Notre Dame de Paris | Hélène Ségara, Daniel Lavoie | The Definitive Musical of The 20th Century!

Notre Dame de Paris | Hélène Ségara, Daniel Lavoie | Love it!

DVDs:

Notre Dame de Paris

	Notre Dame de Paris Hélène Ségara, Daniel Lavoie Emd Int'l, 2001 average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This 150 minute DVD feature film stars Bruno Pelletier, Garou, Helen Segara, Patrick Fiori, Julie Zenatti, Daniel Lavoie and includes a 15 minute making-of documentary.

The Definitive Musical of The 20th Century!

Conventional wisdom has it that the French don't like musicals. Not true at all, as the success of this show demonstrates. Plamondon and Cocciante have concocted a masterpiece that perfectly captures all the important parts of Hugo's novel, and magnificently transports the whole thing to the stage. The handful of young unknowns who star in this production on the video tape (most of them from Quebec) are almost overwhelming in their talent as singers, dancers, and dramatic performers. Bruno Pelletier shines as the anguished, tortured priest. Hélène Ségara (the only French star in the cast) totally captures our hearts as the doomed Esméralda, and Garou (the name means "Werewolf" in French!) demands and receives all our sympathy as the hapless Quasimodo. Incredibly powerful supporting performances by Patrick Fiori as Phoebus, Julie Zenatti as Fleur-de-lys and Luc Merville as Clopin round out a cast that can do no wrong.

Imagine Riverdance on steroids, "West Side Story" meets "Cirque de Soleil", or a Paris riot set to music, and you have an idea of the scope of this incredible show. The choreography is the most energetic, not to say frenetic, I have ever seen, and the most imaginative. It's hard to decide, at times, if we are watching a dance or a gymnastics exhibition.

If you can't get to Las Vegas, Montreal or Paris to see the show live on stage, this is the next best thing. For me it totally eclipsed every rock opera and musical which preceded it, to become the definitive musical of the 20th century. And I believe it will be at least another generation before anyone can come up with a way to surpass it.

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Love it!

First, about the seller. Fast delivery, nicely packed. The DVD is placed inside a little book with pictures and lyrics, which allowed me to follow the French subtitles and sing it along ... in French. I like Garou as Quazimodo. And the Belle song is my favorite. Esmeralda - yes, I agree, too old and motionless. Well, no fix can be done with that one.
But if you like european style music and french language - the DVD is for you. I am now intended to re-read the Hugo's book.

Awsome DVD

This is one of the best opera I have ever seen. I have been waiting for the DVD release for many years, and finally its here!

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Dance Esmeralda

All I can say is if you love Le Miz you will love Notre Dame. Unless you understand French or can also watch the DVD of this show, you may not get the political satire. You will, however, understand the tragic love story. The CD is well edited, the voices are rich and powerful, and the music and lyrics soar. Purchase this CD. You will not be disappointed.

EXCELLENT!

I was not lucky enough to see the original production of this show. But, after listening to the 2 CD version over and over again, I finally bought this.

It's a wonderful show. I do think some of the camera work wasn't great. For instance, the acrobats and dancers are an integral part of this show. They aren't clear here, and are not given equal camera time here. I have heard this show is similar to Cirque de Soleil's shows, but it's impossible to see this when viewing the DVD.

Some of the criticism with this show was that the storyline isn't completely clear. I don't find this to be the case, but I'm familiar with the story. I do think most of it is clear, and viewing the show made me love the music all the more. All of the characters (save Esmeralda, who I'll get to in a minute) are multi-dimensional and, in the 1 1/2 hour showtime, you really get a feel for the anguish these people are all going through. Frollo, in particular, was a real surprise. Instead of being pure evil, one really sees his mental torture. He's even sympathetic at times, except you know all along he will do the wrong thing and cause death and destruction at the end.

Garou (Quasimodo) and Daniel Lavoie (Frollo) are just EXCELLENT. Lavoie's voice is amazing. Patrick Fiori (Phoebus) has a gorgeous tenor. They are all just a pleasure to listen to and watch. Bruno Pelletier, in his role as Gringoire, is perfect.

Fleur de Lys (Julie Zenatti) is wonderful in her small role.

The only real problem I had with the casting was Esmeralda. Her voice is beautiful and she conveys the right emotion in the music. However, part of the problem with this show is that she is supposed to be a gypsy who dances most sensually. It's talked about over and over again. . . the men literally become transfixed watching her. . .mesmerized. We never get to see her dance. Ever. She walks around stiffly and doesn't really move sensually at all. In one of the first numbers she has, "Bohemienne", there is a point where she raises her hands as if she will go into a gypsy dance, but then she doesn't. And, this is a bit of a let down. Is this the director's fault? Is this because Helene Segara cannot dance at all? If she can't dance, then they really needed to show a gypsy dance with one of the cast dancers playing Esmeralda for the interval. This one thing was noticeable enough for me to reduce the 5 stars this show would have received to the four that I gave it.

Also, I thought Helene Segara was made up to look a bit too old for the part. There was just so much makeup, that she didn't look young and innocent. She looked older and harder-- although she is supposed to be young and innocent and unaware of her beauty and the effect she has on those around her. She IS beautiful, yes. But, she she doesn't carry off the innocence at all visually. Noa, who sang Esmeralda on the CD version of this, visually could have carried off the role of Esmeralda even though she's less "classically" beautiful. She's more lithe and dark and has that sensuous body movement that Helene Segara lacks.

Regardless of my criticism here, this is an excellent show and one worth having on DVD.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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