Review: Ogunquit Playhouse's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME Does Justice to This New Musical

Ogunquit Playhouse's third season offering is an epic production of the Alan Menken-Stephen Schwartz- Peter Parnell musical version of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This is only the third regional production of this adaptation of Hugo's 19th century novel set in 15th century Paris and represents another major step in the development process which will likely eventually bring this show to Broadway.

From the animated Disney film with its musical score, the creative team has retooled the work to bring back far more of Hugo's original intent - his criticism of the Church and false morality, his plea for social justice and tolerance, his exploration of the darker aspects of human nature - sin, guilt, lust, cruelty, bigotry - as well as his championing of the emotions which make mankind soar. Menken-Schwartz-Parnell do, indeed, capture much of the fervor of the novel and manage to make it contemporary, especially given the many horrific events in recent news which seem to indicate that some history lessons are never learned. But the musical is no mere exploration of a socio-historic context. Rather, it is a plumbing of emotional and universal truths - witness the touching ballads "God Help the Outcasts" or "Someday."

The book by Peter Parnell does an excellent job capturing the many threads of Hugo's episodic novel. Alan Menken's score is dense, laden with polyphonic rhythms and highly indebted to Gregorian chant, liturgical music, and more modern works like Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, at the same time that it strives to capture the epic and idiomatic flow of LES MISERABLES. (It is in this last endeavor that it sometimes falls short- achieving a somewhat didactic air rather than the heart catching appeal of Boubil and Schönberg.) One cannot help feeling throughout that a little bit of trimming and reduction might be in order to restore some proportion to the piece. The lyrics are, for the most part sincere and lend themselves to the delivery of fine singing actors, though again, the last ten minutes become a little pedestrian in the reiteration of themes and in Hugo's own hammering home of his "message."

The production and its creative values come with the best pedigrees, and the Ogunquit Playhouse has done its utmost to insure that it all WORKS in the best theatrical sense, though there are still some issues which will need to be refined. (Isn't that what tryouts are about?). The decision to use a thirty-two-person choir (placed upstage on a bridge, fully miked) produces some moments of visceral thrill but also - at least in a house of Ogunquit's size and acoustic - moments of sheer overload. The text becomes muddled and the soloists- fine as they are- are simply overwhelmed. Music Director Brent-Alan Huffman does an excellent job marshaling the huge vocal and orchestral forces.

Shaun Kerrison directs with a sure hand and manages a brisk flow and through-movement that maintains the energy and sweep of this episodic tale. There are many clever solutions to the massive locations requirements of the script, and the transitions from ramparts of Notre Dame to the nave of the cathedral are especially well done. Some pieces of technical staging fare less well, though one suspects, on a stage with a trap door and revolving elements, they would work brilliantly. And some of Kerrison's best staging comes in using imaginative elements such as the fluid movement of human gargoyles or the interplay of ropes and benches held aloft. Connor Gallagher's choreography is appealing, but misses a little of the spark, especially in the gypsy numbers and the dances specifically for the said-to-be mesmerizing Esmeralda.

Adam Koch's scenic design is lavish, dark, and entirely appropriate to the theme. On a stage with greater technical capacities- such as a turntable- it would work far more effortlessly, but here occasionally seems clumsy despite the well-choreographed staging using the ensemble to move the heavy pieces. Martha Bromelmeier's costumes are all cast in neutral shades and period appropriate, and Richard Latta's lighting deisgn is beautifully atmospheric with its many angles that create a sense of otherworldliness. Sound Designer Kevin Heard has a more difficult task with the size of the ensemble, and truly, the balance in The Playhouse was, at times, problematic, especially in the large concerted ensemble passages when text became virtually unintelligible.

The Ogunguit cast is, indeed, comprised of strong singing actors. As Quasimodo F. Michael Haynie gives an all-stops out performance, not vocally beautiful, but powerful and truthful, and he makes the hunchback a completely embraceable character. Paolo Montalban makes a sympathetic and engaging Clopin Trouillefou; and Christopher Johnstone is a steadfast, romantic Captain Phoebus. Sydney Morton is a most sincere and heartfelt Esmeralda, who wins the audience with the quiet intensity of her vocal-dramatic performance. The blazing dramatic center of the performance is Bradley Dean as Claude Frollo. Dean captures the complexity of this tortured character - his self-righteousness, his guilt, his repressed sexuality, his distorted sense of morality- to perfection, and he gives a vocal and dramatic portrayal of such texture and color as to command the stage at every moment he is present. The remainder of the stage ensemble are all excellent with special mention to Matthew Amira for his brief appearance as Jehan Frollo and to Neil Mayer for the comic relief of his portrayals of Saint Aphrodisius and Louis XI.

Ogunquit Playhouse is to be congratulated for its contribution in the development process of moving this worthy musical theatre creation closer to Broadway and for its own high standards of regional production. Maine audiences are fortunate to be able to be among the first to experience such exciting in-progress creations as The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Photos courtesy of Ogunquit Playhouse

The Hunchback of Notre Dame runs at the Ogunquit Playhouse from July 13-August 6. www.ogunquitplayhouse.org 207-646-5511

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