Review: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME at Burlington County Footlighters

My hat is off to Burlington County Footlighters for this superlative production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the Victor Hugo novel with songs from the 1996 animated Disney musical.  Directed by Heidi Kleber, it features first-time producer Deborah Logan; Music Director Tim Herman; dance choreographer Lizi Baldwin; fight choreographer Sean McGarry; sets and costumes by Jim Frazer and Brooke Christine, respectively; stage manager Charlotte Dranchak, a high school senior; and a large, all-age cast including six high school students. 

 In the deliciously intimate and character-filled venue of the BCF theater, one of my favorite theaters, they achieve a spectacle that is morally complex, realizing Hugo’s concept of the novel as “Epic Theater.”  No small feat.  This is not good theater – it’s great theater.  A historical panorama centered on the shadowy Gothic confines of the 12th Century Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, soup to nuts, it is a moving and thought-provoking musical of epic scale, filled with intimate moments. 

The story opens with Claude Frollo (Justin Kurbansade) and his younger brother Jehan (Alair DiRemigio) who were given sanctuary in Notre Dame when they were orphaned.  Whereas Claude is ascetic and self-righteous, Jehan is rebellious and dissolute, drinking heavily and carousing in Paris.  After Jehan falls in love with a gypsy, Claude unwittingly causes him to be expelled from Notre Dame.  Years later Frollo finds Jehan and learns that the gypsy has died and Jehan is seriously ill with the pox.  On his deathbed, Jehan makes Frollo promise that he will care for their baby who was born deformed and Frollo reluctantly takes charge of “the thing,” as he calls it.  Quasimodo, as the hunchback is known, is confined to the bell towers of Notre Dame, isolated like many outcasts, where he becomes partially deaf and is befriended by the saints and gargoyles atop the Cathedral.  Now an adult, he longs to be “out there” (dead giveaway to Disney musical origins), “gazing at the people down below me… hungry for the histories they show me.”  While his gargoyle friends encourage him to take the risk, Dom Frollo warns him to stay in, ever faithful and grateful to him, protected from the cruelty of a world that will revile him.  Quasimodo ultimately revolts.

Meanwhile the Feast of Fools, spearheaded by Clopin Trouiefoulle (Maria Leonen-Whittle), has begun in Paris, the only day on which the gypsies are allowed to sing and dance.  “It’s the day the devil in us gets released,” they sing.  “It’s the day we mock the prig and shock the priest.”  Their colorful costumes and passion are a great contrast to the somberness of the religious ascetics of Notre Dame.  Heartless Frollo has petitioned the King to stop the festival.  When Captain Phoebus de Martin (Nick Olszewski) arrives from the Front, he is made the head of Notre Dame’s Cathedral Guard and hired by Frollo to rid the city of gypsies.  Intending to do Frollo’s bidding, Phoebus witnesses a beguiling young gypsy Esmeralda in a spirited tambourine dance and is smitten.  Having ventured out into the festivities, Quasimodo is attacked by the crowd and cruelly beaten as Frollo looks on.  He believes his charge needs to be taught a lesson before a stop is put to it.  Esmeralda, however, takes pity on Quasimodo and comes to his defense.  Frollo is much entranced by her but filled with rage and at war with those lustful feelings she stirs in him.  Moved by her kindness, Quasimodo is equally smitten and this sets off a chain of events and obsession that devastatingly alters the fate of all four of them. 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an awesome work and BCF does justice to it.  The heavenly harmonies and blend of sopranos, altos and baritones bring out the majesty and weight of Alan Menken’s challenging score.  Clad in somber monk’s robes and positioned in tiers as in church lofts, the choir includes several of the aforementioned high school students, as well as seasoned vocalists familiar to me from past shows such as Stefanie Vajapey and Mark Rebilas.  When the full cast joins in, it gloriously fills the rafters.  Another highlight is the array of gargoyles, played as distinct individuals by Cat Baldwin, Andrea Drechsler, Jamie Lynne Hill, John-Paul Helk and Tyrone Jackmon.  They become rather endearing, wincing in pain when told by Quasimodo (kudos to Stephen Schwartz’s clever lyrics), “You’re only made of stone…if I were senseless, I’d prefer it…Another gargoyle on this turret spitting rain down to the stones below.”  Aided by lighting designers Jim Frazer and Heidi Kleber, they really do create the illusion of Gothic gargoyles and lend a touch of whimsy to the darker material.

Center:  Desiree Bounds as Esmeralda with the gypsies.  Photo by Mike Christine of
Lucky December Photos.

The principals are well cast and give appropriate shading to their characters.  Luke Perkins is excellent and winsome as the sheltered and reviled Quasimodo with a Mermanesque ability to sustain long phrases.  No disfiguring makeup is used on the actor, so it does feel perplexing when the Parisians talk about his grotesqueries and ugliness, but we’re so drawn into the story that after being initially startled, we suspend disbelief.  As the bewitching and strong-willed Esmeralda, Desiree S. Bounds is fiery and emotionally compelling with the vocal power of a Jennifer Hudson.  She is my favorite character and one of my favorite voices.  As Captain Phoebus, Nick Olszewski deftly manages the character’s arc as he goes from Frollo’s foot soldier to principled hero, the only man of Esmeralda’s three admirers who seemingly doesn’t pigeonhole her as either saint or sinner. 

Justin Kurbansade’s Dom Frollo is probably one of the most interesting characters when he easily might have been one-dimensional.  Although reprehensible and ultimately evil, he also seems to sincerely believe he is doing what’s right, appearing at times to care for Quasimodo -- albeit with very twisted logic.  Interestingly, Hugo chose a Roman Catholic priest as the villain, because of the anti-religious influences of the Enlightenment movement, but Frollo also recalls Arthur Dimmesdale, the lustful minister and religious hypocrite of The Scarlet Letter.  The dangers of moral absolutism and religious hypocrisy have been explored and exposed before in theater and literature (and the world never learns!).  Kurbansade’s layered performance is matched by Maria Leonen-Whittle as Clopin Trouiefoulle.

Rounding out the cast is a strong ensemble of theater veterans and newcomers, including Liz Deal, Hope Fitzgerald, Chelsea Franchi, Danielle Houpt, Alex Keith, Gianna Leonen (sharing a stage with her two sisters), Cassidy McQuoid, Rebecca Sisley, Bela Silva, Heather Stott, Rick Williams (sharing a stage with his son Nick who plays Frederick Charlus), and Frank Zerns.

Burlington County Footlighter’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an outstanding theatrical experience.  It ponders the question "what is a monster and what is a man" and leaves its impact long after the lights come up.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is playing at the Burlington County Footlighters, 808 Pomona Road, Cinnaminson, New Jersey and runs September 18, 19, 24 (understudy performance), 25, 26 and October 1, 2, and 3 at 8 pm; and September 20 & 27 at 2 pm.

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