The American Premiere Studio Cast Recording of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the only stage collaboration from two masters of the American musical, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, was recorded at the historic Avatar Studios from September 28-30.
The album will be released by Ghostlight Records in January 2016. iTunes pre-orders will be accepted beginning December 4th. To sign-up for pre-sale information, visit http://sh-k-boom.com/hunchback-of-notre-dame.
This first ever recording of the acclaimed American stage score based on the Academy Award-nominated 1996 film brought together a 25 piece orchestra, a choir of 28 and some of Broadway’s most formidable talent: 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 (Lincoln Center’s South Pacific) as Captain Phoebus de Martin and Erik Liberman (Lovemusik) as Clopin Trouillefou.
Featured in the ensemble are: Julian Decker, Mary Joe Duggan, Ian Patrick Gibb, Beth Kirkpatrick, Samantha Massell, Neal Mayer, Nora Menken, William Michals, Anise Ritchie, Vincent Rodriguez III, Richard Ruiz, Joseph J. Simeone, Jeremy Stolle and Dashaun Young. The principal and ensemble talent performed the show’s US Premiere productions at La Jolla Playhouse and Paper Mill Playhouse during their 2014-15 seasons.
The rights to The Hunchback of Notre Dame are now available for professional theatre productions, licensed exclusively through Music Theatre International (212-541-4684,www.MTIShows.com).
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a dramatic telling of the famous love story on a grand scale, with a lush, emotionally rich score featuring music by Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin). With a book by Peter Parnell, The Hunchback of Notre Dame has orchestrations by Michael Starobin; Michael Kosarin is music supervisor, Brent-Alan Huffman is associate music supervisor/conductor and Rob Berman provides dance arrangements.
The show and score were hailed by critics on both coasts during the show’s regional theatre productions, directed by Scott Schwartz and choreographed by Chase Brock: “Poignant and intensely emotional…Sparked by stellar performances, Hunchback sets its audience cheering” (Variety); “Potent and enchanting, it brings fresh depths to a saga of love and vengeance…a resounding pleasure” (San Diego Union Tribune); “One of the signal pleasures is Menken’s melodic music and Schwartz’s nimble lyrics” (The New York Times).