Mister Matt why do you say luckily it most likely won't be the German staging? What was wrong with the German staging? It was almost entirely projections on blocks rising out of the stage. The blocks would go up and down at different levels for different scenes, but it got boring very quickly. It only took a couple of scenes before you saw pretty much everything the show had to offer. Believe me, the promotional photos made it look far more stunning in close-up cropped shots than it did when you saw the full stage and watched the show in its entirety. What looks huge and impressive in the photos often was rather small and dark in the massive barn of a theatre. The only truly pretty set was the Notre Dame interior during Hilf den Verstoss'nen (God Hep the Outcasts). What was supposed to be this really advanced technological wonder really came off as cold, uninspired and repetitive.
Draussen (Out There) was staged with Quasimodo performing almost the entire song standing on his knees, for some unknown reason. And the little choreography in the show was unremarkable. Drunter-Drüber (Topsy-Turvy) was choreographed as a nod to a traditional German folk dance, so the reference was lost on me.
The costumes, especially for the gargoyles, were beautiful and the new music was gorgeous. But the only way anyone would truly enjoy the original staging was if they were a HUGE fan of projections, projections, projections. The first act finale was as embarrassing as the first act finale for the Broadway production of Jekyll and Hyde.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian