Sadly trailblazing ballerina, Michaela DePrince, passed away on September 10th 2024, at the age of 29. In 2021 she joined the Boston Ballet as the second soloist. She was previously the soloist of the Dutch National Ballet. You can read more about her here.
In 2009 at the age of thirteen she performed the La Esmeralda Variation at YAGP Philadelphia, PA semi-finals. This solo is very popular amongst ballerinas and she performed the piece marvelously.
She was truly a talented and inspiring person who made a huge impact in the short time she had on this Earth.
As part of the opening ceremonies for Paris 2024 Olympics many cultural significant French references were depicted as part of the festivities. One was a lone figure holding on to the spire of Notre Dame with a stylized hunch on their back. Clearly meant to represent the Bell-ringer, Quasimodo.
You can a video of it here so you enjoy all the references, like A trip to the Moon, Le Petit Prince and Assassin’s Creed.
On April 4th 2024, Doja Cat dropped a new album. The album is a deluxe edition for her 2023 album “Scarlet”
According to Doja Cat, the album’s name references the antagonist Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” Also adding “The name of the deluxe edition serves as a metaphor that represents the pressures creatives face in the music industry — much like the pressures Frollo imposed upon Esmerelda throughout Hugo’s novel.”
“Because he is like a… is he a tyrant? He’s like a… I feel like it connects to the story of Scarlet in some way. And if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand kind of the whole connection. There’s a control aspect, like he just abuses his power and his control and is just dogmatic and is just a total c*nt. And all Esmerelda wanted to do was just be creative and sing and dance, but nasty old Claude Frollo was just having a field day on her, just being awful and a bad guy, stinky man.
And this isn’t about anyone in… there’s not anything very personal happening to me with one person. Claude Frollo doesn’t depict a single person in my life. It’s like a metaphor for the people that creatives endure on a daily basis in a bigger picture, a bigger scale.”
I don’t think I would use the exact word “tyrant” to describe Frollo from the novel, Disney movie, yes, he is pretty much the de-facto king. This quote was taken from a podcast and was most likely an off-the-cuff word choice. The rest of what she says tracks and is on-point with her thesis of the music industry and the character from the novel.
All in all, it’s great to see a hunchback reference like this in the news.
Every year the Reveals perform at the historical Sanders Theater at Harvard University. Their shows are to celebrate the winter season with traditional songs and dance. For the 2023 season, the show is the based on The Feast of Fools. Their write-up even calls it “Topsy-Tursy.” Because you know why.
The Reveals’ music has long been a part of my holiday season for a very long time so I’m overjoyed to know they are taking inspiration from The Feast of Fool for their new show.
And if you can’t make the Journey to to olde Harvard, they offer virtual performances.
It’s a nice enough Doll, I like wood hair brush. There is one thing minor piece of Live-Action non-news news that I recently happened upon. or I just missed it.
To mark the anniversary of Hunchback’s release, Gad retweeted (are they still called that) Menken’s tweet. Gad even included a pun from the movie.
What does this mean?
Only Gad truly knows what it means. The reports of the project being in limbo were from May and this is from June. Either Gad is alluding to it happening one day with grit and determination or it more of dream at this point.
It’s important to keep in mind that the project hasn’t been officially cancelled and the speculation is that Iger just doesn’t like it. One can wildly speculate as to why Iger dislikes it and can’t be swayed? And I might after Wish comes out, I have a theory.
But It’s also important to keep in mind that Iger’s contact ends in 2026 and there are rumors of a hostile take over of the company. So who knows what is up inside the company? The only reason to really cancel any of the “remakes” would be fatigue. That being said Hunchback MIGHT be one the few IPs that would/could benefit from a live-action remake over more recent ones.
Only time will tell if their live-action plans will come to fruition to be “out there among the millers and weavers and their wives.”
According to a few news outlets the report is that Bob Iger is canceling the Live-Action Remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Now as of now take this with a grain of salt but given all the issues surrounding Disney with their latest releases, the current attitudes towards live-action remakes, and Iger’s feelings towards the original 1996 movie this news seems very likely.
Given the news back in May of this year from Alan Menken about the project being in limbo and that there had been little to no news about the production, this news is not a surprise.
The sources allude that things could change but this project isn’t a priority to Iger (who also said that “writers and actors going on strike are not being “realistic” with their expectations.”)
