I feel bad posting another Notre Dame de Paris video off of youtube but life hasn’t been too great this past week. Though, I have been wanting to hear Tawaji’s rendition of Bohemienne, so this pretty off the cuff.
#1- I think I really do like the changes to the costume. Indeed it’s way pretty in motion. I also like the slits up on those overlays on the back of the costume, it offer yet more movement. Future versions don’t mess it up too much, I still haven’t forgiven the evolution of the damn slit Esmeralda had for like a decade.
#2 – Tawaji is really perfectly cast. Someday I do want to a list the top 10 or so Esmeralda from Notre Dame de Paris. I won’t pretend that I have seen videos or MP3s or all them BUT I have heard/seen bunches . Maybe 80% but that is probably a high guess.
#3- While YES, Tawaji is a great Esmeralda, I do find her arm movement a little stiff/awkward. It’s like she isn’t quite sold of the motions or is super unsure what to with her arms. Which is a little weird because she is a great dancer otherwise. Pesky arms.
#4 – While I do appreciate this recording, I really do, I did laugh when Tawaji runs up stage on the First Bohemienne to do that arm thing you see ALL Esmeralda do, which I find to be the most mechanical of her motions and due to the angle of the video Esmeralda is TOTALLY blocked by Clopin. I can’t if Tawaji falls prey to mechanicalness that plagues all Esmeraldas or somehow makes it work for her. Just funny, not complaining.
But if the production wants to send me a recording of the show to review, please do! I will review it with all the praising as you want. I know they won’t.
Personally, I prefer the original costumes-they were simple and weren’t really meant to be a major part of the production. And as for the slit in Esmeralda’s dress, I guess it’s like in Sailor Moon when with each new transformation the skirts got shorter; with each new production, the slit in Esmeralda’s dress gets higher.
The high slit doesn’t bother as much the execution. It has a weird curving at the top because they didn’t put in the seam, so it looks super awkward. I do like the original dress a lot though but I appreciate that the newer costume has movement. However the prisoner dress in the second act is terrible. It looks like burlap.
I do find it interresting that for you a selling point of the costumes were how underplayed and simple they were.