“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” is a classic piece of 19th century literature that was turned into a musical production.
Valparaiso’s Memorial Opera House has slated its Disney-flavored version for a run of Feb. 16-March 4.
Spun from Victor Hugo’s novel, the timeless tale centers on social outcast Quasimodo, and his relationship with the beautiful Esmeralda.
“It’s a huge production; there’s 40 people in the cast,” director Kurt Gillins said. “The orchestra has 16 people in it.”
The 24 members of an onstage choir are part of the cast.
“We’re using scenery that flies in and out; we have pyrotechnics,” Gillins, a Valparaiso resident, said. “Just about everything that we can do, we are doing.
“It’s almost sung all the way through,” Gillins, 40, said. “There is dialogue in the show, but there’s a lot more music than dialogue.”
The Memorial Opera House troupe calls its winter production “the region premiere of Disney’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'” Gillins said that, to his knowledge, it has not been done in the northern part of Indiana.
According to promotional material from the Memorial Opera House, its production is an “epic story of love, acceptance and what it means to be a hero.”
The story revolves around Quasimodo, a deformed bell ringer at Notre Dame cathedral who yearns to be “out there,” as he observes Paris reveling in the Feast of Fools. Held captive by his caretaker, he escapes for the day and joins the lively crowd, only to be treated cruelly by everyone except by the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, played in the Valparaiso version by Sheree Wheeler-Gudeman.
“Out There” is a song that reflects Quasimodo’s yearning to savor the outside world.
The emotional tune is in Walt Disney Pictures’ 1996 animated musical feature, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
Memorial Opera House is utilizing music from the Disney film that was composed by Alan Menken and includes “The Bells of Notre Dame.”
The Valparaiso production stars Jeremiah Mellen of Michigan City as Quasimodo.
“The two main challenges are the vocal range for Quasimodo, as well as the physicality of the part,” Mellen, a 32-year-old tenor, said. “The vocal range is very high. You’re in your hunched-over position and you’re either doing rope work, or climbing ladders or carrying Esmeralda. It’s a very physically demanding role.”
Wracked by physical deformity, Quasimodo has to compete with the handsome Captain Phoebus de Martin and Frollo for the attention of free-spirited Esmeralda.
“I definitely see him as sort of an outcast,” Mellen said of Quasimodo. “He’s been hidden away from society for so many years. He’s seen everybody from the bell tower of Notre Dame. He’s a very hopeful and wishful person, wanting to be a part of the world that he sees below him.
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“And when he does get that chance, he’s mocked and he’s ridiculed because of how he looks. So I think he’s very much a sympathetic character.”
The plight of Quasimodo is filled with empathetic elements.
“There’ll probably be some people in the audience who will be able to relate to those feelings of being that person who’s different and not accepted by society,” Mellen said.
Group rates are available for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” as is a full-service cash bar. Loge seating is likewise available, according to the venue’s website. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’
Where: Memorial Opera House, 104 E. Indiana Ave., Valparaiso
When: Feb. 16-March 4
Tickets: Adults $21; seniors, students, military $18
Information: 219-548-9137; www.memorialoperahouse.com