The Bells! The Bells! Notre-Dame de Paris
French-Quebecois musical Notre-Dame de Paris made a flying visit to London last week, and 
antisoppist and I went to see it. I was a bit anxious in advance as to whether I would actually enjoy it as it sounded completely bonkers, but although it is indeed completely bonkers it was also thoroughly enjoyable, and very French*. You can tell it's French because it begins with a treatise on how this is the age of cathedrals, and also because the music just has that faint air of Eurovision, and because you wouldn't get a British show like it in a million years. It's not just the acrobats, or the way that it doesn't really care that much about the show as characters/plot very much (especially plot), but rather of Notre-Dame/Paris the community, or the way that people sing their soliloquies to a background of dancers expressing the singer's inner torment (some of them wearing very little), and that all the male characters except Clopin are basically terrible,** even Quasimodo at times, it's all of it together and somehow it works.
To be honest,
skygiants sums it up better than I could:
Notre-Dame de Paris the musical does not care about plot. Notre-Dame de Paris the musical cares about FEELINGS and DIGRESSIONS. Gringoire and Frollo singing philosophically about architecture and the printing press gets four and a half minutes; the trial of Esmeralda takes ninety seconds.
It's actually the second musical adaptation of the same story that I have seen. The first was the American/German musical based on the Disney film, which I saw 2 years ago in Berlin. It's more batshit but I think also better. They are extremely different, this one being infinitely more batshit, but - and I say this as someone who hasn't read the book - I wonder if it isn't a more faithful adaptation of the story. Though the other version definitely has the winning song.
It is weird, it is French, it is immensely entertaining, I am very glad to have seen it, I'm not sure that I would need to see it again, and it made me want to read the book. Recommended.
Have the trailer:
And the best Hunchback song, the original Hellfire:
*As was the audience. They probably brought some new blood to a non-English language musical, but mostly they brought lots of people delighted to get have their favourite show accessible to them. Which is also excellent from my POV because I suspect that the powers that be in musical theatre funding are more likely to do short runs to be attended by everyone French/German/Russian in the area than to do a new production.
**Though even so not as terrible as in the book, in which, Wikipedia tells, me, Gringoire does not save the life of Esmeralda, but does save her pet goat, which he likes more than he does her. The mind boggles.
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antisoppist and I went to see it. I was a bit anxious in advance as to whether I would actually enjoy it as it sounded completely bonkers, but although it is indeed completely bonkers it was also thoroughly enjoyable, and very French*. You can tell it's French because it begins with a treatise on how this is the age of cathedrals, and also because the music just has that faint air of Eurovision, and because you wouldn't get a British show like it in a million years. It's not just the acrobats, or the way that it doesn't really care that much about the show as characters/plot very much (especially plot), but rather of Notre-Dame/Paris the community, or the way that people sing their soliloquies to a background of dancers expressing the singer's inner torment (some of them wearing very little), and that all the male characters except Clopin are basically terrible,** even Quasimodo at times, it's all of it together and somehow it works.
To be honest,
skygiants sums it up better than I could:
Notre-Dame de Paris the musical does not care about plot. Notre-Dame de Paris the musical cares about FEELINGS and DIGRESSIONS. Gringoire and Frollo singing philosophically about architecture and the printing press gets four and a half minutes; the trial of Esmeralda takes ninety seconds.
It's actually the second musical adaptation of the same story that I have seen. The first was the American/German musical based on the Disney film, which I saw 2 years ago in Berlin. It's more batshit but I think also better. They are extremely different, this one being infinitely more batshit, but - and I say this as someone who hasn't read the book - I wonder if it isn't a more faithful adaptation of the story. Though the other version definitely has the winning song.
It is weird, it is French, it is immensely entertaining, I am very glad to have seen it, I'm not sure that I would need to see it again, and it made me want to read the book. Recommended.
Have the trailer:
Click to viewAnd the best Hunchback song, the original Hellfire:
*As was the audience. They probably brought some new blood to a non-English language musical, but mostly they brought lots of people delighted to get have their favourite show accessible to them. Which is also excellent from my POV because I suspect that the powers that be in musical theatre funding are more likely to do short runs to be attended by everyone French/German/Russian in the area than to do a new production.
**Though even so not as terrible as in the book, in which, Wikipedia tells, me, Gringoire does not save the life of Esmeralda, but does save her pet goat, which he likes more than he does her. The mind boggles.
This entry was originally posted at https://nineveh-uk.dreamwidth.org/265659.html. Please comment there using OpenID.