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The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996/1999)Music by Alan Menken · Rating: 3 of 10
A Disney movie gone Musical, well, my expectations weren't really that high. But at least I awaited a great performance, great sets and decent music. The world première in Berlin last year was quite a media event, the critics however have all been quite devastating. After having seen the performance at last, I'd like to join this opinion.
The costumes seemed to have been modeled right after the movie, so each person looked quite exactly like the little action figures on sale at McDonald's. The sets were moving in a restless frenzy, onto the surface of these moving blocks architectural facets being projected by movie projectors, so that a grey block became a cathedral just through lighting, or a river in another scene. That's quite interesting but also boring and even annoying after some time. The only scene in which this made sense was the death scene of the bad guy.
Story and setting are in some ways reminiscent of certain story elements of 'Les Misérables', which is not surprising as both pieces are based upon novels by Victor Hugo. The piece at hand, however, is the Disney version, the kid version, the simplified (and somehow dullified) version full of stereotypes, the characters not being round at all. Frollo very much reminded me of Javert, but perhaps due to Disneyfication he was profoundly lacking dimension. Even worse, however, are the gargoyles. Disney cuteness at its best. This is nice and fitting in an animated movie for kids, but in a musical? But the worst part is yet to be mentioned - the music itself.
Perhaps I am spoiled, spoiled with the already mentioned 'Les Misérables', spoiled with other great musicals like 'The Phantom of the Opera', '42nd Street' or 'Anything Goes'. Perhaps it is asked too much to expect greatness and ingenuity where routine and lack of inventiveness would suffice. Perhaps it is asked too much to expect an interesting story supported by interesting and moving music. Perhaps it is asked too much to await being given some musical themes or motifs which could be remembered, which could very well stand up to the great opera tradition of the past, to the works of Verdi, Puccini or Rossini. Perhaps it is even asked too much to expect a musical to push the borders and limitations of music a little further. Or perhaps not?
Throughout most of Act one, I was bored to death. The musical gained some pace at the end of the first act with "Hellfire", and it became a bit promising even. Act II, however, grew to be even worse than its predecessor. The most annoying aspect was the ongoing recital of Gregorian chants in the most unfitting of moments, used not to support the story but to give a stereotypical background setting, this being utterly wrong, and it got even worse when the text of the Requiem (parts from the Dies Irae especially) was incorporated into the score. Alan Menken surely was not the right choice as a composer, and his movie credits are not that impressive either. If it had to be a film composer to do a musical, I'd wish for Jerry Goldsmith, Elliot Goldenthal, John Williams or at least even James Horner. But that seems illusionary at best. At the end I felt pity for the actors and the costume guys and the rest of the staff as their great performance was inevitably tied to the poor quality of the piece as such. The city of Berlin has fought long to get one of these silly musical theaters in which only one piece is playing for years, and it got the worst. My utmost cynical congratulations to that.
March 23rd, 2000
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