Quasimodo during Out There Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Quasimodo during Out There Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

I have been wanting to this for a while. I was going to do Hellfire but for some reason Google Translate was being weird so I went with Out There. So this is Out There through Google Translation.

It went from the original English to Hindi then to Swedish then to Japanese then to Spanish then to Korean and then back to English and here is what we got;

“These safety behind this stone windows and railings”
“People looking down at me,”
“I like my life hiding here alone, I am in favor of them”
“They show the hunger is for profit of history”
“All my life, I remember your face”
“They know they can not learn from”
“All my life, seems to go in one day”
“Over them”
“However, some of its”

“There”
“Living in Japan”
“Let me see one days”
“I ask all”
“Always keep”

“There”
“I do not know where they live”
“I want to”
“I will venture”
“Only meet one days”

“Mills and craftsmen external wife”
“I can see through the ceiling and gable”
“Day ev’ry, they scream to hear that embarking on his life
“It has to be that they inadvertently gift”
“If I had their skin”
“Ev’ry want the goods immediately”

“There”
“Senna walks”
“Enjoy breakfast out”

“Humdrum”
“Freedom to move”
“Just days after”
“I swear I will enjoy drill”
“And part of me”
“Does anger”
“What not despair”
“Previous Bent”
“I do not care”
“I wrote”
“One day”
“There”

So this series of review is really just based on the Cast Album and not so much the show itself, that is not say I won’t say anything about the stage production if there is video of it available. Also at this point I haven’t heard the whole album in its entirety.

Olim – Olim is the  actually the first bit of music heard in the Disney movie version and honestly I’m not sure why it’s a separate track. It seems unnecessary to me. Maybe it’s because of the dramatic tone of the opening to what is now The Bells of Notre Dame is different.

All in All it’s the same of the film counterpart, Georgian chanting in Latin. And if your curious the lyrics are; “Once, long ago, God arrived, In this age of brightness, He will come again.” It’s not “Here comes a lion, Father, Oh yes, it’s a lion” but it’s okay.

Michael Arden as Quasimodo, Musical Production of Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Michael Arden as Quasimodo, Musical Production of Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Bells of Notre Dame – A part of me wants to like this song more than I do since I love the movie version. Like in the movie we’re given the backstory of Quasimodo and Frollo but it’s very different as it tries to amalgamate the movie with the book. So first difference we are introduced to Frollo’s younger brother Jehan which is like book. Also like the book Jehan is a wild child. Jehan is sent away from Notre Dame for sneaking a Gyspy Girl into the Chruch so Frollo could get some.  Unlike the book Jehan is the father of Quasimodo. The mother was Gypsy girl, the same one who Jehan brought into the church. As Jehan is dying he begs Frollo to look after the child and he does and give him the cruel name, unlike the book where it was Quasimodo sunday.

I do like that they brought Jehan into the picture and they’re right that  reason why Frollo took in little Quasimodo was out love for his brother but it’s sort of trite here. Book Frollo did it out empathy for a child that had no one because his brother had been in almost same position and here in this musical he does it as a cross to bear out a sense of guilt. Also I don’t like that they have that familial connect of uncle and nephew. It takes away something from their relationship at least for me.

But wait there is more. In the movie when Frollo is chasing down Quasimodo’s mother there is this swell of dramatic music that fits that part perfectly. They have that same music in this version as Frollo is walking with baby Quasimodo but so out place. I really couldn’t tell if Frollo was thinking killing baby Quasimodo or what. It’s jarring and should not have been there despite that fact that it’s awesome music.

The Chorus singing the parts instead of Clopin was interesting not bad just different. BUT one thing I can not and I mean CAN NOT forgive is how they pronounce Jehan. They say like Jay-AN. It’s not inherently wrong but they over emphasis the sounds. They could have just said John. I mean they didn’t keep Phoebus’ last name so what difference does it really make? They call him Phoebus de Martin not sure why since he had a last in the book and plus they missed a great pun by adding that R. He could have been Sun of Morning, Phoebus de Matin. And yet they get Clopin’s last name correct.

Anyway, it’s a good opening that does tries to be a good blend of movie and book it just missed it a bit for me.

 

Out There –  Out There isn’t at all different than its movie counterpart, they play it straight. One thing I did like is the difference of Arden’s voice when he singing the part with Frollo vs his solo. Where he sound more deaf and unsure in Frollo’s presence and then more refined one his own. The movie did this too to a degree but Quasimodo was just meek and timid.  It’s a fine version. I will say that song is a little weird considering Quasimodo didn’t seem that interested earlier in the scene. Like he wasn’t the type to really care to remember  the town’s people’s faces. Still a nice version it’s just a disconnect between the book and the movie.

This is pretty cool. I really like the rose window light on Sleeping Beauty’s castle and the fireworks.

The Hunchback of Nowhere has several big nods and several small nods to the original book and to the Disney movie.

