The Hunchback of Notre Dame

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:24pm

I'm currently listening to Der Glockner Von Notre Dame, the German musical based on the 1996 Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I think that should be on Broadway and I know that there was Notre Dame de Paris a few years ago but does anyone feel the way I do about this wonderful Disney classic being brought to the Bway stage. It has marvelous new songs in it and I think it would be a better choice than "Tarzan" i don't know what do you guys think?

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:31pm

Der Glockner is one of the most gorgeous scores I've ever heard, and from the pics I've seen, it was brilliantly designed. It's a complete mystery as to why this show hasn't made it to Broadway yet -- aside from the fact that it's probably too "serious and romantic" for the current trend of sarcastic, in-your-face, self-aware musicals (The Producers, DRS, Hairspray, etc.) that the public seems to want right now.

We just need to make sure that Hunchback comes to Broadway soon enough for Gavin Creel to be able to play Quasimodo! :)

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:34pm

ooh Gavin would be awesome! Yea the sets and score is amazing, esp "Einmal" or "Someday" ....breathtaking!

[devonian.t]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:36pm

I guess it is a victim of the great Disney log-jam on Broadway. An English language recording would be nice- it is an incredible dramatic score... maybe a touch too adult for the Mary-Lion-King-Poppins crowd?

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:39pm

true...too bad it's not like the late 80's anymore with Lez Miz and Phantom etc. but it could work today I guess it just needs to find the right time to do so.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:43pm

I saw the production in Berlin and the score and costumes were gorgeous, but that was about it. The staging was basically a grid of blocks that rose from the stage at various heights with projections shone on them. After about 10 minutes, it became quite monotonous as you had seen basically everything the scenic design had to offer. The only scene that really struck me as beautiful was the interior of the cathedral during God Help the Outcasts. The choreography was rather dull and the blocking was very awkward. For example, during Out There, Quasimodo sang almost the entire song standing on his knees. It really made no sense and was so static, it made a gorgeous song very tedious to sit through. I do think the show could be fantastic, but it needs to be restaged entirely.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:47pm

man, I love Out There it's my fav disney song of all time. I would hate to be bored with that song. it's exciting to watch on the movie bc he's climbing all over the cathedral and the way tom hulce sings it is soo good.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:49pm

WE NEED HUNCHBACK ON BROADWAY!!!

[Caleb]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 2:21pm

It should definitely come to the U.S. And I think it would HAVE to be redesigned, because the hydraulic blocks that were mentioned were one of a kind. I believe that the theatre was built FOR the show, so it would cost WAY too much to replicate the design in a preexisting Broadway house.

As for the score, it is simply brilliant. The show seems to be a good balance of art and spectacle, and I think it would be a success on Broadway, although it wouldn't be a bad idea to wait until Phantom and BATB leave Broadway, so that there's only one show on Broadway about a deformed man in love with a beautiful girl. But even so, Disney needs to get off their butts and produce this show in the states.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:04pm

^^ very well said! i totally agree!

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:05pm

i agree it should come to broadway....i love the score so much..wasn't disney suppose to make it a tv movie or something?? i haven't heard anything about that in awhile.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:06pm

yeah i remember that and it was suppose to have like a few songs that were written for the German cast. i havent heard anything else about it either.

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:19pm

so long as they pick good singers i'm all for it. I felt that the guy who played quazimodo in the movie had wayyyy too much vibrato

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 5:32pm

yeah Tom Hulce never had real training I think but I still he think he has a beautiful voice. I wonder where he is these days, he last thing he did was Hunchback and the horrible sequal to it!

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 5:58pm

i didnt even see the sequal

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 6:00pm

it was horrible! you didn't miss anything.

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 6:07pm

yeah i figued as much...i think i may have caught part of it on disney and i was like no way man

why cant this generation of kids get their own movie ideas instead of getting sequals to our generation's movies?

they're not even good sequals

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 6:11pm

tell me about it! have you hear the Bambi one? yes my friends, a Bambi sequel! It's dealing with Bambi's teenage angst as he lives with his dad after his mom dies. ::sigh:: Disney will probably roll in his grave (or ice box) because of this.

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 9:14pm

omg are u friggin serious?
a bambi one? when does it come out. I'll probably have to see this one though cuz my friends and i have an inside joke about bambi...take the name and turn it into a female and u can probably guess the nature of the joke haha

[Loge]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 10:47pm

The entire show was written in English then translated into German. Therefore, an English version of the Berlin show exists note for note. I agree with Mister Matt about the staging, but the score is the best of any Disney show and the ending is much more reflective of the book. It's too bad this show hasn't been brought to the English speaking world.

I saw Notre Dame de Paris in London (June 2000) and it was wretched!

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 1:13am

Hunchback has probably THE BEST ever disney score... fits so perfectly with the movie... and would sound so beautiful to hear live... i love OUT THERE... i actually sang it for my musical theater class... such a beatifully written song... stupid disney needs to put this show on broadway... i honestly think this show has the potential to be a more respected disney broadway show...

[Urban]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 1:35am

To be honest I hated the Disney movie, but more for the fact they really dumbed down the story and 'kiddified' it. Once again I thought The mouse was onces again raping a classic.

Saying that, the music was good, and sending it to the stage and taking away the Hollywood sholock would make for a wickedly good show.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 8:04am

Wow. I just found the CD for this - the film soundtrack. Odd how you mentioned it at the same time. I always knew something (vaguely) of a stage production in Germany, but never heard of anything Broadway. I would love to see it. I hope there are a lot of new songs. The ones that are present are spot-on. Such beautiful tunes. Menken is a bottomless well of the most beautiful tunes to have ever been written. I'm curious about Home on the Range, or anything new from this composer, but I haven't had the chance - or the sheer interest - to pick it up. Not a lot of exciting things were said of this film. But Notre Dame is amazing. Out There, Outcasts, Someday, Hellfire, Clopin's Topsy Turvy. It's incredible and diverse

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 12:10pm

The music is soooo wonderful! Out There is my favorite Disney song of all time! And I agree that it is the best Disney score of all time. Menken and Schwartz are such genius'. As far as Home on the Range goes, I didn't like it and I usually love all disney films. But this one was just bad and the song that Menken wrote at the beginning didn't impress me. It sounds the theme for Hey Dude! or something. Oh as for the Bambi sequel, it's suppose to come out in 2006 or 2007. I read about it on disneydatabase.com , it's pretty funny.
Also I read that Disney is coming out with a musical computer animated film called Rapunzel:Unbraided and Kristen Chenoweth is Rapuzel! Yay! I wish it was hand drawn but ah well. I think the movie is up on imdb.com

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 3/5/05 at 3:28pm

Hellfire in the movie to me is probably the most ambitious and daring song every put in a disney movie... come on... the song is practically about sex!!! and they say disney movies are for kids.... love that song