HUNCHBACK La Jolla Previews- Page 9

[Wildcard]

Posted: 11/30/14 at 10:49pm

"I also think Phoebus was a little too one-dimensional."

The actor has been one-dimensional in all the roles I've seen him in. They need someone with charisma and he has none of it.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 1:47am

^ Interesting, and disappointing. My only previous knowledge of him was the ON THE RECORD cast recording, which he sounded great on.

Also, ****SPOILER**** I liked when the Greek chorus put on the makeup at the end, but I think the poses were overkill. The makeup in itself would have been more powerful to me.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/1/14 at 9:52pm

The Entrac'te was posted online and all I can say is: HOLY $^&@! I am now sold!

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 2:14am

^^^

where would I find said thing online?

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/2/14 at 7:19am

Tumblr.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 7:14pm

Saw it and loved it. Disney's best Theatrical transformation from a cartoon, in my opinion. The book is clean, sharp, tight and very moving. And I agree with VARIETY that Arden is a revelation, He uses a lifetime of talent to make Quasi, a real, fully charged performance. His acting,singing and charm are all front and center here. It's a performance so exciting, no one should miss it. Great support from Page and the beautiful (too?) Renee, her voice is heaven The score just soars,and the choir is a blessed addition. The physical production is perfect (I do wish the director used it more imagnatively) But it is one of most moving, entertaining shows I have seen in a long while. And Arden will break your heart.

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 07:14 PM

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 8:00pm

Guess we could already have a shoo-in for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2016! (Sorry to be that person!)

[sctrojan65]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:01pm

If you loved the Entrac'te in that recording you'll love the live version even more. It totally envelops you in an amazing way.

[onedaymore]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:31pm

"Guess we could already have a shoo-in for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2016! (Sorry to be that person!)"

That's if they even let it transfer to Broadway.

[RW3]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:32pm

It would be a COMPLETE mistake by Disney if they didn't take the show to Broadway.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:41pm

Believe me, they will. Pretty much every Disney show, except Jungle Book (so far), has made it to Broadway. And the fact that Hunchback is getting tryouts in 2 of the biggest regional theaters in the USA (Papermill=Good luck charm like Newsies) is a great sign!

They will need some changes though!

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/5/14 at 5:11pm

I saw the show this past weekend and, overall, really enjoyed it. Michael Arden is simply wonderful. Beautiful voice and he immediately created a character the audience is drawn to. The whole cast was really great, but Arden just had something extra. I’ve adored his voice for a long time and it was great to finally get to see him onstage.

One of the show’s biggest assets is the use of the choir. To create that big, booming wall of sound gave the score the perfect bravado that had the audience (the night I saw it) going nuts.

In fact, this was one of the most enthusiastic audiences I have seen in a long time. It really took me aback how into the show everyone was. At intermission all I heard was extreme praise and, although I know that nearly every show gets a standing ovation these days, the audience literally LEAPT to their feet the second that the lights came down on the final moment. I can’t remember the last time I saw that. If this audience reaction is any indication, they have a lot of momentum going for them.

Kudos to the sound designer(s), too. The sound was EXCELLENT. There is nothing worse than hearing a powerful ensemble singing onstage, but the sound isn’t clear or sounds like it can’t move past the proscenium. The audio was pumped up in all the right moments. Very well done.

I loved all of the creativetheatrical moments where bits of the set and props (or members of the cast) were put to use as representing something else. I thought it worked extremely well. In fact, I think they could even go a little further with it.

The tone of the piece for most of the show is spot-on. This is a dark, dark story and, it seems, most of the show didn’t (thankfully) try to make the subject matter lighter than it is (without going overboard into the overly dramatic). After all, the entire show is about 3 men wanting Esmeralda. The result hinges on whether Esmeralda will have sex with Frollo to save her life. Luckily, they didn’t downplay the high stakes.

