It kind of reminds me of Christopher Reeve going from Clark Kent to Superman and back with just a simple change in posture and a pair of glasses. Even if you put both characters side-to-side, you would never suspect they were the same guy--a complete transformation with only minor cosmetic changes is the mark of an incredible actor, and Michael definitely accomplished that!
This was so long ago lol but I loved seeing the ending where Michael takes off the ragged cloak and hump as he wipes away the makeup. Suddenly he's just a normal person, still singing but he blends in so perfectly with the cast. The symbolism that if you take away his appearance he's just like everyone else is amazing.
+Slashbash It's brilliant. I love the songs in the film and, after I read the book, I was like, "Man, I wish Disney had been even braver with some of the darker stuff and put it in the movie--it'd make for great musical numbers". Well, here it is, the best of both worlds, three geniuses together at last--Victor Hugo, Stephen Schwartz, and Alan Menken.
+Lauren Faerber I have to concur. This is actually darker than the movie, which is saying something, because even with its somewhat lightened ending, the end result was still pretty heavy stuff for Disney as the film went. However, this goes beyond that. And of course the music is absolutely brilliant. Having the CD brings back memories of seeing this production.
Turnajon: Ooooh Okay I had a feeling it would be darker. It felt dark! i love the music as well. I 'm listening to it right now. I got chills during the Bells of Notre Dame. I wish they transferred to Broadway.
Well I like the fact that Frollo takes in Quasimodo because it was his brother's dying wish rather than because he was forced to because he killed Quasimodo's mother.
+masteroftheassassins In my opinion, backstory they came up with is good and works in its own way, but I still prefer the exact backstory from the novel a little more. In the novel, Claude Frollo as a boy loses his entire family to the plague except for Jehan. Him being the last of his family, Claude becomes attached to his younger brother and works hard to educate him and be a good influence on him. Quasimodo's mother was a Gypsy, who was repulsed by his appearance, abandoned him, and stole another woman's baby to replace him. Claude Frollo hears of the incident, finds Quasimodo as a baby, and adopts him, being reminded of Jehan. The stolen baby girl grows up into Esmeralda, whose mother spends the next twenty years in grief, longing to see her again and thinking the Gypsies killed her. I would have loved this version of the play even more if they went with that. Claude choosing to adopt Quasimodo, even when he has no blood-relationship to him, would make it more heartwarming, because it would convey how selfless he was at the time. By making Quasi into Frollo's nephew that he reluctantly adopts out of guilt, it does not start him off as good of a man, and thus making him less tragic. Plus, Frollo seeing Gypsies stealing a child and being told they offered it to the Devil and ate it, would make his prejudice even more understandable. Then, his inability to have a good relationship with Jehan (due to his debauchery and ingratitude) and Quasimodo (because of his deafness and reclusiveness), would makes his yearnings for a new companion more desperate, adding to his torment over his infatuation with Esmeralda. Finally, I thought having Esmeralda's mother in this play would really add a lot, especially since so few adaptations even have her.
+prettymonsterofevil I was thinking, if I ever directed this, I would have Frollo lead Jehan back into Notre Dame during the "Sanctuary" bit. Then The exchange with Quasimodo would happen, and then Jehan would either fall backwards, drunk, or throw himself over the balcony and die. Character's death would be closer to the book AND it would be excellent foreshadowing about Frollo's fate.
