Victor Hugo’s classic novel THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is headed to television.
According to Deadline, ABC has ordered a limited event series from SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN’s Evan Daughterty, titled ESMERELDA.
The project is “a period drama, which re-imagines The Hunchback Of Notre Dame through the eyes of beautiful Gypsy Esmeralda.”
As BWW previously reported, Disney Theatrical Productions is also in the process of bringing the classic Parisian tale to Broadway. The show, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics byStephen Schwartz, and book by James Lapine premiered in Germany as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame. The musical is based on the 1996 Disney film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was inspired by the 1831 novel of the same name. The company’s first musical to premiere outside the U.S., it ran for three years, becoming one of Berlin’s longest-running musicals.
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Taken from http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/ABC-Orders-HUNCHBACK-OF-NOTRE-DAME-Event-Series-20130918
Pardon me I need figure out if I’m happy about, upset, or annoyed that it’s ABC’s doing………? I wonder who they will get to play Esmeralda?
Despite the fact that it has someone involved with one of those dreadful hip/jazzy/swagalicous fairy tale movies this sounds neat. I just hope they don’t try to make it “hip.” It all comes back to my theory of the Disney film. It really is a blessing and a curse. While it’s a pretty good movie, it’s popularity and the fact that it was released by Disney leads most people to believe that the film is either faithful to the story or that it was original. People expect these newer versions to be like that, I can recall someone making their dream casts featuring Steve Carrel as Quasimodo. Still, taking it through Esmeralda’s point of view sounds like an interesting.
To me it all depends upon what type of Esmeralda this is. Is this going to be an overtly sexual Esmeralda, or an Esmeralda more true to the book? And then two, it comes down to who will be portraying the character; someone older, someone young? What will the actress bring to the table? And of course the setting…is it going to be the traditional medieval setting/time period or will ABC modernize it? What struggles will a modern Esmeralda have? Esmeralda is my favorite character! So I am excited that this time the story will be from that perspective. I’ll bet Disney releases this event series around the time that Disney’s HOND hits the Broadway stage or around the time Brolin’s film is slated (if it ever happens) to hit theaters.
My take is that it’s something HOND related, so even if it’s bad it’s good.