Eustace falling off the barn, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere picture image

Eustace falling off the barn, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere

The bigs one are handbells and the trapezes. Both are clever tweaks on the massive Cathedral bells and Quasimodo’s acrobatics. Though why are there trapezes in the Bagge’s barn, I have no idea. Another big one is at the climax of the episode, Eustace falls from the roof. This is a clear reference to Frollo falling from Notre Dame. So it would seem that the barn is playing Notre Dame in this episode.

Courage, Quasimodo & the handbells, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere picture image

Courage, Quasimodo & the handbells, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere

The theory is made evident by a rose window in the barn. You can see it when Quasimodo is playing the bells when Courage finds him in the barn.

Quasimodo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere picture image

Quasimodo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere

Then there is Quasimodo uttering the line “Out there.” This is defiantly a reference to the Disney movie where Quasimodo sings a song called “Out There” in which he hopes for a day in the normal world. In the episode Quasimodo says the line with hope and optimism.

Swinging Quasimodo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere picture image

Swinging Quasimodo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere

The references are clear, playful and do not bog down the episode. They feel fairly natural within the brief time constraints of the episode though I confess the trapeze while cute is a bit of a stretch.

Next Time; Conclusion

Quasimodo reading an insult, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere picture image

Quasimodo reading an insult, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Hunchback of Nowhere

They sure sings the phrase “Out There” a lot huh? It’s like  they are much saying “Out There” is a  Disney Princess song.

Lea Salonga sang Out There at a Broadway event in 2010.

Made by LittleKuriboh

Paw is a reviewer for musicals on That Guy with the Glasses.  The show is called Music Movies. Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been on the Dartboard (his method of selection) for a while and he finally got to it so let’s take a look at his review.

Paw reviewing Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Paw reviewing Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame

Right off bat Paw calls into question what Disney was thinking in making the movie. He then  makes a joke about how much architecture is a theme in the book. I think that he is poking fun at the chapter in Hunchback that goes through long description of Notre Dame but that chapter is nothing compare to the long chapter that just about Paris.

 

Frollo singing Hellfire Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame pitcure image

Frollo singing Hellfire Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

Review-wise Paw doesn’t really add anything new.  He loves Hellfire, Bells of Notre dame and the overall score. He hates the gargoyles and their song. So no surprises there. He also brings up the issue of tone.

Frollo singing Hellfire Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Frollo singing Hellfire Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

Hugo in drag Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Hugo in drag Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

This  is the third review I have looked that remarks on the changing tone of the film. This  is making me question why I don’t have an issue with it. I mean if we look at the novel the scene where Phoebus gets stab a lot of humor leading up to it but judging this movie on it’s own merits I personally don’t see the big deal. I mean this movie isn’t really that dark and nor is the book. Yes, for a Disney movie, yes it is but Disney movies have anyways had shifting tones. Perhaps I’m desensitized to changing tones as result of years of watching anime and Bollywood movies where tones change often.

Janine Masse played Esmeralda in the Las Vegas cast picture image

Janine Masse as Esmeralda in the Las Vegas cast

My biggest issue with Paw’s review is the lack of fact-checking just to set up a few jokes. The first one he makes wasn’t for a joke set-up. He mentions that there have been two musical versions of Hunchback but only were performed in Europe. I’m guessing he means Notre Dame de Paris and Der Glockner von Notre Dame. However if he did mean those two or at least Notre Dame de Paris than he is wrong  about Notre Dame de Paris has only been performed in Europe. Notre Dame de Paris was performed in Las Vegas and Canada in 1999 a year before the London cast and two years before the Italian version.

Esmeralda Demo Reel of Someday Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

Esmeralda Demo Reel of Someday Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

Another fact he didn’t check was claiming that Someday was meant to be an upbeat Pop song from its’ conception. This means that he didn’t look at the demo reel of Heidi Mollenhaur singing. Now I can forgive him not looking at this as it’s not in the film but I mean Disney taking a song from the film and making into a cheesy Pop song for the credits is nothing new but for him to make the assumption that Someday was conceived as a Pop song is an oversight.

Frollo and Quasimodo during Out There Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Frollo and Quasimodo during Out There Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

Now it seems that he read the book at some point or at least read a summary but there one little quip he makes that bugs me. He said that at the point in the film during the first part of Out There i.e. Frollo’s part, that at the same point in the “book proper” Hugo was still describing Notre Dame. Well first since this scene doesn’t exist in the book that a stupid joke but let’s give this joke more a chance. Since he correlates this part to the “book proper” let’s do that too. Since this scene is before the Feast of Fool that would mean Hugo had to make his description of Notre Dame prior to that in order for Paw’s accretion to be correct. In the “book proper”  the core of the descriptions of Notre Dame occur after Feast of Fools. So this quip about the book’s preoccupation with architecture doesn’t work.

Paw reviewing Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Paw reviewing Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame

 

I do give Paw credit, the review is entertaining and well-thought albeit his fact checking is not the greatest. I also give him props for counting how many times the Hellfire motif was used in the film. The correct answer is 14 times.

 

Click here to watch Paw’s review.