However, there are still, unfortunately, a few moments that, because the rest of the show is so on-point in terms of the tone, now stand out as feeling extremely “Disney.” A few of the songs feel a bit too frilly and light and, in particular, the book scenes between Esmeralda and Phoebus sound like Disney movie dialogue – which would work fine in a show that has that tone throughout, but in this production it feels stilted and awkward in comparison to the realness of the rest of the show (and darkness of the subject matter). And, while I think the direction is spot-on in the other moments of the show, I think it’s clear that the director is directing the actors (in these scenes) to play it very “Disney.”

I think it would behoove them to make Esmeralda, in general, a little more gritty and a little less Disney princess. In less eloquent terms, she’s a total badass, but this production doesn’t show off that part of her as much as I think it needs to. I’d like to see a little more likability in Phoebus, too, because the transformation from his playboy attitude to his devotion to Esmeralda felt a little forced and I still worried about how true his love for Esmeralda actually was. I think it would behoove them to cut (or rewrite) the love songs between them – they felt out of place and, though pretty, slowed the show down for me.

I’m not sure how I felt about the moment at the end (*POSSIBLE SPOILER*) where the members of the town each morph into some sort of deformed figure. I get the idea they were going for, but it left me a little uneasy. I’d like to see them rework that moment to make what they are trying to say clear without coming off a bit…offensive.

However, other than the moments that felt out of place, they have a really strong, beautiful show on their hands. I suspect that they are having a hard time balancing making it kid-friendly without sacrificing shying away from the dark subject matter. Seeing as 80% of it is already there, I think it would benefit them to stop worrying about the kid-friendly aspect and get the whole thing on the same page. Kids can still see it (I imagine much of the sexual references could be over their heads), it just won’t be as “safe” as some other Disney shows.

Very interested to hear what differences are made for the Papermill production and what kind of reaction they receive there.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 12/6/14 at 10:24am

I wish I had something significant to contribute, but I don't. I mostly agree with everything - good and bad.

Michael Arden broke my heart.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/7/14 at 12:03pm

I agree, if DISNEY doesn't bring this to Broadway they are Crazy. But I wonder if another producer could pick it up? Like the Needers? I mean, it's not a kid's show.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/7/14 at 1:26pm

This will come to Broadway. It has to!! I would hope to plays the Nederlander. Seems like the right theater to move into.

[Nateben2]

Posted: 12/7/14 at 3:40pm

You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.

Walt Disney

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 4:54pm

Saw this show over the weekend. It could easily be Disney's best theatrical production yet. It is not the typical Disney fare and the only Disney stamp on it is the overall quality. It is a marvelous show.

The cast was brilliant. I teared up anytime Michael Arden opened his mouth. His Quasimodo was endearing, conflicted, funny and sad at the same time. I like how they kept him as a deaf person who opened up whenever he was talking to the gargoyles. Even though the actors were not dressed as gargoyles, it was quite clear what they were supposed to be and I feel that dressing them as they were in Berlin, beautiful as they were, would detract from the tone of this version of the show.

Patrick Page was perfectly cast as Frollo. While Frollo may be the supporting part, Page had so much gravitas that he lingered even when he was not on stage. Hellfire gave me goosebumps. Ciara Renee was luminous as Esmeralda. Her voice was just gorgeous! Her acting was also very natural and her interactions with Quasimodo felt like real friendship. And I am not the biggest Andrew Samonsky fan but he was actually decent in this role, the best I've seen him in. He was actually dashing. Maybe it's the hair?

The choir sounded beautiful to me. My partner who is a choirmaster was more critical of them but to my untrained ears, they filled the theater with music beautifully. The set was impressive in person. I still wish the rose window was bigger but the wood beams, marble floors and stone saints set the mood just right. There were scenery changes when needed and it worked.

