Notre Dame de Paris (musical)

"Notre Dame de Paris" is a French-Canadian musical which debuted on 16 September 1998 in Paris. It is based upon the novel Notre Dame de Paris by the French novelist Victor Hugo. The music was composed by Riccardo Cocciante (also known as Richard Cocciante) and the lyrics are by Luc Plamondon.

Since its debut, it has played throughout France, South Korea, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada. A shorter version in English was performed in 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) and a full-length London production, also in English, ran for a seventeen months. The show has also been translated into Italian, Korean, Russian, Catalan, German, Czech, Spanish and Belarusian. It has also been translated independently into (but never performed in) Swedish and Armenian.

“Notre Dame de Paris”, according to the Guinness Book of Records, had the most successful first year of any musical ever. The score has been recorded at least seven times to date (2007): the original French concept album, which featured Israeli singer Achinoam Nini (aka Noa) as Esmeralda was followed by a live, complete recording of the original Paris cast. A complete recording of the score in Italian was made, along with a single disc of excerpts in Spanish from the Madrid production. The original London cast album featured several of the original Paris stars, but only preserved a fraction of the score in English. The orchestral group I Fiamminghi recorded a CD of melodies from the score. A complete set of instrumental backing tracks has also been released.

Casts

Original Paris Cast

* Noa then Hélène Ségara : Esmeralda
* Garou : Quasimodo
* Daniel Lavoie : Frollo
* Bruno Pelletier : Gringoire
* Patrick Fiori : Phœbus
* Luck Mervil : Clopin
* Julie Zenatti : Fleur-de-Lys

Original Italian Cast

* Lola Ponce and Rosalia Misseri : Esmeralda
* Vittorio Matteucci and Fabrizio Voghera : Frollo
* Matteo Setti and Heron Borelli: Gringoire
* Giò Di Tonno and Fabrizio Voghera: Quasimodo
* Graziono Galatone and Heron Borelli: Phœbus
* Marco Guerzoni and Cristian Mini: Clopin
* Claudia d'Ottavi and Chiara Di Bari: Fleur-de-Lys

Original American Cast

* Janien Masse : Esméralda
* Doug Storm : Quasimodo
* Francis Ruivivar : Frollo
* Deven May : Gringoire
* Mark W Smith : Phœbus
* David Jennings : Clopin
* Jessica Grové : Fleur-de-Lys

Original Canadian Cast

* France D'Amour : Esméralda
* Matt Laurent : Quasimodo
* Jérome Collet : Frollo
* Jean-François Breau : Gringoire
* Richard Charest : Phœbus
* Roddy Julienne : Clopin
* Marie-Eve Janvier : Fleur-de-Lys

Original London Cast

* Tina Arena : Esméralda *
* Garou : Quasimodo
* Daniel Lavoie : Frollo
* Bruno Pelletier : Gringoire
* Steve Balsamo : Phœbus
* Luck Mervil : Clopin
* Natasha St-Pier : Fleur-de-Lys

Female artists who later assumed the role of Esmeralda* include American vocalist Patti Russo and Australian singer Dannii Minogue.

Original Russian Cast

* Teona Dolnikova, Svetlana Svetikova : Esméralda
* Vyacheslav Petkun : Quasimodo
* Alexander Marakulin : Frollo
* Alexander Postolenko : Gringoire
* Anton Makarsky : Phœbus
* Sergey Lee : Clopin
* Ekaterina Maslovskaya : Fleur-de-Lys

Original Korean Cast

* Choi Sung-hee (Bada), Oh Jin-yeong, Mun Hye-won : Esméralda
* Yun Hyeong-ryeol, Kim Beop-rae : Quasimodo
* Seo Beom-seok, Ryu Chang-woo : Frollo
* Kim Tae-hun, Park Eun-tae : Gringoire
* Kim Sung-min, Kim Tae-hyeong : Phœbus
* Lee Jeong-yeol, Mun Jong-won : Clopin
* Kim Jeong-hyeon, Gwak Sun-young : Fleur-de-Lys

Musical Numbers

Acte I

Ouverture
Le temps des cathédrales
Les sans-papiers
Intervention de Frollo
Phoebus chante à Esmeralda
Bohémienne
Esmeralda tu sais
Ces diamants-là
La fête des fous
Le Pape des Fous
La sorcière
L'enfant trouvé
Les portes de Paris
Tentative d'enlèvement
La Cour des miracles
Le mot Phoebus
Beau comme le soleil
Déchiré
Anarkia
À boire!
Belle
Ma maison, c'est ta maison
Ave Maria païen
Je sens ma vie qui bascule
Tu vas me détruire
L'ombre
Le Val d'Amour
La volupté
Fatalité

Acte II

Florence
Les cloches
Où est-elle?
Les oiseaux qu'on met en cage
Condamnés
Le procès
La torture
Phoebus
Être prêtre et aimer une femme
La monture
Je reviens vers toi
Visite de Frollo à Esmeralda
Un matin tu dansais
Libérés
Lune
Je te laisse un sifflet
Dieu que le monde est injuste
Vivre
L'attaque de Notre-Dame
Déportés
Mon maître, mon sauveur
Donnez-la moi
Danse mon Esmeralda
Danse mon Esmeralda (rappel)
Le temps des cathédrales (rappel)

Production History

The original production of "Notre Dame de Paris" made musicals fashionable again in France and, since its inception, has spawned a number of other notable productions. As part of the publicity prior to the Paris opening three songs were released as singles: "Vivre", "Le Temps des cathédrales", and "Belle". "Belle" became a huge hit, and was named Song of the Year in France, and nominated for Song of the Century. An English version of "Vivre" ("Live for the One I Love") was released by Celine Dion, and appears on the original London cast recording, even though she didn't participate in the musical.

Director Gilles Maheu staged the show in concert style, with the principal singers standing downstage center, with non-singing dancers upstage providing visual, but not dramatic, excitement. The orchestra and chorus were prerecorded; the principals wore very obvious boom mics.

Recordings

Cast Albums
Original Paris Cast
Version Intègrale (Live At The Palais des Congrès)
Original Italian Cast
Live At The Arena di Verona
Original Spanish Cast
Original Russian Cast
Original London Cast
Original 2001 Paris Cast (Live At The Théâtre Mogador)
Asian Tour Live In Seoul

Video Recordings
Live At The Palais des Congrès
Live At The Arena di Verona

Critical Response

Critical reception outside of France has been mixed, with praise for the music and choreography, and general disdain for the English translation of the lyrics and the show's overall direction. For example, The Times praised the "doleful energy" of Garou's Quasimodo and the "occasional imaginative production touches: huge bells with writhing, upside-down humans for clappers" but concludes "Another Les Mis this isn't." The Daily Mail called it "concert with dance, lighting effects and a lot of French singers throwing their hair around in a collective display of gravelly-voiced pique."Fact|date=January 2008

ee also

*Victor Hugo

External links

* [http://www.notredamedeparis.it Official site of the Italian production]
* [http://www.coccianteworld.com Richard Cocciante]
* [http://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/inductees/03_luc_plamondon.xml.htm Luc Plamondon]
* [http://www.theatre-musical.com/notredame.html Stacy's Musical Village]
* [http://www.mndp.ru/news.php Russian Notre Dame de Paris Fansite]
* [http://www.french-musicals.de/Notre%20Dame%20De%20Paris/notredamedeparis_overview.htm German Notre Dame de Paris Fansite]