Notre Dame de Paris

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 4:08pm

I recently heard a song on Broadway World Radio from NOTRE DAME DE PARIS. I believe it was called "I'm A Priest". I really enjoyed it, but I've talked to a lot of friends who hate it. What do you guys think of it? Updated On: 2/25/05 at 04:08 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 4:53pm

I saw the show in London and didn't like it at all. It's a pop concert with chic costumes and makeup, fancy lighting, rather bizarre sets including a giant rock-climbing wall, a parade of gargoyles, a huge cage and a suspended steel girder. The music is mostly prerecorded and since the chorus is made up of acrobats, they lip-sync the songs (which was glaringly evident in a few scenes when they would forget to move their lips). It's the only show where I literally fell asleep during the second act. The flying dead Esmereldas at the end were especially interesting.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 4:54pm

God, that sounds terrible. I think I'll skip it.

[Barnaby12345]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 5:29pm

I suggest the CD in English. It's good, the song "Belle" is awesome!

[hak]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 7:22pm

NDdP was a brilliant show.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 7:30pm

I have the DVD

The music is OK but the staging bit it. Maybe with costumes & sets but on a bare stage - I think not

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 9:00pm

I LOVED Notre Dame De Paris. I know it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea because it is VERY different and it had its flaws but the music and the dancing was absolutely amazing.
The original cast in London (including the stand-bys) was wonderful.
If you have the chance to get the CD I would definitely recommend it. It was one of the best selling CDs in the West End hstory (unlike the show, unfortunately).

QM

Updated On: 2/25/05 at 09:00 PM

[basketcase]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 10:58pm

Everything that Mister Matt said. I didn't like the show at all, the only redeeming quality was the rock-climbing wall, that was pretty crazy.

[Barnaby12345]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 11:45pm

Flying dead Esmereldas? hahaha! The CD has a European flair to it and the voices are awesome! Steve Balsamo from the 1996 Jesus Christ Superstar recording is on it, and he is so great.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:26am

Notre Dame de Paris was the first show I saw when I went to London.. I really liked it, the songs were pretty good, but it wasn't really a show - more like a pop/rock concert..

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:50am

Is the Cd you're referring to called the "Concept Album" or is there an English language cast album out there?

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 4:49am

I agree with Mr Matt - it was really awful in London. It had the emotional depth of the Eurovision Song Contest with a weak narrative tacked on - there are only so many spanish guitar songs I can take!! There was little to no effort at acting and all the songs just merged into one long euro-pop mess. The choreography was the only interesting thing in it, and even that began to get a little repetative towards the end. All I can remember of the set was those pillars that followed the priest around like well behaved dogs, and huge bells with people in them (or did I dream that last part?)

As for recordings - there is the French cast which has woman on the front, and an English concept with a flaming bell on the cover. The latter uses the London cast, but rearranges the songs slightly and has the 'bonus' of a song sung by Celine Dion. There are also numerous international casts (Spanish, Italian etc).

It is without doubt THE WORST show I have ever seen. At least 'We Will Rock You' has decent music . . .

[Sant]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:47am

NOTRE DAME DE PARIS is definitely THE WORST show I've EVER seen!
I saw it in London. You can't really talk about acting when it comes to this show, since the performers simply walked on stage, stood there singing the song (except for the guy playing Phoebus who paced back and forth during his song 'Torn apart' trying (but not succeeded) to express being distressed) and then left. No dialogue, crap sets & costumes, boring score - most of the songs were too repetitive and waaaaaaaay too long.

There were two numbers I liked, 'Belle' and 'Dance my Esmeralda' which was the final number and the ONLY scene which I liked. But it didn't help much 'cuz by then there had already been 2 hours of crap on stage so one good scene doesn't help.

EASTWICKIAN, no you didn't dream, there were people in those huge bells.

[Javert2]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 8:44am

Definitely the worst thing I've seen on The West End, closely followed by The Full Monty!

[maryheart]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 9:20am

I saw the Las Vegas version and thought Doug Storm was fantastic. I was disappointed in the London cast CD-the lead couldn't compare with Doug's performance.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 10:05am

Ha, it's good to see that Notre Dame continues to divide the 'fronts'. It had a huge following in London and lots of people absolutely loved it but there were just as many (and even more) who hated it from the bottom of their hearts.

