Notre Dame de Paris
Feb. 19th, 2008 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrA post by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
upstart_crow caught my eye earlier today:
This video did catch my eye, I listened to the music, and I liked it so much that I've downloaded the (French) soundtrack, too, and am enjoying it now. Thanks,upstart_crow.
upstart_crow caught my eye earlier today:Today I searched iTunes to see if they had the complete recording of Notre Dame de Paris, an excellent 1998 musicalization of Victor Hugo's novel. I was shocked and elated to discover that they did, and the entire recording was only $20.00. It would have cost me at least $60 to purchase the hard-to-find, French import CD from Amazon.
To show you the awesomeness that is Notre Dame de Paris, here is a clip of my favorite song from the musical, "Les Cloches." Here Quasimodo (played to perfection by Canadian singer Garou) sings about his isolation from humanity through a recitation of the Catholic calendar year.
If this isn't your thing, you should at least watch this song for the acrobatics - dancers swinging inside of giant bells!
This video did catch my eye, I listened to the music, and I liked it so much that I've downloaded the (French) soundtrack, too, and am enjoying it now. Thanks,
upstart_crow.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 06:10 am (UTC)But there was also an English version of the play, with Garou (Quebecois) in the lead, and I believe the priest was also played by the actor who played him in the French version (also Quebecois); the lyrics were redone.
The French are not post-modern in their musicals; the English are post-modern in everything, and I think the very accurate translations just sank like lead balloons with the English audience.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 07:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 03:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 09:47 am (UTC)(Why is it far-inferior? Well, the translation is appalling. It's the sort of translation you listen to with a look of horror and wince at. I mean, they have Frollo singing, "Luther will give the world / a true New Testament..." Frollo? Having that opinion on Luther? Please.)
(Or for Quasimodo, "Notre-Dame de Paris / It's my home in the sky / Where I wonder why / We must live and die..." Feh, say I. Feh.)
(goes back to "O Lucifer, o laissez-moi rien qu'une fois...")
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 12:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 01:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 01:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 02:32 pm (UTC)The staging of it was the most amazing thing! The aerialists and acrobats (two different sets of ensemble) were spectacular, so it didn't really matter if the translation was terrible, you weren't paying attention to the lyrics, just the emotion.
I remember that the front of the stage was stairs going down into the front part of the orchestra pit, and the back wall came apart and moved around the stage. And yes, the bells had human clappers like in this video. Thanks for bringing back some great memories!
♥
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 03:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-20 03:22 pm (UTC)The book was good, and none of the adaptations I saw really did it credit. (The Disney version was the closest.)
Oh my.
Date: 2008-02-20 06:52 pm (UTC)Re: Oh my.
Date: 2008-02-20 09:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-23 06:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-24 02:57 am (UTC)