STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: THEATER - “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

Who knew that if you let Disney go further with the darkness in their stories, it’s absolutely effective, making the audience feel the heartbreak that the characters experience.

Written by Peter Parnell, music by Alen Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo and the 1996 Disney film of the same name, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an ensemble musical centering around bellringer Quasimodo who is taken in by archdeacon Claude Frollo when he was a baby.

Frollo aims to rid the “gypsy vermin” that plagues Notre Dame. He expects the captain of the guard, Phoebus, to have the same viewpoint.

When the Feast of Fools, a celebration of the gypsies, arrives, the three men are entranced by Esmeralda, a gypsy who can perform “witchcraft”, which sets off a chain of events that will make Notre Dame itself never the same again.

The more extreme tone, imagery, and plot points of the novel are portrayed in the musical more so than the animated film, and it works perfectly. Despite the Disney name, it really is more for the young adult – adult audience.

While there are still gargoyles, there are more than just three now, it is very clear that it is all in Quasimodo’s head, manifestations after being forbidden from leaving the bell tower for so long. They are his imaginary friends; when he is conflicted about something, the gargoyles try to cheer him up, which makes the ending scene with them together is all the more tragic.

Let’s be very clear here: this is a tragedy. Be prepared to cry your eyes out.

I personally believe that this is a rare occurrence that the original songs for the musical are equally good as the songs taken from the film. Even if any of them don’t serve a big purpose to the narrative, you still want to listen to them/watch the ensemble dance to it.

The production I’ve seen was shown at the La Mirada Theater in La Mirada California. This particular cast was very special and unique because of the actor portraying Quasimodo. Because of the nature of Quasimodo’s occupation, he has become deaf after so many years of bell ringing. To accurately portray a deaf character, Quasimodo was portrayed by deaf actor John McGinty, who audibly speaks and uses American Sign Language. Anytime Quasimodo has to sing, a lead Gargoyle sings it for him while Quasimodo signs the lyrics.

Sadly, the show never made it to Broadway as intended, but the musical (as of this writing) continues to pop up everywhere in the United States in varying ways. Plus, a studio album was produced, the characters portrayed by the original cast that did the workshop and the North American debut of the musical at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California back in 2014.

Tragedies are normally, and most certainly not for me, but The Hunchback of Notre Dame ultimately affected me so much that I have to fall in love with it. I have to recommend it to people. I know it seems that still mentioning this is a Disney project should be irrelevant to whether or not a project is good, but it’s the fact that this company decided to put on a tragic story for a (somewhat) mass audience; a tone they would never do in the past. If they are able to show how talented they are with this genre, they should definitely keep doing it.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a beautiful, thrilling, heartwarming AND heartbreaking musical that certainly does ask the question “what makes a monster and what makes a man” in all of us.