Notre Dame de
Paris is a sung-through musical theater produced by French and Canada, adapted
from Victor Marie Hugo’s novel. It has been performed all around the world since 1998. This year,
2017, the musical was shown at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall from February 24
to March 5. I was there on the last performance on Sunday night. I would like
to share my feeling after watching the musical. (Not going to talk about the
plot, suppose everyone has known it.)
Many friends of I
said that they had heard of the story of Notre Dame de Paris in their childhood
or had watched the cartoon; however, I have never known any plot about it. Out of
curiosity and some interest, I decided to give it a try and bought a ticket
half year ago.
I went to the
show with excitement since I thought it must be a really cool experience. Besides,
I expected to have some specials at the end of the musical since it was the
last performance. As the poet Gringoire sang the first song, Le Temps des
Cathédrales, which may also be the most famous one, no exaggeration, I got
goose bumps. The voice was so clean, soft but penetrating. Despite the easy
tune and melody, the poet fully showed his singing skill. In addition, the
heavy makeup for the stage and the gorgeous background impressed me a lot. Through
the first song, I was quickly brought into the story.
In all of the
characters, I love Frollo the priest the most. He is the number one actor in my
heart. I think the character was hard to interpret. He had lots of different emotions
in his mind but he held those in. For example, he had a lot of insides struggle
and hesitation to portray. However, without much action, I could deeply feel
his depression and suspicion toward his God and sort of anger to himself through his emotive voice and
facial expressions. The song Etre
pretre et aimer une femme best showed the superb acting voiceof the priest.
As throughout
all the songs, lyrics of Dieu que le monde est injuste, which was sung by
Quasimodo, touched me the most. The situation mentioned in the song happens in reality too. Some people find themselves hard to find friends, partners or be loved just because they are not handsome or pretty even though they work really hard to fulfill themselves or even though they are friendly and kind. However, those who look good attract people by doing nothing ; some may even be willing to sacrifice for those good-lookers without asking any return. The lyrics talked about how sorrowful and angry Quasimoda was because of his ugly appearance and born physical disability.
Dieu que le monde est injuste English Lyrics
God, how the world is unjust
He so beautiful and I so homely
I would give you the moon
And you wouldn't love me
And he without making a single gesture
Without a word, without a glance
He put the tenderness
Deep in your big, dark eyes
You will give him your body
You will believe his oaths
You love him for his exterior
Without seeing what there is within
God, how the world is unjust
He gentleman and I vagrant
He will give you the moon
You who didn't ask for anything
God, how the world is unjust
Love your beautiful cavalier
The satin of your caramel skin
Is not for the beggars
My ugliness is an insult
To your insolent beauty
An error of Nature
Who has given me no love
God, how the world is unjust
Our share is not theirs
We have no fortune
But they, then, have they a heart?
They were born into refinement
To make love and war
But we the poor worms
Our life is much more beautiful
And on which side is God?
On the side of the monstrances
Or otherwise on the side of those
Who pray to him morning and night?
The Jesus whom we adore
Did he always prefer
The Three Wise Men with their gold
To us poor shepherds?
God, how life is cruel
For two hearts that seek each other
I so homely and you so beautiful
How could you love me?
It has been two
weeks after the musical but those songs are always in my brain singing and
singing. I feel myself deeply addicted to it. Though it is a tragedy, I learned that things may not always go smooth successfully and dreams may never come true no matter how hard I work.
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