Inspired by Victor Hugo's novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame features a book by Peter Parnell, music by Menken and lyrics by Schwartz. The musical was billed as a "dramatic retelling of the famous love story on a grand scale, with a lush, emotionally rich score."
Fans of the musical – which had its U.S. premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in fall 2014 – hoped a Broadway transfer would materialize, but the cast was notified late in the show's run at Paper Mill that the production would not be moving forward.
Read Reviews of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
A studio cast album, which reunited the original cast, was recently recorded and will be released in 2016. Music Theatre International holds the live licensing rights for the musical, which will be available to amateur and professional groups in the near future.
Tuacahn is among the first theatres in the country to secure rights to the production after its professional premiere. The theatre's season also includes the musical Peter Pan and Disney's Tarzan. Performances of Hunchback begin in August 2016.
The stage premiere featured Michael Arden (Big River) as Quasimodo, Patrick Page (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) as Dom Claude Frollo, Ciara Renée (Pippin) as Esmeralda, Andrew Samonsky (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) as Captain Phoebus de Martin and Erik Liberman (Lovemusik) as Clopin Trouillefou. Scott Schwartz directed the U.S. stage premiere.