+MSTe98 Hm, I have been asking myself a lot how, they would be able to handle Jehan's fate in this version of the story. In the book, Jehan is mostly a passive background character, who mainly exists to be an example of how Claude Frollo's family has fallen apart. The only active role he plays in the novel is during the final battle, where Quasimodo, the vagabonds, and the King's men are in a three way battle. Jean wants some excitement, dresses up as one of the vagabonds, storms the Church with them, and is killed by Quasimodo. I would like to have had the same storyline with Jehan and Claude, as I stated in my previous comment, but I have some concerns about ways to hypothetically approach this. The first challenge is that the set-up of the final battle is altered in that Quasimodo and all the vagabonds are now working together against the king's men. There would be no reason for Quasimodo to attack Jehan. Also with the altered set up in the movie/stage version, if Jehan dies fighting alongside the mob, that would drastically change his character from a hedonist who only wants to satisfy his cravings for pleasure and excitement at the expense of everyone around him, into a heroic person. If Jehan is to die, then the only way to keep him true to his book counterpart's character arc is for him to die accidentally in the middle of the carnage, sort of like how you suggested. Still, my other concern is that Jehan's most important role is in shaping Claude's backstory in the beginning. If he does not actively contribute much more to the middle and end, Jehan could end up being a distraction from the rest of the story. Unlike a novel, which can be as long and complex as it wants, a stage show or a film needs to pick a specific set of characters and make sure they are relevent. In my spare time, I enjoy making up movies in my head and putting together sets of around 30 PowerPoint presentations, each one acting like a detailed storyboard for an individual scene. Long before I found out they were making this show at Papermill and La Jolla, I wanted to imagine a live-action remake of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame that combined the unique elements of the Disney musical and more of the novel's story. I did want to include Jehan and give Frollo the same backstory he has in the book. I ran into the same challenges I stated and I kept on having difficulty keeping him in the foreground with so many other characters from the book I added. I ended up taking liberties. If you are still curious to read the one more paragraph, I wonder what you would think of my idea below *(Edit--They are up on my channel now in a playlist):* I had Jehan first appear in my version of "The Bells of Notre Dame" as a young boy, who briefly interacts with Claude as he finds baby Quasimodo. Then in the following scene, right before "Out There," I added a part where Claude reveals his backstory to Quasimodo and gives a flashback. We learn that Jehan grew up pursuing debauchery and then outright left Claude with all his money (like the Prodigal son parable). Aside from returning to Claude once to ask for more money, Jehan never came back or talked to him again. This leaves Claude Frollo emotionally crippled and is suggested to be a contributing factor towards his descent into madness. So for now, Jehan in my version fulfills the main role he had in the book and is out of the picture, allowing the other characters to be focussed on. However, in the final act of my story, there is a bit where Jehan comes back and meets Phoebus in the bar (another change I made from the Disneyfied story is that I made Phoebus back into the vain womanizer of the novel, added Pierre Gringoire back in, and gave all the heroic traits of the Disneyfied Phoebus to Gringoire). By overhearing his conversations, we find out that he still travels from town to town, leeching off everyone, but then returns to Paris every year for his birthday, never bothering to check up on Claude though. Then, Jehan loses all his money after Phoebus beats him in a drinking game. He is only seen again after the final battle, where Jehan is now distraught and finally considers returning to Claude for good, only to find his older brother's corpse on the ground. So while he is still alive at the end, he still serves as a story of how his own selfishness and indifference to people around him, contributed to him losing his family. His fate in my version would be tragic in its own way since his return was too late to mend the broken bonds and he now has to live with the consequences.
0:23 An interesting observation that I made of this: When the two brothers sing "bells" in unison, despite their voices being in harmony, their expressions betray anything but. While Claude's expression is of joy and gratitude, Jehan's is of annoyance and exasperation. I enjoy that little touch, both showing the bond between the brothers, but also the stark differences that will lead to their inevitable separation.
+fraya1022 if you see her tell her that she's my favorite thing ever whenever I hear this recording! It's so effortless and her intonation is on point!!!!
Ever since I was a little kid I felt like the music from this was so intense. I CANNOT believe this isn't going to Broadway. The music is so huge. It's so deserving of a broadway run.
+Katey Zee I'm thinking it's because of the fact that most audiences these days would find it boring. It may have been political too. It's a sad time that we are living in, that they would run Spongebob as a musical, but not this masterpiece.
+MoviesMusicalLover I know right?! Frozen (Which started to die out already) is getting an uneccessary musical and spongebob (which lost its quality after 2004) is getting one.
I just love the ending, how when Quasimodo asks/sings "what makes a monster and what makes a man?" And that question is answered. He was told and taught that he was a monster by frollo, by society who gave him his monster appearance. I love the chess looking floor as well. This whole opening scene gives me chills every time!! Well done.
HONESTLY!! Disney HAS to change their minds and bring this to Broadway!! This NEEDS to be seen there! It's unfair that Germany got to have a mainstream adaptation and the US didn't!
@Drakorn The original 1999 production(referred by it's german title, Der Glockner von Notre Dame) still has recognition for both being the first show to perform in the then newly developed Berlin theater(now Theater am Potsdamer Platz), AND for being one of Berlin's longest running musicals from 1999 to 2002(a full 3 years, but still!).
