Buying three tickets to the show at the Papp László as a collective Christmas present was a no-brainer.
My wife and her daughter arrived in France to live not long after the musical premiered in 1998, and the song “Belle,” taken from it, topped the French charts for a record-breaking 18 weeks. My wife remembers singing songs from the musical in French in the car together with her daughter as she drove her to elementary school. To this day, they know all the words to all the songs.
The musical is based on Victor Hugo’s novel “Notre-Dame de Paris,” published in 1831 and better known in English as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Legend has it that, after years of prevaricating, Hugo locked himself away in his room to write the novel, leaving his clothes outside. As I’m up against a tight deadline for this article, I’m testing Hugo’s method. I’ll report back.
Since 1998, the musical, written by Riccardo Cocciente and Luc Plamandon, has played to more than 12 million people worldwide, been performed more than 5,000 times in 20 countries and translated into nine languages. More than 11 million CDs and DVDs have been sold. The original production involves 200 tonnes of scenery that require seven trucks to move it from performance to performance.
Although architecture is the underlying theme of Hugo’s novel, lyricist Luc Plamandon has, somewhat unsurprisingly, said that the real story for him is Quasimodo’s love for Esmeralda. Like the novel, the musical is set in Paris in 1482. Gringoire, a poet, is the commentator. Quasimodo, the hunchbacked and facially deformed bellringer of Notre Dame, is in love with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda. As are Frollo, the evil archdeacon of Notre Dame, and possibly Phoebus, Captain of the Royal Archers.
Complicating matters, Quasimodo is devoted to Frollo, who raised and educated him after he was abandoned as a baby. Esmeralda, meanwhile, is protected by Clopin, leader of the band of beggars and outcasts who gather outside Notre Dame.
Apparently, Hugo may have befriended a hunchbacked stone carver who worked at Notre-Dame, restoring the cathedral, while he was writing his novel.
Frollo orders Quasimodo to bring him Esmeralda, but Phoebus arrests the hunchback before he can do so. The soldier then arranges to meet Esmeralda the next night. Meanwhile, Gringoire accidentally wanders into the secret Court of Miracles, where the outcasts of Paris meet. Clopin judges that he will be hanged for trespassing unless one of the women present agrees to marry him. Esmeralda does.
Quasimodo is tied to The Great Wheel as his punishment for trying to kidnap Esmeralda. She takes pity on him and gives him a drink of water. After he’s released, he, Frollo and Phoebus sing about their feelings for Esmeralda in the song “Belle,” which became an enormous hit for the gravel-voiced Garou (the stage name for Pierre Garand, a Canadian singer and actor from Québec) as Quasimodo.
After Quasimodo takes Esmaralda into Notre Dame, explaining that it is now her home and sanctuary, she warms to him. Frollo spies on her in the cathedral, powerless over his lust for her. When Phoebus meets Esmeralda, Frollo stabs him with her knife. She collapses, and Frollo escapes. And so endeth act one.
Act two opens with Frollo explaining to Gringoire that Notre Dame is silent because Quasimodo hasn’t rung the bells for three days. Esmeralda is in prison for the murder of Phoebus, although he is not actually dead. The soldier’s fiancée, the aristocratic, beautiful Fleur-de-Lys, forces him to order Esmeralda’s execution. Frollo visits her in prison and confesses that he stabbed Phoebus. He offers her the choice of dying on the gallows or making love with him. When she rejects him, he tries to rape her. Meanwhile, Quasimodo has freed Clopin and the other prisoners. Clopin knocks Frollo unconscious. He releases Esmeralda, and Quasimodo hides her in Notre Dame.
Frollo orders Phoebus and his men to ignore the sanctuary Notre Dame offers Clopin and his followers and to attack the cathedral. Clopin is killed, and Esmeralda becomes the leader of his people. She is captured, and Phoebus hands her over to be executed before he leaves with Fleur-de-Lys.
Searching Notre Dame for Esmeralda, Quasimodo discovers an insane Frollo who shows him Esmeralda being hanged and says he’s responsible for her death. Quasimodo throws Frollo down the stairs of the tower. After Esmeralda’s body has been cut down, Quasimodo kneels beside it and promises to stay with her even in death. Fin.
“Notre-Dame de Paris” revived musicals in France. Three songs from it were released as singles: “Vivre,” “Le temps des cathédrales,” and “Belle.” The latter was named Song of the Year in France and nominated for Song of the Century. Celine Dion and Tina Arena released an English version of “Vivre,” retitled “Live for the One I Love.” To date, the score has been recorded at least seven times. The musical launched Garou’s career as well as that of Hélène Ségara, who played Esmeralda, and went on to sell over 10 million records.
In France, “Notre-Dame de Paris” is an institution. Writing on Timeout.com, Alice Saville described it as occupying “a very, very special place in French culture. When I saw it in Paris [….] the crowd were pretty much in raptures.”
My wife says, “I’ve loved the musical for more than 20 years and listened to the songs over and over, using my imagination to picture the scene. I’m excited to see the songs brought to life onstage. I have the advantage that I know the music so well that I can concentrate on the story. I’m looking forward to spotting nuances in the plot.”
Just to set the record (if you will pardon the pun in a musical-based article) straight, if you were wondering whether this was part of the trend of adapting Disney cartoons into stage musicals, it isn’t, although that did also happen. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 1996 film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (also inspired by Victor Hugo’s novel) premiered as a stage musical in 1999 in Berlin as “Der Glöckner von Notre Dame,” with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by James Lapine. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, the English-language version, with a revised book by Peter Parnell, debuted on October 28, 2014, eventually closing on April 5, 2015. “Notre Dame de Paris” is not that version.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of November 28, 2025.
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