Kevin in “Hunchback”

Original Cast -

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Kevin participated in the US Broadway Workshop of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. It was a huge hit in Germany, and a thrill for Kevin to work with theatre greats such as James Lapine, Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken every day.

Show Info

BERLIN, GERMANY Stage Version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This new incarnation opened in Berlin on June 5th, 1999, over two years ago as of this writing, and has been running steadily with no signs of slowing down. It is directed by the incredibly talented James Lapine, (Into the Woods, Falsettos.)

The incredible set for this production utilizes many large hydraulically controlled boxes that can be placed at every conceivable height and level, and the usage of highly detailed photographic images make for one of the most stunning productions one can hope to see. Particullarly effective in usage is the finale of act one showing Pheobus' plummet from a bridge over the Seine after being shot by an arrow. With great disappointment, I have discovered that Disney has no plans to bring this staging to the United States. The pity here is that the stage incarnation is expanded perfectly from the original film version in many well thought out master strokes.

Several of the books original concepts have been reinstated. Pheobus is a braggart and on leave in Paris, Frollo is a corrupt clergy member and not a judicial magistrate, Quasi allows/aids in Frollo's plummet to his death, and Esmeralda dies. These matters, as well as a few others are obviously reason enough to show why Disney would be highly nervous of a transfer of this production past it's initial Berlin run. This is indeed a pity, for what this work has to offer is an incredibly fascinating and entertaining evening of live musical theatre whose main point stays with the audience member well past the last fading peel of the bellringer's bells. Something that most forms of entertainment aspire to.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (also known as The Bells of Notre Dame in some countries) is a 1996 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is loosely based on Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While the basic structure remains, the film differs greatly from its source material. The plot centers on the Gypsy dancer, Esmeralda; Claude Frollo, a powerful and ruthless judge who lusts after her; Quasimodo, the protagonist, Notre Dame's kind-hearted but deformed bellringer, who adores her; and Phoebus, the chivalrous if irreverent military captain, who holds affections for her.

Despite the changes from the original literary source material in order to ensure a G rating, the film does manage to address some rather mature themes; i.e. sexual obsession, infanticide, religious hypocrisy, prejudice, and social injustice. It is also the first Disney movie to use the word "damn", although it is used only in the religious sense. In the DVD audio commentary, the filmmakers note that the gargoyles might exist only in Quasimodo's imagination and thus may well be split-off pieces of his own identity.