(Paris) More than 15 million spectators in 27 countries: translated into 20 languages, Notre-Dame de Paris, cult musical, celebrates its 25th anniversary at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, “where it all began, like in a dream », Confides composer Richard Cocciante to AFP.
“With Luc Plamondon (author of the booklet, Editor’s note), we are very moved to experience such success for so long. It’s a great privilege to see Notre-Dame de Paris on show again 25 years later…” adds the Franco-Italian musician.
“Since the beginning, Notre-Dame-de Paris has attracted all generations. Today, they are the children of our youngest spectators in 1998,” he rejoices.
A critical and public success, the musical, created in September 1998, is directly inspired by the novel by the monument of French literature Victor Hugo: the story of Esmeralda and the fatal passion nourished for her by the hunchback Quasimodo and the priest Frollo , with the backdrop of the famous cathedral which rises in the heart of the French capital, in the middle of the Middle Ages.
For Luc Plamondon, a large part of the success is based on “a story known to the greatest number of people which does not need to be explained, with characters who could have been invented today”.
Successful Quebec lyricist (Diane Dufresne, Julien Clerc, Céline Dion, etc.), Luc Plamondon rose to fame in 1978 with the libretto for Starmania, another cult show composed by French musician Michel Berger, brought up to date last year .
“For several years, Luc had been planning to transpose Victor Hugo’s novel. He asked me to compose the music. I hesitated in the face of such a challenge…” recalls Richard Cocciante.
“I played the music of what would become the song Belle first. Luc wrote the words almost immediately. We looked at each other. The alchemy was there. We realized we could do it! », adds the musician.
The two authors, however, had great difficulty finding a record company: “it was said that I was going to destroy my career with Notre-Dame de Paris, but the most beautiful songs in the world are ultimately those that the public chooses,” believes Mr. Cocciante.
Going against the usual promotion of musicals, the album was released nine months before the show. The song Belle had already sold a million copies.
Bringing together more than 450,000 spectators in just a few months at the Palais des Congrès, Notre-Dame de Paris has put musical shows back in the saddle in France. The first troupe revealed Hélène Ségara in the role of Esméralda, Garou as Quasimodo, Bruno Pelletier as Gringoire, Daniel Lavoie as Frollo, Patrick Fiori as Phœbus, Luck Mervil as Clopin and Julie Zenatti as Fleur de Lys.
Only Quebecer Daniel Lavoie, 74 years old today, still plays the archdeacon of Notre-Dame, in love with the “queen of the gypsies”. In the same refined setting symbolizing the surroundings of the cathedral, the troupe brings together around thirty actors, dancers and acrobats.
Plamondon and Cocciante took some liberties with Hugo’s classic, while keeping the action in the 15th century: the court of Miracles is transformed into the “court of undocumented immigrants”, with a still very current resonance.
Awarded in France with two trophies at the Victoires de la Musique (song of the year for Belle and best show), Notre-Dame de Paris, which will offer a new tour of the Zéniths in the spring, remains to this day the French musical the most exported, from Barcelona to Moscow, via Las Vegas, Rome, London, Seoul, Beijing and Montreal, not to mention two recent residencies for the first time on Broadway.
