I was pretty surprised to look at the board when I walked in and see that David Shannon was playing Gringoire. I had thought he was still in The Beautiful Game! But I’m really glad I got to see him in this show.
I really should have known more about this show going into it than I did, since it did begin in Canada! But the extent of my knowledge was that I had heard the cast recordings, and I knew the basic story. But I hadn’t seen the video, and I had no real idea of how the show was staged, other than that there was a lot of dancing involved.
Well, the dancing really is spectacular. The dancers and acrobats repeatedly took my breath away with their skill. But I found that the blending of all this frantic activity with the action of the plot was not accomplished very well. In other words, it didn’t really seem to fit. And I felt that it really took away from the story, which is really a strong enough story to stand on its own.
And obviously, they felt it was strong enough to stand on its own, because there isn’t a whole lot of explanation of what’s going on. Especially the scene where Phoebus is stabbed – if I didn’t know the book, I would have been pretty confused!
The massive sets didn’t do much better – I found the stage very cold, and overpowering. The actors seemed very small and insignificant on it. And, perhaps most disappointing, the music itself seemed cold, and the functional English translation of the lyrics didn’t help at all. The lyrics aren’t awful, but they definitely aren’t good either.
So now that I’ve got all that out of the way, there were many things about the show that I did like! The cast was good, and the aforementioned David Shannon as Gringoire, as well as Mike Scott as Quasimodo and Nicholas Pound as Frollo, really stood out for me. And I do really enjoy the music, aside from the lyrics. Seeing the show made me more anxious to get my hands on the video and see the original cast in French and see what the show does for me then.
I think I would have been happier with this performance if I hadn’t been expecting so much from the show in the first place. But it was still an enjoyable enough afternoon of theatre!
The quotes:
“So you have to sit through this every day?”
Me, to an usher sitting beside me, during one of the less exciting moments
The cast:
|
Esmeralda |
HAZEL FERNANDES |
|
Phoebus |
STEVEN JUDKINS |
|
Quasimodo |
MIKE SCOTT |
|
Frollo |
NICHOLAS POUND |
|
Clopin |
ROHAN RECKORD |
|
Gringoire |
DAVID SHANNON |
|
Fleur-de-Lys |
KATE PINELL |
|
Dancers |
JODIE BLEMINGS |
|
Acrobats & Breakdancers |
PAUL COLBORN |