The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Stage Apollo Theatre, Stuttgart

Picture: Johan Persson

The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Stage Apollo Theatre, Stuttgart.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

At a time when production company Stage Entertainment seems to be hesitant to take risks, we can only rejoice at its decision to have revived The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Stage Theater des Westens in Berlin, 18 years after its creation. The company’s stunning production is currently playing for an open ended run in Stuttgart.

This stage adaptation of the Disney cartoon has travelled the world: it was staged at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, the prestigious Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey and finally in Tokyo and Melbourne. Yet the very first version was born in Berlin, with a libretto by James Lapine. This was the first Disney production to be premiered in Europe, but also the longest-running musical in Berlin with three years of performances.

The American version of the show has been reworked with a new libretto by Peter Parnell that is closer to Victor Hugo’s original novel, exploring its darker sides and moving away from the animated version. This emotionally charged version – brilliantly staged by Scott Schwartz and elegantly choreographed by Chase Brock, with breath-taking scenery by Alexander Dodge and inventive costumes by Alejandro Vietti—is thankfully the one we are treated to in Germany.

This musical, translated into German by Michael Kunze, is cleverly built around a series of musical vocal or instrumental leitmotivs specific to each character: the wonderful ‘Out There’ for Quasimodo, ‘Hellfire’ for Frollo, ‘Rest and Recreation’ for Phoebus, ‘God Help the Outcasts’ for Esmeralda, not to mention the theme of ‘The Bells of Notre Dame’, which provides interludes narrating the plot.

As for ‘Topsy Turvy’, it represents the metaphor of showbusiness but is perhaps the only somewhat disappointing number of the whole show. The characters of the gargoyles, comic in the cartoon, are here replaced by inner voices of Quasimodo and by a choir of 32 voices, present in the backstage during the entire show.

To quote the show’s producer Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical: “The characters meet with one goal: to try to make the right choices in the face of extraordinary obstacles, we do not provide answers, but go to places that may be called dark but that I would call human.”

Unfortunately, this decision to make the Hunchback a dark and complex adult musical has resulted in the cancellation of the transfer to Broadway that had been scheduled after performances at the Papermill Playhouse. Both the realism and the violence of certain scenes seem to have made the selling of tickets to family audiences complicated. They might have found it difficult to see it as a Walt Disney production alongside The Lion King and Aladdin.

The productions in Japan are multiplying though: Kyoto hosted the show, followed by Yokohama. In 2018, the cities of Kelowna and Saskatoon in Canada have also had their own versions. An arrival in Europe and especially in the West End seems less likely for the reasons mentioned above, as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, like Anastasia, is a musical for adults based on an animation for children. In France, the reasons for rejection seem quite different and connected to the already existing French musical Notre Dame de Paris. But who knows? Stage Entertainment could surprise us with this after the Parisian productions of Grease and Chicago.

So, for the time being, it’s necessary to go to Germany to discover this extraordinary musical, which includes arguably the best musical score of the Disney repertoire, with music by Alan and the lyrics of Stephen Schwartz.

The wonderful orchestration of Michael Starobin and the top-notch cast contribute to as great a success as anything seen on Broadway. What about the four main roles? They are simply close to perfect: Nico Schweers plays Phoebus with real sensitivity, and Felix Martin interprets the disturbing Frollo with nuance.

Sina Pirouzi is a seductive and moving Esmeralda. But the evening truly belongs to the young and fiery David Jakobs whose exceptional voice and performance bring on the waterworks. He is phenomenal in the role of Quasimodo.

Jakobs has had a long career in musicals in Germany: he was Gavroche in Les Misérables at the age of 12 before continuing with Rent in Munich, High Fidelity in Essen and Jesus Christ Superstar in Bremen. In Stuttgart he alternates with Jonas Hein in the demanding part of Quasimodo.

Der Glöckner von Notre Dame is clearly not to be missed.

Patrick Honoré