John McKinney And yet Disney bailed on bringing that version to Broadway(the 1999 version) because they deemed it too dark to market while directly associated with their family friendly name(which is why this American version doesn’t even have Disney’s trademark on it, same with Aida(which, thankfully for them, wasn’t even based on an animated film(though they were intending to make it one, but bailed on the concept and opt to do a musical instead))!
Michael William Ybarra I’m not sure if I agree. I think if they had translated the original 1999 - 2002 Berlin production (You may have to change the ending to a happy in order to go the Broadway) it would’ve gone to Broadway.
We really need more portrayals of Frollo as the broken, tortured antagonist he was in the book. Seriously, you'd be surprised how few portrayals do that. Not just the Disney one either. That trend seems to predate Disney, in fact.
I absolutely love how Michael comes out as a regular man at first, and then changes into Quasimodo. It reminds the audience that no matter how much he is convinced he is different, he is just like everyone else.
I'm speechless. I love that Disney is not afraid to show the adult themes of the story. Quasimodo's entrance was beautiful. I like that we see him as he would be if he wasn't deformed and see how he actually looks. I instantly felt sympathy for him. Though I miss the movie opening this is beautiful too.
The woman who is singing and holding the lantern directly after he reads the note from his brother has the most amazing voice. I wish I knew who she was because her voice was so beautiful and heavenly.
I am loving this. I so hope it comes to Broadway. I love how Disney has gone dark and really kept with Hugo's original novel even more. The part where you see a random guy and then he transforms into Quasimodo right before your eyes is genius. Thanks for uploading!
I saw the show at La Jolla and as Michael started to smear the makeup on his face, I knew he was going to change into Quasimodo and my heart went, "And this is why I love the theater."
this was AMAZING just watching these eight and a half minutes of the opening sequence was chilling, theatrical, and so beautifully haunting. i wish this show would come to Broadway, i just know it would be phenomenal 👏
My aunt is a theatre director and I got her to sit down and watch this whole show with me, literally when we got to Quasimodo’s entrance and transformation she just yelled out “THAT’S COOL AS SHIT!!” 😂
By making Frollo the archdeacon, it closes a big plot hole from the animated version. One thing that always bugged me is that after stopping Frollo from killing Quasi, the archdeacon never seems to check on Frollo.
Preordered the soundtrack. Can I just say I love the direction of the guy playing Quasi and the fact he comes out onto the stage normally before being helped into character. It helps us to sympathise with him a lot more. Beautiful. I wish this could have at least gone to London! I'd pay to see it more than once!
This is too good not to come to Broadway.. Maybe they still wanna tweak it some more.. It could be that they're holding out til next year so it doesn't have to compete against Hamilton in the Tony Awards?
I'm actually starting a project to convince disney to produce this on Broadway and I'm currently tweaking the script. Anyone who has suggestions plz tell me.
Oh my gosh I just realized that after Jehan dies the ensemble starts singing dies irae which is a song which is sung for those who have died which makes sense but I just realized that was the song. Our select ensemble just sang it at school
It’s also sung during the equivalent scene from the Disney movie, when Frollo chases down Quasimodo’s mother and kills her before nearly doing the same to Quasimodo.
While I like this version, most people are saying this is the book's version of quasimodo's tale while in reality in the book he is left at the door after he is replaced with a regular baby and then adopted by frollo and while Jehan is a real character he plays a completely different role
this version (the book version apparently? if im not mistaken) with frollo's brother falling in love and having a baby with a gypsy is some excellent foreshadowing to his infatuation with esmeralda
When the remake comes out it needs to take inspiration from this musical, not the movie. This musical took the great idea behind the movie and perfected it👌
It's a pity this isn't heading officially to Broadway...but I have some input about what could make the brother angle stronger: First, have Claude be the one kicked out, by misunderstanding. His expulsion from Notre Dame could set him on a colder path to becoming the Minister of Justice, and strengthening his gypsy prejudice. Jehan could be the Archdeacon after years of regret for his actions, and seldom sees his brother until one night, when Claude throws Quasimodo's mother upon the steps. He urges his brother to raise the child, and offers the bell tower as his shelter. Jehan is gentle towards his half-ward, but similarly feels that he is not ready to embrace society just yet. The climax sees Jehan try to stop Claude from going after Quasimodo, imploring him to remember the memories they shared, to which Claude coldly stabs his brother and goes upstairs. Poignant update that keeps it a fluid and consistent motivation for both characters.
we should bring this to the media. Start a petition! This is such a rare work of art that 100 percent deserves recognition. Who's with me :-D Anyone that with me o. this plz send me a relpy in the comments. Thx :)
What a fantastic opening! Granted this is very different than what I'm used to (and it includes Jehan who is cut from the disney film), but good job nevertheless.