What didn't work for me? First, I didn't mind the narrations. I just felt that there was TOO MUCH of it, especially during the finale. At that point, I would have wanted to see what was going on, not be told (same issues I have with Camelot's ending). I didn't mind how they used "Someday" here but I think I still prefer the Berlin version of it which transitioned smoothly into the finale. The second act opener didn't work for me either. I felt that the headless saint didn't really move the story forward and had such a different tone from the rest of the show that it stood out of place. The song works, it just needs to be staged differently. Third, I appreciate that they are presenting this as it would have been staged in the 1400s. However, it doesn't do the show any favors during the finale. The molten metal and Frollo's "fall" were laughable. The steam from the Berlin production was more effective. Finally, I thought the end where the citizens smeared their faces in solidarity with Quasimodo was very moving. Unfortunately, they also contorted their bodies into positions so unnatural, even for a deformed person, that it lessened the impact of the effect.

I hope they do apply some fixes to the show when it goes to Papermill and hopefully, it will have a long life on Broadway and beyond.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 5:15pm

The second act opener didn't work for me either. I felt that the headless saint didn't really move the story forward and had such a different tone from the rest of the show that it stood out of place.

Totally agree with this. It felt so blatantly different from the mood of the show that it came off as awkward to me. And, because the questions Quasimodo is struggling with at that time are pretty hefty, this silly number felt wrong and did a disservice to the stakes of the moment.

It was moments like this that, to me, felt so out of place and different from the flow and tone of the rest of the show that it was hard for me to see how the creators wouldn’t notice it (and, I hope they do). It’s because of how connected and on-the-same-page 80% of the show is that made the moments that didn’t work stand out like a sore thumb.

The molten metal and Frollo's "fall" were laughable.

They could certainly work on Frollo’s fall, but I actually thought the molten metal was extremely creative. Sure, we know it’s just fabric, but trying to pass things off as looking real is clearly not what the show was going for – and, in the conceit of how the rest of the show is done, I thought the fabric was extremely clever and worked well. In fact, it was a moment my girlfriend and I both brought up after as one that stood out to us.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 6:04pm

I could live with the fabric as molten metal. It needs better lighting for the effect to work. It's not bad. I just could be better.

[sctrojan65]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 9:16pm

Great reviews, all. I saw it twice and had I had the time I would have gone a third time. It was like riding certain attractions at Disneyland. Where you see things you didn't see before.

I can see where you're coming from with regard to the opening of the second act. I felt a bit the same after seeing it the first time. But after seeing it the second time, I think I was okay with it. You needed some sense of comic relief where you could take a breather from the heaviness of the rest of the show. I agree it was quite the contrast to the mood of the musical, but sometimes you need a moment to regroup.

I am in total agreement with everyone who has noted just how great Arden is in this role. A real tour de force performance. Your heart really does break for him. In the scene where Frollo grabs him by the ear and he winces. So sad. Arden loses himself in this character so profoundly you almost feel like you're watching reality.

I can say that despite the dark themes of this musical, it has always been one of my favorites. And when the animated feature came out, I was thinking it had Broadway written all over it. Even back then. The score is incredible.

And the quote from Walt Disney is so profound. And I can't think of a place where it works as well as it does in this particular theatrical outing. We always knew the Disney theme parks were a place of enjoyment for adults as well as children. But I think we can see how this Disney venture is one for which you could say much the same.

I wish them much success in Jersey and (hopefully and deservedly!) Broadway.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 10:17pm

"...where you could take a breather from the heaviness of the rest of the show."

It's called intermission

[sctrojan65]

Posted: 12/9/14 at 10:47pm

Shows with heavy themes have certainly been known to stray momentarily away from the darkness with lighter fare... during the show.

IMO going light for a few minutes is not meant to diminish the thought-provoking seriousness of the rest of the play. In fact, I think it accentuates it a bit. Not unlike the situation where humor is used as a coping mechanism or brief respite from something troubling.

Understandably for some it might detract and break the mood. IMO it didn't in this case.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/19/14 at 10:52pm

Paper Mill's logo

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 7:58pm

New Stills (Part 2 is in the link)

[Robbie2]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 8:04pm

I hear the producers-Disney want the Nederlander Theater for Broadway after the Papermill tryout.