The theatre department of The College of Central Florida presents the musical, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. This story is about a gypsy girl named Esmeralda who makes a living dancing and a Notre Dame bell ringer named Quasimodo. Their adventures, as well as the adventures of other characters, will be followed throughout the musical.
Although the most famous adaptation of this novel is the Disney cartoon musical released in 1996. The author of the original story titled “Notre Dame de Paris” is Victor Hugo, who published his novel in 1831. Since the endings of these works are different, many students wonder how the musical will end.
Professor Nonalee Davis, the theatre director, encourages everyone who is interested to come to the premiere to find out which version was chosen as the basis for the college musical.
“All I can say so far is that the music is taken from Disney. The rest will be a big spoiler.” Prof. Davis also shared that there will be a few of her own changes that will expand the story. “Of course I made changes. You know me. I added ballet because we have a prima ballerina in the cast and she does point.”
The performer of the role of Claude Frollo, Collin Williams, shared his impressions of his character.
“He’s vile, understandable, somebody that you could be, or somebody you could meet in real life. There are some parts of his story that you could attribute to your own life. You could be him or could know him. For me, that is the most interesting part about him. His the most real character I have ever played for sure.” add Williams.
Kieran Boyle who is playing the captain of French army, Phoebus, shared his experience being a first-time lead in a show.
“I have had here at CF some shows [sic]. However, It’s the first leading role me Find turning of my voice, I think was the most difficult part for me.”
For Melrose Root and Camila Bran, playing the roles of Esmeralda and Quasimodo, this musical was also kind of challenging.
“The most difficult part of the role was the physical aspect of it. I need to think how to portray him to make it believable,” said Root. “I think the relationship between Esmeralda and Quasimodo are very lovely, sweet, they understand each other perfectly. It is really good realest throughout the show[sic].” adds about the chemistry between the characters.
“She is strong, and she knows the difference between right and wrong. She has a very good moral[sic]. She is just the woman, and she loves dancing, singing and being able to play with it,” Bran adds. “I basically love doing the same thing, just sing and dance. There is no big difference between me and Esmeralda. She’s just more opens about her beliefs, and I feel like that is takes a lot of approach,” said about her character.
A lot of time and effort has been put into this massive show, so all the cast and crew are expecting good reactions from the audience.
“I really hope they’re gonna like it, have fun and enjoy the show. I really hope that they feel the message of the story,” said Ashlyn Methvin, the performer of Clopin Trouillefou.
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” is arriving on stage April 4-7 at the CF Dassance Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for non-CF students, and free for all CF students, faculty and staff with valid CF ID Get tickets at cf.universitytickets.com or call 352-873-5810.
