Alan Menken Interview - HUNCHBACK CONFIRMED! — Page 4

"Also, I think she will be Latino rather than black. "

I'm not a Hugo expert but the irony in Esmeralda's arc is that she is not from gypsy parents at all but a non-gypsy child and treated like crap by the likes of Frollo. Earlier in the story, Esmeralda was stolen from from a French woman and raised by gypsies. She just happens to have dark hair/golden skin (perhaps her unnamed father, I think it's inferred her father was just some regular French guy and this is all coincidence).

Quasimodo however, is from gypsy parents and was swapped with Esmeralda by his gypsy family. He ironically is raised by gypsy-hating clergy after being abandoned by Esmeralda's birth mother. I assume Frollo and the like thought he was non-gyspy just deformed. Also we have Frollo here who supposedly despises gypsies but pines for Esmeralda.

I think all this is lost in the Disney film and the German production. The story has even more irony when Esmeralda has a short-lived reunion with her birth mother. I can't recall, but I don't think it is ever made known/clear to the characters that Quasimodo was directly related to the baby that was swapped.

This is all Hugo gold to me. Whenever the dots are connected and happiness is in sight, someone has to die.

Of course not! I apologize if it came across that way. Let's just say dark skinned people.

The female lead should have her own song, which she did not have in Berlin.

Esmerelda sang God Help the Outcasts in Berlin just as the character does in the film. She also performs in On Top of the World and Someday.

Some kind of song like It's All the Same from Man of La Mancha or something along those lines that gives the character a bit more heft.

She actually does have some of that in her book scenes with both Phoebus and Frollo. Aldonza has a qildly different character arc involving reflection and change. Esmerelda is mostly an ingenue.

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Top of the World was my favorite number when I saw the show in Berlin. I was excited to get the CD just for that song.

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Yeah. Top of the world is a nice song. That is the thing, all of Esmi's songs are "nice songs". No grit no anger. She is supposed to be the sexiest and most "dangerous" of the gypsy clan. In fact there is a line in the show where some other gypsies are angry because she hit a soldier in another city which is why they had to leave. Clopin warns her to not do anything like that in Paris. This happens in the song, Balancing Act.

So her character should have a song, I think, nobody need agree, that shows this moxie. Not only nice songs: Top of World, God Help the Outcasts, Someday.

(yeah, I know it is a Disney show).

Pheobus has his own song: Rest and Relaxation. Frollo has his own song: Hellfire-awesome. Quasimodo has 3 of his own songs: Out There, Heaven's Light and Made of Stone. Esmi does not have a solo number. All of her songs are with the ensemble or with at least one other singing. Mind you, they are cool songs.

I am just saying I have a feeling she will get a solo number if the show opens on Broadway.

The actresses who played Esmi in Berlin (with the exception of the 3 actresses who were from the Philippines) had dark dark makeup applied-----kind of Egyptian looking. From the Youtube videos and pictures it is hard to tell, but they 100% wanted her to look darker. In fact I think the youtube vids are with Judy Weiss (who is German with mediterranean skin tone) or of an actress from Norway who wore a dark makeup.

Does anyone here know who was in this reading?

It's Clopin who will be the hard role to cast- a truly threatening triple threat and more, with a full-voiced, long-sustained high D coming out of nowhere in an otherwise baritone role, plus dance and possible acrobatic skills and the ability to play comedy and menace back and forth without ever seeming two-dimensional.

Mitch Jarvis? Raul Esparza? Tituss Burgess? I'm not really sure who else they could get for a role so uniquely demanding.

I'm sure it's augmented with recording tricks in the studio, but the final high D at the end of the Finale in the movie soundtrack is insane...

First, it's not in falsetto- it's mostly chest voice with the slightest amount of power mix. Think the way a good Eighties power-metal singer like Bruce Dickinson can sit and stay up there for a whole verse at a time.

Second, it NEVER ENDS. He sings it, holds it for sixteen measures, it fades down a bit in the mix without actually stopping, then gets mixed back up over the final choral Ahhs.

^He was feelin' it at the end!

Can't really see anyone singing that 8 times a week and hitting that note every time. Josh could barely do it for 3 seconds and his voice is insane.

Updated On: 8/10/13 at 07:18 PM

I agree that this really should go to a character actor with a monster voice. You hardly see the guys face. I don't care how pretty Quasi is, I want someone who can sing and act the crap of the show rather than someone who looks cute coming out the stage door.


Wasn't a fan of Strickland to be totally honest...

Still the best rendition is the one by Drew Sarich. He created the role and sounded perfect in all the songs.

Updated On: 8/11/13 at 06:32 AM