Audiences sing along when performers of Notre-Dame de Paris do an encore Age of the Cathedrals at the SAIC Shanghai Culture Square.
The French musical is being presented in Shanghai through Aug 11, and at the end of almost every performance, the audience sings along during the encore, according to the theater management. The cast is touched by the enthusiasm of the audiences. And the composer of the musical, Riccardo Cocciante, and one of the lead actors, Richard Charest, marvel at how Shanghai's audiences can sing in French.
The musical based on Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris premiered in Paris in 1998. Its music was composed by Cocciante with lyrics by Luc Plamondon.
One of the most successful French musicals, the production has seen more than 5,000 performances globally and was adapted into multiple languages such as English, Spanish and Italian.
In 2018, a new 20th anniversary production was presented in Paris before heading on a global tour.
The China tour of Notre-Dame de Paris this year has kicked off a new chapter in Sino-French cultural communications, says Nicolas Talar, the producer.
After Shanghai, the musical will be performed in 13 cities in China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and Harbin in Heilongjiang province.
The tour will conclude at the Shenzhen Poly Theatre in Guangdong province on Jan 12, 2020.
"In 2011, Notre-Dame de Paris the musical's English edition was the big production that kicked off our end-of-the-year season," says Zhang Jie, the general manager of the SAIC Shanghai Culture Square.
A scene from the musical Notre Dame de Paris, where Quasimodo the hunchback, played by Angelo Del Vecchio, mourns the death of his beloved Gypsy girl Esmeralda, played by Hiba Tawaji.[Photo provided to China Daily]
"And this year we are honored to receive its French production. We are very pleased to see the tickets to all the 30 shows in Shanghai sold out before the performances even began," Zhang says.
Talar was especially impressed with the efforts by the Shanghai Culture Square to educate and develop its audiences.
During the Notre-Dame performances in Shanghai, Cocciante shared his experiences with those aspiring to work on musicals about creating the music for Notre-Dame as a modern and popular opera and composing melodies that are rhythmic and will linger in the minds of viewers after they leave the theater.
While traditional opera demands actors sing loudly, the introduction of microphones has enabled actors to sing intimately and put emotions into their performances, says Cocciante.
The 73-year-old is a singer and songwriter with more than 40 albums to his name. And he has combined all kinds of music elements: rock, blues and swing, in his composition for Notre-Dame. He says nothing else was on his mind when he composed the songs for the musical, except for his feelings about the story, which is an immortal tale about humanity.
The modern style of singing, as well as elements such as the costume and stage design, helped to make the production "a combination of the past and present, accessible for contemporary young audiences", he says.
Among the lead actors, Robert Marien, who plays the antagonist priest Frollo, and Hiba Tawaji, who plays Esmeralda, have both performed in China before.
Speaking about the troupe's experiences on the tour so far, Marien, who played the same role in the English production in Shanghai in 2011, says: "We are impressed at the enthusiasm for art and culture in Shanghai."
And he adds that after the fire at Notre Dame cathedral earlier this year, "the show must go on, so that we can go on to share the story with the world about the great building, which is not only a treasure of the French people, but a cultural symbol of all human civilization".
