Show I f c Hunchback Rings Salt Lake City's Bell Theater Review Alicia THE Hunchback of Notre Dame a sa sad chilling story perfect company for Halloween Halloween Halloween Hal Hal- loween was presented by Pioneer Theater Company A deformed man with an awkward hump on on his shoulder and a distorted face hobbles up and down the shift make-shift cathedral towers and beams The bell ringers hearty brusk laugh draws pity from all within earshot Quasimodo a like beast man manis is the sideline focus of Victor Hugos Hugo's mid-evil mid drama When a gypsy girl Esmerelda dances in front of the cathedral the priest Frollo FroIlo begins lusting He a man manof of God on the outside outside out out- side sid becomes a wretched sinner on the in in- in side Quasimodo the priests priest's adopted son is t the e same b but t reversed He is beastly on the outside but of good intentions on the inside They are mirror images of each other Both of them loved Esmerelda and they are both torn tom as a result The priest ruins his world and others because he becomes deceitful and commits adulterous crimes This story tells of Frollo's Frolics fallacious change of heart Esmerelda's innocent persecution persecution persecution per per- and death and Quasimodo's self- self discovery and mastery In the end the innocent gypsy and beastly man embrace each other in death The narrator narrator narrator nar nar- i explains how they were found that way and when disturbed they crumbled to dust Playing Esmerelda was Kristen Wilson She can be seen hosting Stand Up Stand StandUp StandUp StandUp Up on cables cable's Comedy Central The role of the priest Frollo was filled by Craig Wroe He returned to TC for his eig eight t show The hunchback bell ringer Quasimodo was played by Michael Lewis who made mad his debut I Fight director is David Boushey and the dance choreography was done by Jayne Luke The Hun Hunchback back of Notre Dame was a disturbingly disturbingly disturbingly dis dis- dis- dis touching story It was performed well by an intimate intriguing cast The scenes with Esmerelda and Frollo were in intensely intensely intensely in- in tensely emotional As they fought and struggled s struggled g- g for their personal freedoms their feelings feelings feelings feel feel- ings flowed from the stage Wh When n the townspeople beat and mocked the hunchback it is pathetic and the story becomes a tear jerker Wroe puts on an excellent performance with well-spoken well dialogue Aside from the high points there were a afew afew afew few distracting things about The Hunchback of Notre Dame Iame The script included three women who sang an annoying background chorus I found it distracting and sometimes off-key off and out of sync This production would have done much better without this ensemble The insensitive audience who laughed during some the most serious and saddest scenes obviously didn't understand the gravity of the hunchbacks hunchback's ridicule It was disappointing to hear them laugh wh when n tears should have been rolling down their cheeks Overall this presentation was incredibly well performed and the set designed by Peter Peter- H Harrison son was well d depicted The tiered multi-tiered r W d. d O f A t f 4 r Kristen Wilson Esmerelda strokes her pet goat while her poet husband-poet Christopher Mixon Pierre watches The show will play until Saturday Nov 13 set and the ragged beggar costumes added an authentic feel to the Notre Dame setting I recommend reco f end this Victor J Hugos Hugo's drama for adults only and for those looking for a s orro heart heart The Hunch Hunchback ack of No Notre re Dame will ill pl play y until Saturday Nov 13 it arthe atthe the Pioneer Theater |