Notre Dame de Paris (2000 Studio Cast) [Epic]
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Description
With the British in a bit of a dry spell in the late 1990s, it's fallen to the French to produce Europe's pop-rock blockbuster musicals. Following in the footsteps of the Boublil-Schönberg spectacles is Notre-Dame de Paris, which opened in its title city in September 1998, toured through France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada, and produced two top-selling albums. This take on Victor Hugo's classic novel features music by Richard Cocciante and lyrics by Luc Plamondon (Starmania), translated into English by Will Jennings ("My Heart Will Go On," "Up Where We Belong"), and tells a tragic tale of love and lust among Quasimodo (the raspy-voiced but effective Garou), the gypsy woman Esmeralda (Australian pop singer Tina Arena, whose timbre might remind you of Lea Salonga), the priest Frollo (Canadian Daniel Lavoie), the dashing captain Phoebus (Steve Balsamo), and his fiancée Fleur-de-Lys (Natasha St-Pierre). This talented cast (different from the one that opened in Las Vegas in January 2000) will premiere in London in May 2000 and includes numerous members from the Paris companies. Making a brief appearance is frequent Plamondon collaborator Celine Dion, whose performance of the opening track was included on her greatest hits album. This disc compiles 63 minutes of the show's appealing tunes, most notably "Live for the One I Love," "The Age of the Cathedrals," "Belle (Is the Only Word)," and "My Heart if You Will Swear"--pop-rock with a slight Gallic accent and a nod to such genre landmarks as Jesus Christ Superstar and Chess. Also included are lyrics, a brief synopsis, and color photos. Incidentally, Notre-Dame de Paris might someday find itself in competition with another developing project: Disney's latest screen-to-stage translation, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a less gritty version of the same story line. --David Horiuchi
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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:
I've fallen in love againWednesday, February 02, 2005
I have fallen in love musically twice before... once in the 70s with Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack (Ted Neeley), and again with Phantom of the Opera (Colm Wilkinson). Now I have discovered what some have called the "obscure" musical, Notre Dame de Paris (the English version) which, oddly enough, I had NO idea was about the Hunchback until I bought the CD! I had heard the songs "Pagan Ave Maria" and "I am a Priest" on my Yahoo Radio and could not get enough of them. Some Amazon reviewers have made unfair comparisons of the original French version to the translation. Frankly, I would never have made this wonderful discovery if I had not had the opportunity to first hear the English version. Now I can choose to move on to the French version, or not. I am perfectly happy with this version!
If by some strange reason you are not familiar with or do not remember the original story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, I would recommend reading the book, or at least seeing the classic movie (with Charles Laughton as the Hunchback and Maureen O'Hara as Esmerelda) to refresh your memory and refamiliarize yourself with the characters.
From the primitive drumbeat of "Asylum" (my personal favorite, repetitive or not) and the soul-baring, painful admission of forbidden love in "I am a Priest" (Daniel Lavoie) to "Live for the One I Love" (performed beautifully by Tina Arena), this is an incredibly moving story, with gorgeous music (both instrumentally and vocal), the words easy to understand and so much fun to sing along with in the car (who cares who is watching!).
One of the great things about this CD, in addition to the fact that the music is dark, hauntingly beautiful, mysterious, and moving, is that even though there are only 17 songs (as compared to the two-disc French version), from beginning to end, they tell the complete story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Although others have criticized the English translation and the repetitiveness of some of the songs, I find the words and music to be a perfect match, and they more than adequately portray the various fiery love stories within, each person telling their own story of all-consuming and uncontrollable (and often unrequited) love, passion, lust, pain, and even death.
And if you are driving down the highway and see a red-haired woman singing "Asylum" at the top of her lungs, please wave... that would be me.
1 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Can't stand Tina Arena's voice!Thursday, October 28, 2004
The girl sucks! She's got one of the worst voices in the industry, and she's definitely NO Lea Salonga (who's got one of the best voices in the world). She's a liability in this CD.
Great!!Tuesday, October 05, 2004
I saw this in London over 3 years ago and I absolutely loved it (oh... and i'm an American too). Tina Arena's rendition of "Live for the One I Love" is enchanting, though I didn't like Celine Dion's version. Overall, I recommend this CD to anyone who enjoyed the production.
1 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Best musical show in yearsWednesday, September 29, 2004
I lived in France for 10 years and I was there when the show opened and toured France,Belgium and Canada.It is a great musical.It involves love,hate,jealousy and many other feelings.Personally it is one of my favorites.
I live currently in kansas and I did hear about the critical disaster at Las Vegas.I do think it wss a disaster because Americans are very old fashioned.No american can understand how two guys can love,fight and die over a woman.And no american is also able to grasp and accept the intended sexuality.For americans to enjoy the show,americans gave to forget about any "rules" of living and interaction.tO enjoy the show,americans have to be open minded.I would (and I do) recommend this show to anyone
2 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:
OkayFriday, July 16, 2004
While not a match to the French recording, this album features some good singing, foremost among them Celine Dion's. Comebacking has-been starlet Tina Arena should feel honored being mentioned in the same sentence as the multi-awarded international theater star Lea Salonga.