The Hunchback of Notre Dame Comes to San Diego

In the short time I was able to sit with director Scott Schwartz and discuss his newest project, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, it was extremely clear that there is a great deal of passion surrounding this show. This is not surprising considering the all-star creative team featuring book writer Peter Parnell (The West Wing), set designer Alexander Dodge (Present Laughter), Alan Menken (Newsies) on music, and Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) on lyrics. It is inspiring to watch a director light up whilst discussing his show, and Schwartz exudes pure, unadulterated joy when he speaks about "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." His excitement for the show is contagious. I found myself smiling from ear to ear as I heard him talk about his love for the material, his creative team, and his cast. It is apparent that there is something magical happening at the La Jolla Playhouse.  

The La Jolla Playhouse has housed great musicals, such as "Jersey Boys," that have gone on to rock Broadway. Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey has done the same with musicals like "Newsies." This year, in special collaboration with Disney, the two houses will be presenting, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." The musical will follow the 1996 Disney animated feature, but it will include added songs and a darker side. The person responsible for putting all the pieces in place will be director Scott Schwartz. An accomplished theatre director. Schwartz has an impressive resume. He has directed projects such as "Bat Boy the Musical," "tick, tick...BOOM," and "Golda's Balcony" (Broadway's longest-running one woman show). The last time he worked for the La Jolla Playhouse, he co-directed "Jane Eyre." 

Director Scott Schwartz

Having worked for the playhouse before, Schwartz is excited to be back. "Its such an amazing place and the staff is incredibly supportive." As he says this, he is handed a bottle of water from one of the staff. The overall feeling at the Playhouse is that of support and excitement. The woman at the front desk is also clearly passionate about this show. It is well known that the La Jolla Playhouse produces Broadway-worthy shows. This leaves one to wonder, is there a push to take Hunchback to Broadway? Sorry Broadway babies. Your only chance to see the show will be October 26 – December 14 at the La Jolla Playhouse and March 4 – 29 at Papermill Playhouse. "Our intention - and certainly Disney's intention - is to do the best show that we can and present the work as fully and honestly and as richly as possible. There is currently no plan past Papermill for this show."

The Disney film takes liberties from Victor Hugo's original story of the bell ringer, Quasimodo. Major differences include cutting two deaths in favor of a happy ending. The production that ran in Germany, however, took a darker approach to the musical. Will this new production keep things light? Or will Hugo's tragedy be fully recognized? "We've built on the German production," says Schwartz. "We've expanded on that material." New songs have been written for this version of the show, there are songs from the German production and one new song from an original television movie. The idea of the gargoyles is gone, and with them, their comedy. This is an idea Schwartz seems excited about. "Its almost as if Notre Dame itself talks to [Quasimodo]," says Schwartz.

There are ten songs in the first act alone, and Act Two has five or six songs. "I love this score, and I feel one of the main reasons all of us - the actors, myself, the other artists working on the show - were attracted to this show." Schwartz smiles and looks to the ceiling as he searches for a way to describe the music. "It's almost operatic in scope." Schwartz's favorite numbers, apart from what he is working on for the day, include a new song, "Made of Stone," a song for Quasimodo that was originally in the German production. Another additional song, "Topsy Turvy," has turned into a gigantic musicalized frame for the feast of fools. 

Another exciting new development for this show is the addition of a thirty-two-person choir. Local choir, Sacra/Profana, will be appearing on stage at the La Jolla Playhouse and will be lending their voices in commentary to the action of the show. It was at this point that I really saw Schwartz begin to get excited because the onstage choir was one of his original ideas that came to fruition and made everyone on his team excited. 

There was a workshop in January done in New York where Schwartz and his cast began to put everything together. The four principle actors, Michael Arden, Patrick Page, Ciara Rene, and Andrew Samonsky, have been with the show since the workshop, and one of Schwartz's favorite parts of the process has been working with these extraordinary actors. "I am so enjoying working with the actors," he says. "They are such a fine company." Schwartz and his seventeen-person cast have been working extremely hard to "find the truth and the humanity and the depth and complexity of these people." Schwartz pauses and smiles. "It has been a wonderful process."

Parents be warned, unlike the 1996 animated film, this show is not for young children. It is suggested as a twelve and older show, mainly for the dark content. "What we've really tried to do with this adaptation is really honor the novel as well as the film," Schwartz says. There are several different layers to each character, song, and scene. Schwartz is striving to truly honor humanity in all their mysteries. "Nobody in this show is all good or all bad. Nobody is a hero or really a villain... All the characters have moments of light and moments of darkness." It's at this point that Schwartz takes another brief pause and a smile crosses his face again. "Its one of the things that I so love about the musical is that it tries to honor the complexities of Hugo's novel." For those of you concerned that the show might be too dark, never fear. I have been assured by Schwartz that, "It's going to be a lot of fun, the score is beautiful... it'll be a really fun, wild ride." 

Having to tear myself away from the interview in order to let Schwartz get back to his fight choreographer, I had to ask one final question. What is the heart of this show? "Its about all of us, and about the fact that in all of us there are things we're not comfortable with," he says, "and there are things that make us feel ashamed or like an outsider, and there's also the way we relate to things in the world that scare us, and I think the explanation of our hearts and the way we incorporate things into our hearts is really at the core." 

La Jolla Playhouse is located on 2910 La Jolla Village Drive