it'll happen though. HOTR will never be touched, of course. Which is a shame the soundtrack was wasted on a crap movie like that one, since I thought he was pretty good at the country songs, actually. I still love "Little Patch of Heaven," "Will the Sun Ever Shine Again," and "Wherever the Trail May Lead."

[jazzflower92]

From reading that, I got the impression that maybe there will be gargoyles, the "friends" Quasi has, but they won't come to life and have personalities...

Well, this just makes thing just a little bit more darker.

[DisneyFan09]

Several people blame the Gargoyles for being solely the problem that hampers the animated version of "Hunchback", but as grating as they are, they're not the only problem. The problem with "Hunchback" is (which hurts me to say, since I actually love the film) the lack of a clear direction. The film is zig-zagging between awkward, juvenile humor and dark, controversial issues, without fulfilling neither. Not only that, but the mixture of the components are misplaced; Djali stagging Phoebus right before Frollo sexually harasses Esmeralda, the placement of "A Guy Like You" and not to mention the awkward humor in the final climax. As annoying as the Gargoyles are, I enjoyed them as a kid, so it means that they fulfilled their purpose.

Either way, I'm glad to see that "Hunchback" is finally getting a Broadway adaptation and one that is taking more cues from the novel. I wonder if it's going to be like the other stage show that was last year.

Good. Now, just kill off Esmeralda at the end and this would actually be a pretty nice show.

Why?

[Will Barks]

HOLY CRAP: The gargoyles have been removed COMPLETELY from the musical!!!!

http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/downloa ... k_KBYG.pdf

Did you actually read the playbill? There's an interesting interview in it with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz positively commenting their collaboration.
And then there's the show's director Scott Schwartz quoted:

In this version, the concept of the gargoyles is much
closer to the novel than the film - we've cut the idea of the
gargoyles as individual, personified characters.

So keep calm and enjoy your gargoyles.

[disneyprincess11]

HOLY CRAP: The gargoyles have been removed COMPLETELY from the musical!!!!

http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/downloa ... k_KBYG.pdf

Did you actually read the playbill? There's an interesting interview in it with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz positively commenting their collaboration.
And then there's the show's director Scott Schwartz quoted:

In this version, the concept of the gargoyles is much
closer to the novel than the film - we've cut the idea of the
gargoyles as individual, personified characters.

So keep calm and enjoy your gargoyles.

The gargoyles are in the show, but NOT as characters. Just scenery. That's what they mean. Look at the cast and the song list. No Victor, Hugo, and the female one or "A Guy Like You" in sight.

[disneyprincess11]

Good. Now, just kill off Esmeralda at the end and this would actually be a pretty nice show.

You're in luck: Esmerelda does die at the end

[taei]

You're in luck: Esmerelda does die at the end

*sigh* I probably shouldnt have read that....
It probably would have been spoiled for me anyways. lol

ONE MORE MONTH!!!!
I've been hearing good things about it.

[DisneyJedi]

Good. Now, just kill off Esmeralda at the end and this would actually be a pretty nice show.

You're in luck: Esmerelda does die at the end

Excuse me in advance for overreacting, but....



Sorry.

How in God's name do you know that? Did you see the show already?

[Disney's Divinity]

You're in luck: Esmerelda does die at the end

Yay!

[disneyprincess11]

How in God's name do you know that? Did you see the show already?

No, I haven't. Someone who just saw the show in CA told me. And she dies because it's much truer to the original source than the Disney movie. And I'm glad they're taking this step: HoND shouldn't even have become a Disney animated movie

[TsWade2]

Good. Now, just kill off Esmeralda at the end and this would actually be a pretty nice show.

You're in luck: Esmerelda does die at the end

Eh, I'm cool with that. After all, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is suppose to be a tragic story. I'll always love the disney animated version of it and I still love the gargoyles.

[DisneyFan09]

So I guess this Broadway adaptation is going to be more or less like the Berlin version?