I know, But this version is meant to be more of a marriage of both the Disney movie and the book, they adopted Frollo as the Archdeacon but combined Phoebus and Gringoire. They still kept the same story as the Disney but added more scenes like with King Louis and Frollo raping Esmeralda, and at the end they adopted the novel's ending which Quasimodo clutches Esmeralda until he died
Jehan =Caleb Wittebane, hunter Wittebane =Quasimodo, Quasimodo's mother =evelyn, uncle Philip/Emperor Belos =Claude Frollo (both hated the freak lowlife mother of their halfblood "nephew " but still raised the kid). And Esmeralda is Luz and amity is either captain phibous or if we go with notre dame de paris European musical Canon or the hunchback of Paris Argentine musical, I see her as Pierre Gringoire a poet and Esmeralda's husband. Owl House =hunchback aus.
People love Quasimodo, Phoebus, Emseralda, Frollo, etc. But my personal favorite is Jehan, Frollo’s brother and Quasimodo’s father. After seeing this portrayal of him, he just seems so like able to me. Also, I play the role of Jehan in this musical at my school and I’m very excited to play it after seeing this.
This is of course the English translation, somewhat reworked, of the 1999 (Disney) Berlin production.. Did anyone else see that? (American Drew Sarich played Quasimodo, in German.)
Come in guys, the Spongebob Musical has great actors and good songs despite it being quite random. *But* honestly, The Hunchback of Notre Dame fully deserves to have a musical more than frozen.
When I first watched this video and saw Jehan show up drunk and shouting "Happy birthday!" in that scene I remember jokingly responding with "I got you a stripper!" And then Florika showed up and I said "HOLY CRAP HE REALLY DID GET HIM A STRIPPER XD"
CJCroen1393 actually i remember reading a comment of someone asking what's going on in Jehan's mind when he got his pious brother a gypsy girl as a birthday present and i just laughed😂😂
okay, this is exceptionally chilling! I wish productions like these would go on worldwide tours for us European fans to get the chance to enjoy this magic live! I'm literally in awe! Seriously, congrats to the entire cast and crew! If by any chance you could share more clips with us, I'd be eternally grateful! :)
So, was Florica in a relationship with his brother? Does that mean he gave his own girlfriend as a "gift" to his celibate, prudish brother? And we're supposed to see Frollo as the bad guy for being angry and not lying for his brother /again/? The fuck? His brother was a dick, he deserved to be expelled.
In this version of the story, Jehan was initially just hiring Florica as a prostitute for himself and Claude, in an attempt to convince his brother to join him in his "fun." After he is expelled, it is implied that he left to live with the prostitute, but then actually learned to love her more genuinely, so they eloped and began living as husband and wife. Considering Florica got pregnant, they might have thought it was the best way to rectify their mistake and make sure the child was still taken care of. I do not think the play was condoning Jehan's debauchery or saying that Claude was wrong in disapproving of it. The main reason that Jehan and Florica died was because they were essentially thrown out into the streets and forced to live amongst the poor and downtrodden. No one tried to help them, so they both got sick from an outbreak of the plague and died. So I think it was meant to portray the individual priest, who ran Notre Dame and raised the Frollo brothers, as being more misguided than bad. The priest was right in saying Jehan sinned, but he refused to help him learn from his mistake and give him another chance, even though Claude pleaded with him to. With the prodigal son parable, the father did not excuse the son's behavior, but he did not disown him either and forgave his son when he returned, as oppose to throwing him back out on the streets to starve. I think the play is implying that being raised by that priest may have taught Claude to develop a mindset like some of the corrupt Pharisees, where holiness is about strictly adhering to the letter of the law, but missing the importance of love, mercy, and compassion, which is the heart of the law. This may have contributed to Claude becoming a self-righteous zealot, who is all about setting himself up on a pedestal apart from the other "sinners," and being the one to "cast the first stone," when someone breaks the rules.
