The Book: Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was written in 1831, at a time when Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was falling into disrepair. This epic novel helped spark a preservation movement that led to the cathedral being restored to its full glory. Set in 1482, the story tells of how four men - Quasimodo (the hunchbacked bell-ringer), Claude Frollo, (the archdeacon of Notre Dame), Captain Phorbus, (the dashing soldier) and the poet Pierre Gingore - vie for the love of Esmeralda, a young Romani woman. As the story unfolds, readers come to realize that the focus of the story is not only on the human character but on the grand cathedral itself.
Adaptations: The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been adapted several times for the stage and screen. One of the most notable was directed by William Dieterie. It was released in 1939 and starred Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Hara, though its happy ending diverged significantly from Hugo’s novel. Other screen adaptations included a 1923 silent film featuring Lou Chaney and a 1956 version starring Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollabedgida. The stage musical Notre Dame de Paris premiered in Paris in September 1998. The production reportedly had the most successful first year of any musical up to that time. A year later, Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (“The Bell Ringer of Notre Dame” opened in Berlin. Unlike its French counterpart, the German adaptation was based on the Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was released three years prior, in 1996. Although based on Hugo’s novel, Quasimodo is not dark and brooding but naive and friendly. He craves social interactions and expresses a keen desire to make friends. Phoebus is also recast; he is a good-natured heroic soldier who returns Esmeralda’s love. The film also reverses the end of the novel, such that Esmeralda survives and befriends Quasimodo.
The Musical Adaptation:
Based on the Victor Hugo novel and songs from the Disney animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame showcases the film’s Academy Awards-nominated score, as well as new songs by Menken and Schwartz. Peter Parnell’s new book enhances story theare and features verbatim passages from Hugo’s gothic novel.
The adaptation had its debut at La Jolie Playhouse in San Diago, California on October 28, 2014 and ran until December 7, 2014. Subsequently, the show went on to open on March 4, 2025 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey, with more changes in the libretto. This show closed on April 5, 2015, after it was announced that it would not move to Broadway.
Why not Broadway? With a required choir as well as a cast, it is just too expensive to produce on the Broadway stage. The original had 32 choir members and 21 cast members. Our production has 8 choir members and 30 cast members.
