The Hunchback of Notre Dame (musical)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a musical with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. It is adapted from Walt Disney Animation Studios 1996 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1831 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The musical premiered in 1999 in Berlin as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, with a book by James Lapine. It was produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, being the company's first musical to premiere outside the United States. It ran for three years, becoming one of Berlin's longest-running musicals. The English-language version, with a revised book by Peter Parnell, had its debut at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California on October 28, 2014 and ran until December 7, 2014.[1] Subsequently, the show went on to open on March 4, 2015 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, with more changes in the libretto.[2] The show closed on April 5, 2015, after it was announced that it would not move to Broadway.[3] The musical is notably darker and thematically closer to the source material than the animated film, with composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz repurposing and rewriting several songs to match the original tone of the Hugo novel.[4]