I love musicals. I could write pages upon pages about all the musicals that I would rank as my favorites. For the purposes of this post, I am focusing on my favorite comfort musicals. These are musicals that I like to watch when I am feeling down or when I want all those warm cozy feelings. Dear reader, I hope that the following titles will help you if you need those warm cozy feelings as well.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame may be a Disney movie, but it is a dark Disney movie. It is a tale of a villain driven to violence by his lust for a woman. It is the tale of a lonely, kind, and deformed orphan boy raised by a monster of a man. It is the tale of a woman from a minority group who seeks justice and a fairer world. It is the tale of a soldier who questions his orders and chooses to stand up for what is right. While the Disney movie is great, the Broadway performance is even better. (This can be found on youtube and the soundtrack can be requested via interlibrary loan through Wiscat. If you are not a Disney fan, check out the Broadway version.) The Broadway musical version sticks closer to author Victor Hugo’s original work. While the Disney version takes out or glosses over some scenes from the book that would be a downer or inappropriate for children, the Broadway musical includes them. I will provide a link below to request the Broadway soundtrack CD from Wiscat. I highly recommend it.
The music for The Hunchback of Notre Dame is phenomenal. Latin chanting permeates the work. My favorite songs include Out There, God Help the Outcasts, Hellfire, In a Place of Miracles, and Someday. The song Out There is Quasimodo’s main theme. The song has amazing range hitting some pretty high notes for a male part. Out There really encompasses the deep yearning that Quasi has to escape his bell tower and be like “ordinary men”. All he wants is his one day in the sun. In his own words, “Just one day and then I’ll be content with my share.”
The song God Help the Outcasts is Esmeralda’s solo. Esmeralda has been chased by the soldiers into Notre Dame cathedral due to the fact that she is Romani. In addition, Frollo (Archduke or Judge depending on the version of the tale) has decreed that she is a witch and needs to be taken into custody. (He really just wants to get with her as he has become seduced by her dancing.) Though Esmeralda finds herself in dire straights, she does not pray for herself. While those around her in the cathedral pray to be blessed for their own benefit, Esmeralda asks God to help the helpless, the poor, and the oppressed. “I ask for nothing, I can get by,” she sings. At the end of the song she adds, “I thought we all were children of God.” Esmeralda has always been a character I look up to and try to emulate. This message is so important in a world where so many are poor, oppressed, and downtrodden. I have always deeply believed that it is important to help each other and to care about our fellow humans.
Hellfire is the villain Frollo’s song. Some, including myself, consider Hellfire to be the best villain song that has ever come out of a Disney movie. Frollo is a frightening villain for the fact that he is so real. He is a powerful but evil man. His larger goal is to commit genocide and wipe out a whole ethnic group. His personal goal is to take Esmeralda against her will as he feels lust for her. The song Hellfire features Frollo battling with his faith. It begins with echoes of Ave Maria before turning into the song Hellfire. Frollo sings about being “a righteous man”. He asks the Virgin Mary why he is feeling the way he is. “Tell me Maria why I see her dancing there, why her smoldering eyes still scorch my soul.” Finally, he decides that he is incapable of suppressing these desires and instead of accepting that his intentions are wrong he blames his feelings on the devil. “It’s not my fault! If in God’s plan, he made the devil so much stronger than a man!” No, Frollo can’t deal with his feelings like a normal person. He jumps to the conclusion that he needs to, “Destroy Esmeralda and let her taste the fires of hell or else let her be mine and mine alone.” Yeah, Frollo decides that if he can’t have her he will just burn down all of Paris until he finds her and then burn her at stake too if she refuses his advances. Besides the fact that Frollo is certifiably crazy, the song is a great study of someone battling with their dark desires. In great artistic flair the phrase “Mea Culpa” is repeated often in the Latin chanting throughout this song. Mea Culpa is Latin for “My fault”. Though Frollo is trying to direct the blame on anything or anyone other than himself, he knows somewhere deep down that his actions are his fault alone.
In a Place of Miracles is only performed in the Broadway version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Why I love this one so much is the touching scene where Phoebus and Esmeralda confess their love for each other in a beautiful duet. Quasimodo and Phoebus found The Court of Miracles and warned the Romani (gypsies as they are called in the story) that Frollo knows where they are hiding and is on his way to wipe them out. Phoebus asks Esmeralda to let him leave with her and her people. The song turns into a trio with the addition of Quasimodo’s perspective. While Phoebus and Esmeralda sing about their feelings in song, Quasimodo realizes that he will never get the girl in the end. He reprises lyrics from an earlier song, “no face as hideous as my face was ever meant for heaven’s light.” The effect of all three amazing performers singing at once hits the soul a certain way. The effect is happy and sad at the same time. Clopin, leader of the Romani, also comes in at the end of the song with, “Romanis again must roam. Could there be a country kinder to our race? In a place of miracles.” Over the top of the “in a place of miracles” line Quasimodo sings out, “where’s my place of miracles?” The whole effect is very touching. Seeing Clopin get serious for once also shows that the plight of these people is very dire. They do not have a home and are chased wherever they go. The song is just completely lovely though sad and really hits a certain way.
The song Someday is actually put into the end credits of the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre dame. While still being a thought provoking song to listen to, it does not hit the same way compared with how it is performed in the Broadway musical. In the Broadway version the duet Someday takes place when Esmeralda and Phoebus are in prison. They both know that Esmeralda is set to be executed at dawn. These are their final hours together. Esmeralda sings about believing that there would be a day where justice would be real and the world would be a better place. Knowing she is going to die she sings, “I die believing still it will come when I am gone.” My favorite lines from the song are “Someday life will be fairer, need will be rarer, greed will not pay.” As I share Esmeralda’s dream for the future, this song touches me deeply. It is also sung and performed in such an emotional way. You can listen to this version on CD, but if you want to watch the performers sing it, again check out the full version on Youtube.
Sad dark musicals are comforting to me. I do not know why. I have been obsessing about The Hunchback of Notre Dame since I was three. I made my mother put the VHS in again and again when we rented it. As an adult I have it on blu-ray on my favorites shelf.
Click HERE to request The Hunchback of Notre Dame Broadway Musical CD! (Note: search exactly: The Hunchback of Notre Dame Studio Cast Recording)
Click HERE to request Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
Continue reading “My Comfort Musicals” →
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