Could Gad go rouge and do a Hunchback version himself? I don’t know but it’s an intriguing thought. He has producing credits with Mandeville Films but that doesn’t mean he has any power or pull. Plus Mandeville Films has a partnership with Universal, which technically has Quasimodo in the “Universal Monster” category, which was a movie franchise that was canceled.
If Gad wanted to a version he more than likely could but it wouldn’t be the Disney version and it would take a while to develop. And after 4+ years of developing the Disney live-action project he may not even want to.
So yet another new movie version of Hunchback that is seemingly not to be made.
What do you think would you welcome a Gad Hunchback version that was not a Disney Live-Action Remake?
In a nutshell, the project is in limbo. Menken mentions the seriousness of the issues that Hunchback deals with and them brings up Hellfire. So it sounds like there COULD be a debate over this the version should be a musical as Menken say they can’t do the version without “Hellfire.”
Of course I could be completely wrong and the question of about it being a musical is not the reason but it does give credence to what Josh Gad said on instagram back in March “and hopefully the powers that be will see this love and let us make the live action adaptation the original animated film deserves.” (source)
Disney’s live action remakes do seems to flirt with making them musical or not. They are very half in half out. Mulan no but Beauty and the Beast yes. Cinderella has some diegetic singing but Little Mermaid will be a musical and then there is Lion King speaking “Be Prepare” but the studio wanted to cut it.
So the Hunchback is in limbo. Perhaps the studio feels like it could be taken more “seriously” without the songs and they can get their precious industry accolades if make it gritter and real which a musical would hindered. But the creatives want the music and the fans seem to want the songs.
Meanwhile Disney let a subsidiary (Searchlight) make a farce version that is Hunchback in name only so who knows what Disney is doing these days.
According to this article fans “want’ Josh Gad to play Quasimodo. I’m not on instagram, nor am I all that plugged into what is the cultural zeitgeist of fan casting for Quasimodo is on the internet (which I don’t think is all that up there in relevance.) With respect to Gad, he would not be my first pick. I did listen to a podcast from awhile ago that tangentially mentioned him playing Clopin based on instagram stuff.
I only pegged him as Quasimodo in the past because he was making a push for this adaptation and it just seemed to a role that male actors want to play, for good reason. Also if you read a recent casting post I made, Gad is in the age range for Quasimodo actors, as he is 41. A year older than the average of 40.
However the article has no insight on casting but there is some info on the crew. Also the article says that the movie has a release date of July 19th, 2024.
Also an article from The Wrap (which I’m not linking because of laziness) put Notre Dame de Paris as 3rd (or maybe 4th I can’t recall, this why you shouldn’t be lazy like me) worst production of 2022 in New York City. It is very interesting how mixed the NYC reaction was to the show. I do get that it’s not a perfect show, I still love it but I can understand other POVs on it. The production isn’t super concern whether or not the plot makes sense but it’s more about emotions. And maybe that is an excuse but if people/theater critics didn’t like the show then so be it.
So there is some new nuggets for the end of the year.
About a year ago, in November 2021 it was announced that Broken Lizard was making a satirical take on Hunchback. The Film was dubbed Quasi.
Now if you are like me and I know you are, you keep up with all things Hunchback. From news of the adaptions and so on. For about the last decade there has been eight or so announcements on new Hunchback Tv/Film projects. The Broken Lizard one was the last one and so far the only one to get a release date.
Quasi hits Hulu (US) on April 20th 2023. It will be on other streaming platforms for other countries so no worries. There are also actors listed but no roles given. Like I can guess who is playing Esmeralda (or a character like Esmeralda) but I don’t know for sure.
So in 5 months I better know what that axe means in the logo because I’m puzzled. Mayhaps I need to read the novel again because axe iconography is not something I recall. Bells, sure, gargoyles, hell yeah, cathedral stuff, yup, gallows, a bit bleak but yes, even fire I get but an axe? No.
Also what is a little maddening, at least for me, is that the last film adaptation of Hunchback to come out a little over 20 years was a parody. In the interim between versions nothing and now two comedic takes back to back even with a 20+ year gap. Kinda odd.
So Quasi will be the next Hunchback film version to get released since the 90s.
Site Update- I’m sorry I haven’t done a Magical Adventure post in a while time just gets away from me but I do mean to finish it I just don’t know when. I’m remorseful that it taking me so long. I have no excuses though.