"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

(story to be published in tomorrow’s issue, March 22)

Victor Hugo wrote his worldwide famous novel after a visit to the Notre Dame cathedral. He intended to recreate the atmosphere of medieval Paris, starting from a simple story, built around the contrast between darkness and light, good and evil, silence and roar, spirit and beauty. The theatre, the film industry and the musicals have adapted the text written by Hugo and many of the shows based on the story of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” have been huge hits. The first choreographic version of the novel was made by Antonio Monticioni and it was hosted by La Scala in Milan, in 1838. However, the most successful performance, the public’s favourite for one hundred years, was directed by choreographer Jules Perrot, in 1844. In Russia, Marius Petipa mounted the show in 1886, but the audience did not quite appreciate his choreographic variant. For the last century, we can mention Roland Petit’s creation in Paris, in 1966, on music by Jean Michel Jarre. In 1998, Victor Hugo’s novel was again brought back to life through a musical comedy, directed by Luc Plamodon and Richard Cocciante. In Romania, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” was produced by Oleg Danovski, in Bucharest and Cluj, while Mihaela Atanasiu mounted the show in Iasi. The ballet show has two acts and it was conceived on music by Jules Massenet, Leo Delibes, Modeste Musorgsky and Cesare Pugni. It was also mounted at the Romanian Opera by Ioan Tugearu, with settings by Adriana Urmuzescu. The show premiered last May and those interested can see it tonight at 18.30. Ioan Tugearu’s creations have always been very well received by the audience and also by critics. Among his successes, we can mention “Taming of the Shrew” and “Anna Karenina.” Hugo’s characters will be played by Razvan Manirescu (Quasimodo), Cristina Opincaru (Esmeralda), Tiberiu Almosnino (Frollo), Madalina Slatineanu-Bulgaru (Gudule), Ion Dumitrescu (Phoebus) and Liliana Nica (Fleur de Lys).