Alan Menken Interview - HUNCHBACK CONFIRMED!- Page 4

[finebydesign]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 11:08am

"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.

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 11:13am

Black and Latino aren't the same thing.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 11:17am

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

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 11:18am

It's all good :)

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 3:40pm

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.

[finebydesign]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 5:14pm

Top of the World is my favorite new tune in the show, it's an ensemble number: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WaCVbwOAFc



Esmeralda gets to sing Someday which is probably the best Menken/Schwartz song ever written.




Someday Updated On: 7/22/13 at 05:14 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 5:17pm

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.

[finebydesign]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 5:39pm

I'm probably nuts but it has always reminded me of Georgy Girl. It's so very Menken.

Updated On: 7/22/13 at 05:39 PM

[Tsao5]

Posted: 7/22/13 at 7:03pm

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.

[justincharacter]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 1:02pm

"Made of Stone" sung by Josh Strickland at D23 Expo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6UX5BMTO8o

Not sure if it was already mentioned earlier, but they did a reading in NY about a month ago with a new script.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 3:19pm

Does anyone here know who was in this reading?

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 4:08pm

"Quasimodo: Santino Fontana (with very good disfiguring makeup)."

Um... Santino Fontana is a baritone. He may be able to sing Out There (may being the key word, as that piece does have a solid A)but Made of Stone? There's a Bb and an option to mix a high C. No, Quasi needs to be a tenor, preferably an up-and-comer. An Adam Kaplan or a Mike Faist.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 4:46pm

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.

[Overkill]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 5:19pm

I personally would love to see John Tartaglia take on Clopin. He has the falsetto for that D, I believe.. and most certainly the physicality and comedy. Raul Esparza would be great, as he always is, but I can just hear that high D turning into the Raul "belt" ala the end of "Being Alive"...

I just hope they find a true character actor for Quasimodo. I love Josh Strickland, and I know it was just a preview, but if anyone of that type casting is thrown in the role, I'll be very disappointed. I think Will Blum would be wonderful.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 5:42pm

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.

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 5:47pm

Josh sounds great. Really hope this happens soon!

[justincharacter]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 6:21pm

^He was feelin' it at the end!

[N2N Nate.]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 6:22pm

Definitely. Really didn't like the song though.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 7:18pm

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

[RW3]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 7:26pm

Top of the World is a nice song, i just wished I knew what they were saying.

[kurt.perry41]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 10:15pm

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...

[Tsao5]

Posted: 8/10/13 at 11:35pm

@CatsNY.

The way it was sung for that demo with the actor who played Tarzan was not how it was done in the show with that belting high note at the end. ( Which I believe is a C or D).

In the show before the final part of the song, the song slows down and the 3 gargoyles take turns telling Quasimodo that, ok, fine we will leave you alone and that they thought that he was made of something stronger. Rejected by Quasimodo they then, each in turn with lighting effect, turn to stone themselves as it were. Then comes the last part.

AS IF IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII [no music] were made of.............................then, the orchestra AND Quasimodo come in very softly ...stoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNEEEEEEEE!

The final note starts very quiet and builds and builds and builds to more of a mix than a full voice belt.

If someone were to sing that final "stone" full voice balls to the walls, it would sound strange having the orchestra starting so soft as done in Berlin.

I mentioned earlier, I think that last note will be rethought as will the orchestration when the time comes to do it in New York.

But that's just a hunch.

[Quasi]

Posted: 8/11/13 at 6:32am

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