A Prayerful Cry from Outcasts
By Tom Wachunas
…There are some days, dark and
bitter / Seems we haven't got a prayer / But a prayer for something better / Is
the one thing we all share…
- from the song
“Someday” by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Where is it etched
in stone that a work of musical theatre must always cheer up the house? The
season-ending Players Guild production of The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the Victor Hugo novel and with songs from
the 1996 animated Disney film, is a far cry from the giddy jubilance we
experienced last September in the Guild’s dazzling production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. There were moments
throughout Hunchback when the famous
passage in T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men,” crept into my head: “…This is
the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” This is the way the Guild’s season ends?
As a theatrical
work, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (book by Peter Parnell) is a mercilessly contemplative story – somber, brooding, and
seemingly hopeless in its complexity – and arguably flawed by an
over-indulgence in expository narrative passages muttered or chanted by robed
priests, choirs, and statues. Yet there’s something ineffably spectacular –
even courageous - in how director Jonathan Tisevich has effectively let light
shine through such a dark tale.
It’s a light both
symbolic and literal, revealed in many ways, starting with the impressive set designed by Joshua
Erichsen, in conjunction with the resplendent lighting design by Scott Sutton
and offstage live orchestra conducted by Steve Parsons. All of it evokes the ritualized
majesty and mystery of Gothic cathedrals in 15th century Paris.
Throughout the proceedings, these hallowed halls and shadowy niches often
reverberate with explosive choral performances from the ensemble, capturing the
glorious polyphonic pomp and solemnity associated with the High Holy Mass of
old. The Latin texts and chants, peppered with Kyrie eleison ( Greek, actually, for “Lord Have Mercy”) and Dies irae (Day of Wrath), constantly portend trouble ahead.
Archdeacon Frollo, played here by Jim
Graysmith, named his bastard nephew Quasimodo (meaning ‘half-formed’) and
regards him as a simpleton to be disciplined in the ways of the Church. Frollo
raised him from infancy and forcibly confined him to Notre Dame’s bell tower to
supposedly shield him from a morally corrupt world. Graysmith gives us a robust
portrait of Frollo’s hypocricy and malevolence, beginning with his
guilt-riddled lust for the alluring young gypsy woman, Esmeralda. After being soundly rebuffed by her, he
condemns her to die as a witch and embarks on a murderous campaign to purge
Paris of its sinful gypsy population. While the clarity of what Graysmith is
saying is often diminished when he sings in his gristly lower register, there’s
no mistaking his palpably sinister intent. Chilling.
Matthew Heppe
plays Phoebus, a cathedral soldier employed by Frollo. He’s a carousing
womanizer when we first meet him, but is soon drawn to Esmeralda enough to
pursue her in earnest. Just how earnest,
exactly, is a lingering question, as his cavalier demeanor feels a bit too
tentative at times. Interestingly, one could reasonably wonder if Clopin, the
energetic leader of the gypsies, might be the more sincere suitor. Or is his
infectious passion more about loyalty to his community at large? In any case,
Sean Flemming brings delightful ebullience to that role.
And speaking of
ebullience, there are some notable passages of mirth and magic amidst the
darkness, including the gypsy joie de
vivre evident in the ensemble numbers choreographed by Michael Lawrence
Ayers. And a particularly enchanting scene in Act Two transpires in the song,
“Flight Into Egypt,” wherein a statue of the martyr, St. Aphrodisius, played by
Jake Sustersic, comes to life and directs Quasimodo to rescue Esmeralda. In a
clever illusion, Sustersic appears to be holding his decapitated head in his
hands as he sings.
The undeniably
brightest lights in this story are the electrifying performances by Desiree
Hargrave as Esmeralda, and David Holbert as Quasimodo. What began as
Esmeralda’s simple act of mercy in rescuing Quasimodo from the cruelties heaped
upon him by Parisians during the annual Feast of Fools becomes a profoundly
incorruptible bond of hope and love between societal outcasts. Indeed, when
Hargrave sings “God Help the Outcasts,” it’s a soaring, cathartic focal point,
a gripping pledge of sympathy and an otherwise bittersweet melding of
selflessness, resolve, and achingly real supplication. And whenever Holbert
sings, he sheds his contorted posture and slurred speech so that his voice
becomes a strong, piercing presence, invested at some points with boyish wonder
and joy, at others with a compelling sadness and urgency.
The story ends as it
began, with a question: “What makes a monster, and what makes a man?” We might just as well wonder: What makes lust
and what makes love? While the end is
not a happily-ever-after one by any worldly measure, it’s certainly not a
whimper. It may be, for some, a dour finale, a mournful tolling of bells in an
inapproachable tower. But the larger, more sobering realization here is in
effect a Divine revelation – a ringing reminder that the purest love is nothing
if not sacrificial. It’s not so much a matter of Dies Irae as it is one of Kyrie
Eleison.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame / THROUGH June 3, 2018 / Players
Guild Theatre, 1001 Market Ave N,
Canton, OH / Single tickets: $29 / 17 and younger: $22 / Seniors: $26 / Order tickets : Box Office 330-453-7617, or at https://www.playersguildtheatre.com/
PHOTOS, from top: 1. Desiree Hargrave as Esmeralda and
David Holbert as Quasimodo (courtesy Michael Lawrence Akers) / 2. David Holbert (courtesy Jon
Tisevich) / 3. Desiree Holbert (courtesy Michael Lawrence Akers) / 4. Jim Graysmith as Frollo (courtesy
Jon Tisevich) / 5. Cast, courtesy
Jon Tisevich
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