Victor Hugo is known to the world as the famous author who wrote Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, before his story became what we know it as today, another distant version of this story was written.
Le Jongleur de Notre Dame, a religious miracle story, was written by French author Anatole France in 1892. Based on an old medieval legend, the story is about a juggler turned monk who has no gifts to offer that statue of the Virgin Mary. However, he has the ability to juggle. However, his talents are found disturbing by the other monks who accuse him of blasphemy. Upon this, the statue comes to life and blesses the juggler. This story was adapted into an opera by composer Jules Massenet in 1902. Massenet's opera premiered at the opera house in Monte Carlo that same year.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, while very different from this story, has small portions related to this story. In the version we know, Quasimodo, the hunchback, is praised for his ugliness during the Feast of Fools festival in Paris. However, during that same event, he is also ridiculed for showing his face in public and is accused by the people of Paris. Esmeralda, a young gypsy girl, comes to his rescues and begs the people to stop torturing Quasimodo for something he could not control. While Hugo's story was published 61 years before France's story, the two kinds of colliding with ideas, scenes, and imagery of a much older legend.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame became a very famous story. It has been adapted into comic strip and book adaptions. It has been made into many film versions and televisions miniseries. There have also been theatre adaptions as a play. Disney fans will know the animated 1996 movie and recognize its hit songs such as "God Help the Outcasts" and "Out There". From 2014 to 2015, a musical adaption of the book and the 1996 Disney film was performed at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California and the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. After the show closed, it was announced that the show would not move to Broadway. The show brought together to the musical masterminds Alan Menken and Steven Schwartz. The show is very similar to the movie version however some scenes are more along the lines for the book. The musical keeps many of the beloved songs that are known from the movie with new songs adding more layers to the story.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite stories and one of my favorite movies. As a child, I didn't always understand the story but I liked the characters, especially Esmeralda and her different outfits. As I got older and watched the movie again and reread parts of the story, I got a better understanding of the story and the themes. I had a better understanding of the characters and how their feelings and worldviews collided. Later, when I was able to travel to France, I took a tour of Notre Dame and sometimes all I could think about was the scenes from the movie and its most famous characters.