Ah, how I remember the days of battle on the Dress Circle board when NDDP lovers and haters were at it... *sigh*

When people say they have never seen a worse show than NDDP I assume they have never seen such shows as We Will Rock You, Tonight's The Night, Good Vibrations, Brooklyn and many more.

Someone mentioned that the show had no dialogue ... If you mean that the show was sung through only then that's correct (there was sung through dialogue) although this has NOTHING to do with the quality of a show. Lots of great shows (and I don't include NDDP in this list before people jump on me) have sung through dialogues (Les Mis, Miss Saigon, Rent, the list is endless).

The show is just very, very different and the producers and the cast knew that lots of people would hate it. After all, it is French, a fact that already had the critics sharpen their knives.

I really didn't like Doug Storm, he was nowhere near the two Phoebus' they had in London. I found him extremely nasal and his performance made me almost laugh (like the very last Phoebus they had in London, an ex-Chippendale who was terrible).

QM

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 11:36am

I've seen We Will Rock You and Tonight's the Night - whilst I am a fan of neither, both were better than the mush that clogged up the Domnion for 18 months (IMO, of course!). With shows like this in the end it comes down to whether you liked the music (because the acting, character development and story are pretty non-existant), and I'd rather be stuck on a desert island with Queen than Quasimodo! (sp?) Even the equally French 'Romeo and Juliet the musical' was slightly better (though not as long-lasting) despite suffering the same awful translation problems that NDDP had.

Ad I'm afraid I was amongst the many detractors on the DC board way back when . . .

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:30am

woah! the full monty is awesome. It is just a great all around show with some great contemporary show tunes.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 7:21am

'because the acting, character development and story are pretty non-existant'

OK, I accept your point about character development and the acting but the story? Notre Dame De Paris by Victor Hugo has/is no story? I'm sorry but I don't agree with that at all. That's like saying Les Mis has no story (and I don't put Les Mis in the same category than NDDP), both musicals are based on two fantastic novels.

The whole fact that four years after the show closed we are still discussing the quality of this show amuses me

QM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 9:34am

"Notre Dame De Paris by Victor Hugo has/is no story?"

They said the musical had no story, not the novel. There's a difference.

Actually, I have to agree that the story was virtually non-existent because they really didn't tell the story. There was virtually no narrative and it was not really a sung-through musical in the sense that there was no recitative. For most of the show, the characters don't interact. It is just a series of songs that uses a few lyrics here and there, but mainly relies upon the costumes and sets to tell its story.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 9:54am

'They said the musical had no story, not the novel. There's a difference.'

I don't think there was a big difference (I'm refering to the existence of the story, not the quality). Maybe that was the reason why I liked the show and you didn't because to me the plot made perfect sense. I'm the first to admit that it had its flaws but to say that there was no story makes me wonder if you were asleep during the show.

I thought the show did 'explain' the relationship between Frollo and Quasimodo, Phoebus and Esmeralda and Fleur de Lys etc. Songs such as Esmeralda, You See attempted (and succeeded in my opinion) to explain the relationship between Esmeralda and Clopin.

As I said, I'm the first to admit that there were problems with the book (and huge ones) but I don't agree with the fact that the story was non-existent.

QM

Updated On: 2/26/05 at 09:54 AM

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 5:34pm

Weeee! i searched for a while to find this thread!

anywho- a friend just leant me the fancy packaged Notre Dame De Paris FRENCH version which looks VERY VERY cool!! but i agree, it looks odd and maybe dumb

not that i can understand what they're saying

Updated On: 5/18/05 at 05:34 PM

[Peter]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 6:39pm

I saw it in Vegas and it remains one of the worst shows I've ever seen. I've never ever sat in a theatre and couldnt control my laughter where the humor was totally unintentional. My laughing fit started in a scene featuring these 3 muscle hunks dressed in only tight briefs, doing calisthentics to the beat of this crappy disco song, while being spotlighted in turn. I laughed so hard..I was literally in tears and couldn't stop. Absolutely hysterical.

Updated On: 5/18/05 at 06:39 PM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 9:43pm

or Notre Dumb de CaCa as some of us called it

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/18/05 at 10:18pm

say what you like, the French version sounds very beautiful. but than again, everything in french sounds perrty. from the pictures it also looks very stunning. i must saw, i had little hopes for the recording but now i m liking it. do i fail?