Notre Dame de Paris at ENO

I recently found out that the music will be played live by the ENO orchestra. Should sound amazing and quite different than the existing pre-recorded version which has a very studio sounding synth sound to it.

I saw this cast in Geneva last year (or was it the year before?) and loved it. Great singing by all the leads.

Saw the one-price matinee this afternoon, and it's glorious escapism if you're in the right mood.

You'll have to shake the mischievous ghost of Terry Wogan off your shoulder, as this is like Eurovision plus plus plus, with excessively beautiful people flamboyantly gesticulating, as they belt overblown emotionalism, song after song after song, while ripped Cirque de Soleil style acrobats slither up and down walls and do flips that Aston could only dream of.

If ever you wanted an escape from the narrow and nauseous politics of Brexit (the echoes are explicitly there in the scenes where the "illegals" and "foreigners" are dispensed with), hearing what sounds like the compressed and compiled hits of Demis Roussos, acted and sung in the style of a Spanish Telenovela, by a superb cast of European singers is precisely the tonic you might crave: all acrobatic movement, luscious and lusciously sung melodies, passionate posturing bodies, dazzling colourful lights making a spare stage beautiful, and one actress, Hiba Tawaji, as Esmerelda, bringing just that little surprising sprinkle of credibility to her emotional expression, to season an otherwise superficial spectacle with a soupcon of realness that cleanses the theatrical palette.

Daniel Lavoie is a loveably smooth villain, all grey hair and dark eyebrows, a corrupted Maurice Chevalier lol.

All in all, I felt like I went on an immersive 2 hour, forty minute, holiday to an alternative universe (one in which we love Europe, and they love us), where all emotions are large, and we can all love to die for love, if only for a short while, because after all, that's a very silly thing to want to do.

With the caveat that Quasimodo has a terrible hairstyle (as if struck by lightning, while applying red hair dye and gel), this is marvellous silly shallow luscious wallowing escapist fun! And it got a raucous standing ovation, a briefly but deeply felt lingering bond of love between a British audience and continental European performers. 4 and a half stars.

I would love to see this on Friday but the seats just don't look reasonably priced to me - any ideas whether they're doing day seats? Neither TodayTix nor TKTS seem to have discounts 😢

I stand corrected. Maybe I should say, her French predecessors. Yes, Tina belted it and so did Patti Russo!

I went last night and absolutely loved it. OK I did see it too many times to count at the Dominium. It was great to see it sang in the original French and some of the actors from when it was at the Dominium. I was lucky to be in the 3rd row of the stalls and just was in awe. I have read lots of the reviews and there is some truth in all of them. The surtitles were laughable at times (yes I could see them from the 3rd row) but the energy was still there. The scenery was much the same, simple but effective. I can’t fault any of the cast but Garoux was so amazing back in 2000, he would be hard to beat. Anyway looking forward to seeing it again on Sunday. If I could I would go every night, lol.

anthony but why were surtitles dodgy? The French text has exactly the same meaning

Last show on Sunday the writers came on for the final song.

I am surprised that so many people liked the show (sorry!) To me, it felt like a sing-song show backed up by some irelevant (but very good) acrobatics. It was like watching a figure skating sequence consisting only of big jumps with nothing in between. Such thing as "weaving of a story" was nonexistent.

Having said that, I thought the singing was quite strong all around. However, I was not sure if the role of Quasimodo should have been sung in that kind of intentionally ugly voice. He may be deformed physically, but his soul is supposed be pure. I have now bought a copy of the original novel to see if my supposition is correct.

All in all, I did not think one can call this particular production a fully-fledged musical. It felt more like a rough sketch.

Oh, is that so? Well, if plenty of people like this style, who am I to complain about it? I should just say it wasn't my cup of tea.