BWW Reviews: QUASIMODO, King's Head Theatre, March 22 2013
50 years after Oliver! composer Lionel Bart began writing the score and book, this Hunchback of Notre Dame musical finally gets its world premiere. Loosely based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel 'Notre Dame de Paris' it was hoped that it would make it to the West End and Broadway, but the closest it got was a 1995 semi-staged workshop at the Soho Laundry.
The first act felt like fragments of a show that had been glued together, sometimes in the wrong place. With the villainous Claude Frollo changing on stage to suddenly turn into a Gypsy, it had a slightly amateur feel. At the interval, Quasimodo had barely made an appearance and James Hume as Pierre Gringoire was the only one really carrying the show forward.
Then in the second act, the story progressed quicker, the characters warmed up and it all felt mysteriously magical. It held deeply dark moments that also had glimmers of light and hope cutting through.
Lionel Bart's score is definitely the reason behind this show's success. Director Robert Chevara did not change a single word of Bart's lyrics or a note of his music, which seems amazing considering he only had eight or nine original numbers, no vocal score, and no specific order for the songs.
The show's major let down was the space; with the score working so well it is easy to imagine what it would be like in a bigger space. Numbers such as 'Sanctuary', 'Topsy Turvey Day' and 'On The Steps Of Notre Dame' needed a bigger cast and would have sounded incredible in a bigger auditorium.
The story speaks universally about suffering and oppression, most people will be able to relate and be moved even partly to it. Obviously with a new musical this is only its beginning, and I can only hope that it gets the chance to progress further as the cast and creative team very much deserve to see the journey of this fantastic score.
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