June 5, 1999 – The Stage Musical Der Glöckner von Notre Dame Premieres
“…two lost souls finally find each other. People will cry, but they’ll be moved. And it is a very romantic ending.” – Translator Michael Kunze
On June 5, 1999, the stage musical version of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, retitled in German as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, premiered at the Stella Musical Theater at Potsamer Platz in Berlin. The music was written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, who added nine new songs, and the book was written by James Lapine. It was the first musical by Walt Disney Theatrical to premiere outside of the United States. Although based on the animated film, the overall musical is much darker, with many striking differences: the gargoyles are renamed Charles, Antoine, and Loni, and are firmly established as figments of Quasimodo’s imagination; Frollo has a background as a priest, hearkening back to Victor Hugo’s original manuscript; the animals Djali the goat and Phoebus’ horse Achilles are cut from the musical; and many other changes. The original cast includes Drew Sarich as Quasimodo, Judy Weiss as Esmeralda, Fredrik Lycke as Phoebus, Jens Janke as Clopin, Norbert Lamla as Frollo, Valentin Zahn as Charles, Yvonne Ritz Andersen as Loni, Tamas Ferkay as Antoine, and Carlo Lauber as the Archdeacon. The musical was quite successful, and ran for three years before closing in June 2002. The popularity of the musical has led to the production of a Broadway version, which will, as of this date, be running at the Paper Mill Playhouse from March 4 through April 5, 2015.
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