houstonbroadwaytheatre.com<\/a><\/p>\nBut you\u2019re not going to Disney: instead, pack your bags for a far better destination, no animation required. This musical might spring from the music from the film by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, but it exceeds it along with a fine book version from Peter Parnell, and a deeper representation of Victor Hugo\u2019s famous 1831 novel. The name recognition of \u201cDisney\u201d might bring people in, but this creative and captivating cast and impressive incarnation of Hugo\u2019s novel is compelling in a way that animation is not.<\/p>\n
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Unlike much contemporary prose, which often preaches to an imaginary choir while simultaneously shaming anyone not on the same political pew, Hugo\u2019s novel confronts humanity with sweeping moral questions that leave no one smug or off the hook. The heartbreaking life of the hunchbacked, deformed, and hard-of-hearing Quasimodo, juxtaposed with the challenges faced by the enchanting but exploited Esmeralda, not only make for a great story, but also are examples of Hugo\u2019s crucial question for everyone: \u201cWhat makes a monster and what makes a man?\u201d<\/p>\n
From the opening number to the poignant closing lines from Tyce Green,\u00a0who brilliantly transforms himself into Quasimodo, you are completely transfixed by this musical that dramatizes how profound that question really is. It doesn\u2019t hurt that there are exciting ensemble musical acts, including an \u201cEntr\u2019acte\u201d with a full 30-member choir. You don\u2019t see that every day, and even if you are familiar with the novel and Disney branded cinema, this show\u2019s direction under Joe Calarco (who already wowed Houston audiences with HBT\u2019s \u201cNext to Normal\u201d and \u201cAmerican Psycho\u201d\u2014which was totally psycho in a good way) doesn\u2019t replicate \u2014 it re-creates.<\/p>\n
In his director\u2019s note, he explains \u201cI don\u2019t really believe in realism in the theatre. If I want realism, I\u2019ll stay home and look out my window.\u201d Thank goodness: this allows\u00a0Calarco to take all sorts of risks ranging from how to convey physical deformity to the sublimity of the terrifying and the beautiful in Notre Dame Cathedral itself. And those risks sure pay off.<\/p>\n
W.H. Auden was right: \u201cAbout suffering they were never wrong, the old Masters: how well they understood\/Its human position.\u201d And Hugo was a master of making suffering something that was not just personal, but something that could be addressed spiritually, politically, and even practically through compassion and courageous actions.<\/p>\n
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But the production’s magical realism reminds us of how the mind compensates for rejection and loneliness that defines Quasimodo’s existence in a cruel and punishing world. There is the 21-piece orchestra on stage, directed by Andrew Orbison, which is the first time this expanded addition is being performed in the U.S. There are the spicy costumes that don\u2019t stay within the confines of the 14th-century (Johanna Pan), and scenic design that spans everything from high-tech\u00a0tromp-l\u2019oeil images of one of the most recognizable cathedrals in the world to the shadows of the stone saints and gargoyles who are Quasimodo\u2019s \u201cfriends\u201d who converse with him.<\/p>\n
From the wings on the stone sculptures to the imposing Gothic architecture depicted on screens, this original melding of form and function for scenic design (Tim\u00a0Mackabee), lighting (Tyler Micoleau), and sound\/video (Andrew Harper and Greg Emetaz) transports you to a place where realism and the imagination are not at odds, but depend on each other to mirror the base injustices of the real world with the miraculous transcendence of the ideal.<\/p>\n
The songs are wonderful, but that is because of the superlative cast and their ability to deliver \u201cRest and Recreation\u201d in a clever and naughty way, \u201cTop of the World\u201d in a way that really does inspire wonder, and \u201cSomeday\u201d in a way that could be a stand-alone song.<\/p>\n
But the performances are knockouts: the superlative physical and emotional portrayal of Quasimodo by Tyce Green, who contorts himself into the suffering and sympathetic Hunchback is remarkable. (Green is also an accomplished musician and was a former runway model for \u201cProject Runway.\u201d) Veronica Otim\u2019s Esmeralda is stunning\u2014her vocals are worth the price of the ticket alone.<\/p>\n
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The entire ensemble cast works so well together, with additional standouts as a compelling Alvin Crawford as Dom Claude Frollo,\u00a0Diego Guevara as Clopin and Lieutenant Frederic Charlus played by Ethan Achee\u00a0all add to the tensions and even comic moments in the production. With 31 actors, this is an ambitious and noteworthy production. How fortunate that Houston Broadway Theatre keeps delivering in surprising and satisfying ways as they unfold another winner on stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyce Green in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ Lynn Lane Alec Nevin as Phoebus de Martin and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-346967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}