The Journey to Opening Night, part 1

Well, it is one week and one day later, but Hunchback of Notre Dame had a great opening night. Since about September I've been working on original music for an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. The Cromulent Shakespeare Company had decided to do this in repertory with Richard III and not only share the cast but also the set and costumes. Now this is a BIG undertaking.

I first heard about this when I saw a status from Leah Cooper that she was going to direct Hunchback. That caught my attention for several reasons: 1) I have seen Leah's work before and have great respect for what she brings to the stage, 2) I had worked with Leah before and knew what a wonderful collaborative experience she creates, and 3) I only knew Hunchback through the Disney movie.

Now for all lovers of Hugo's novel, I can just imagine the rolling of your eyes regarding Disney. Culturally Hunchback is just part of us. Even if you never read the book or saw any of the many adaptations for the screen, you know the basic characters of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Since I was not familiar with any adaptation before Disney, I didn't have a strong negative ("This is an Abomination!!!") reaction to the movie.

The movie is not a Ratatouille, but it is not horrible either. It took the broad outline of the story and combined characters, made at least one villain good, and came out with a happy ending. The happy ending part has been done before--see the 1938 movie version. But even having not read the book, I knew you had to approach it as something different from what Victor Hugo intended.

I knew Leah well enough that I knew I could ask if she was thinking of music for the adaptation and so I did. And to my great happiness she said she would love to work with me again! (Yea!!!) Next step was to see the script.