It is a stage sensation in France – not to mention Kazakhstan and Korea – but Notre Dame de Paris was panned by critics when it first hit London. Now it’s back, in the original French
Early on in Victor Hugo’s tragic novel Notre Dame de Paris, the poet Gringoire proudly presents his latest play to the public and finds it rudely rejected. In a case of life imitating art, a French musical version of Hugo’s epic – which remains better known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame – opened in London in 2000 to some of that year’s harshest reviews. The show’s brutal critical reception rested chiefly on its clunky English lyrics (translated from the French) and the use of a prerecorded backing track instead of a live orchestra. The lyricist Luc Plamondon also complained of xenophobia among the hostile reviews.
Yet the production ran for over a year in the West End’s enormous Dominion theatre, with Tina Arena and Dannii Minogue both having stints as Esmeralda. It has been a smash hit elsewhere in Europe, as well as in South Korea and Kazakhstan. Now, as part of its 20th-anniversary tour, the show is returning to London for another run, this time performed in the original French at the Coliseum, with new English surtitles, in a translation by Jeremy Sams that aims to capture the richness of Plamondon’s lyrics. This time, there will also be a live string accompaniment played alongside the prerecorded score. The show will hope to enjoy a boost from the BBC’s popular new TV adaptation of Hugo’s Les Misérables, starring Dominic West, as well as the ongoing success of Les Mis, the longest-running musical in the West End.
Notre Dame de Paris is at the Coliseum, London, 23-27 January.
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