CLEVELAND, Ohio – Sound the bells. In a canny follow-up to its record-breaking run of “Les Miserables” two years ago, Great Lakes Theater is bringing another Victor Hugo-inspired musical to the Hanna Theatre in the 2017-18 season: “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
Based on Hugo’s Gothic romance set in 1482 Paris, and boasting songs from the 1996 animated Disney film by composer Alan Menken (“Little Shop of Horrors,” “Newsies”) and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (“Pippin,” “Wicked”), the production started life at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, in 2014. The show moved to New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse the next year, with an eye toward opening on Broadway.
(Baldwin Wallace University alum Ciara Renee, who made her Broadway debut in Susan Stroman’s “Big Fish” and last played the Hanna stage in “Sondheim on Sondheim” in 2012, originated the role of Esmeralda, the fiery Gypsy who melts Quasimodo’s heart.)
The show never made the leap to New York City, giving regional theaters a shot at the rights.
One of the problems with mounting a Broadway run, says Great Lakes producing artistic director Charles Fee, was “Hunchback’s” use of community choruses – 30 to 40 singers plucked from cities where the productions opened – that became integral to every performance.
“These choirs were this huge vocal presence within the telling of the story,” says Fee.
The logistics of doing such a thing on the Great White Way, particularly with vocalists who were not professional actors, would have been “completely impossible,” Fee says.
That’s not the case for theater companies like Great Lakes, now on the hunt for singers to join the cast in Cleveland.
“We’re thrilled to do the show because it has a fabulous ensemble of great principal roles, not only Quasimodo and Esmeralda,” says Fee. Even more exciting, he says, is the idea of including local choirs in the show, “because it’ll connect us with large parts of the community.
“Our goal is to have three choruses that we work with so that they can rotate nights and have flexibility within our schedule, which is important,” adds Fee. “It’s a complex undertaking for a single chorus.”
Start running your scales, now, Cleveland. Great Lakes is ready to listen.
Times, tickets and more
All performances will be in the Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square, Cleveland, except “A Christmas Carol,” which will be in the Ohio Theatre. The two fall plays will be produced in rotating repertory; the winter and spring shows will be presented as separate “stock” productions, one after the other.
Except where noted, shows preview at 7:30 p.m. on the Friday before opening, premiere at 7:30 p.m. on the first Saturday and continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 1:30 p.m. select Wednesdays, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays.
Flexible three-, four-, five- and six-show adult season-ticket packages range from $162 to $366. Balcony box and banquette subscriptions (four seats for each show) are $792-$1,464. Student subscriptions are priced at $39-$72. Subscriptions are available for purchase now at greatlakestheater.org or 216-640-8869.
Single-performance tickets range in price from $15 to $80, and students sit in any seat at any performance for $13. Single-performance tickets go on sale Monday, July 10, on the website or by calling 216-241-6000.
Fall repertory
Saturday, Sept. 30-Saturday, Nov. 4, Hanna Theatre: “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Peter Parnell. Based on the Victor Hugo novel and songs from the Disney film. Directed by Victoria Bussert.
As the bells of Notre Dame’s cathedral sound in 15th-century Paris, Quasimodo – a deformed, captive bell-ringer – observes the city’s Feast of Fools from afar.
Escaping his jailer Frollo to join the festivities, Quasimodo is rejected by every reveler except the beautiful Esmeralda, with whom he is immediately smitten. A handsome captain and Frollo are equally enthralled by her and, as they vie for her attention, Frollo embarks on a malevolent mission to destroy Esmeralda’s Gypsy clan and take her for himself. It’s up to Quasimodo, an unlikely hero, to save the day. (Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29.)
Saturday, Oct. 7-Sunday, Nov. 5, Hanna: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Joseph Hanreddy.
A collection of lovers and a rustic troupe of would-be actors become playthings for a group of otherworldly sprites in Shakespeare’s timeless tale of midsummer madness. The play features all the Bard’s greatest comic devices: mistaken identity, mismatched lovers and mischief-making fairies. No wonder Great Lakes has produced it six times in its history, most recently in 2010.
This all-new production brings director Joseph Hanreddy to the helm, a lighthearted departure from “Wait Until Dark,” his latest outing at the Hanna opening Feb. 18, and previous Bardian bloodbaths “King Lear” and “Richard III.” (Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6.)
Holiday show
Saturday, Nov. 25-Saturday, Dec. 23, Ohio Theatre: “A Christmas Carol.” Written by Charles Dickens. Adapted and directed by Gerald Freedman. Staged by Tom Ford.
Charles Dickens’ classic tale of one man’s ultimate redemption continues its headlining role as one of Northeast Ohio’s most enduring holiday traditions. Now in its 29th annual production, the seasonal favorite has been seen by more than 700,000 adults and students throughout the region since its debut in 1989.
Single-performance tickets range from $28 to $75, and students sit in any seat at any show for $26. (There are no previews for this production.)
Spring season
Saturday, Feb. 17 – Sunday, March 11, 2018, Hanna: “Misery.” Based on the novel by Stephen King. Adapted by William Goldman. Directed by Charles Fee.
When successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon awakes in a secluded home, rescued from a car crash by Annie Wilkes, his “No. 1 fan,” his life becomes stranger than his fiction.
While he convalesces from his crippling injuries under her care, Annie secretly reads the unpublished manuscript of his new novel and becomes enraged upon discovering that he has killed off her favorite character, Misery. When Annie demands a rewrite, Paul quickly realizes that the only way to avoid an unhappy ending is to outwit the sociopathic bibliophile before she breaks more than his ankles. (Crunch!)
A New York production in 2015 featured an extraordinary set – complete with in-theater snowfall and a rotating house – and an inert Bruce Willis in his Broadway debut. The action star brought little action (or life, for that matter) to the role of the tormented Sheldon. His co-star, the great Laurie Metcalf, worked up a sweat trying to make up for it (and was rewarded with a Tony nom) but couldn’t save the emotionally snow-bound show. This critic would love to see a holistically good version of the masterful Stephen King yarn.
“Well, why don’t you come see ours?” says Fee. (Midwest premiere. Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16.)
Saturday, March 31-Sunday, April 15, 2018, Hanna: “Macbeth.” Written by William Shakespeare. Director to be announced at a later date.
Never cross a woman with a plan. Join Lady M and her ambitious spouse in Shakespeare’s epic collision of politics and magic, where specters and riddles foretell the futures of kings. (Remember, there’d be no “House of Cards” without it.) But beware: “Something wicked this way comes.”
One doesn’t normally associate birthday balloons with the gory tragedy, but “Macbeth” was the first Great Lakes production in the gloriously refurbished Hanna in 2008. The 2018 iteration will mark a decade that Cleveland’s classic theater company has been in the space. (Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30.)
Saturday, May 5-Sunday, May 20, 2018, Hanna: “Beehive: The ’60s Musical.” Created by Larry Gallagher. Directed by Victoria Bussert.
This off-Broadway retro-revue celebrates the women who helped craft the sound of the ’60s, transporting audiences on a nostalgic musical journey back in time. Featuring 40 chart-toppers (and Aqua Net-glistening coiffures), this jukebox celebration of female power (pipes) features hits from the Supremes, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin and more.
While Fee was drawn to the show for the music (who can resist a little Motown?) he’s even more stoked to mount a production with an all-female cast. Plus, he adds, “It’s the honey at the end of ‘Misery’ and ‘Macbeth.’ ” (Previews at 7:30 Friday, May 4.)
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