Hunchback
At the Playhouse until March 10
Tickets: 604-873-3311 vancouverplayhouse.com
Its undeniably beautiful in a macabre, grotesque way. In Hunchback, designer Bretta Gerecke outdoes herself with bizarre costumes fashioned from shiny black skin-tight vinyl, metal, wool, velvet, sky-high hats, laced up corsets, net, platform boots, ripped and ragged gowns. She sets the action amongst a number of tubular, floor-to-ceiling tripods that evoke the soaring arches of Pariss Notre Dame Cathedral. Narda McCarroll lights the scene dramaticallymuch of it from the side. Jonathan Christensons music is hauntingly beautiful and its sung by individuals and the ensemble ringingly. Its all gorgeous, a swirling kaleidoscope of movement, music and colour. Victor Hugo meets Cirque du Soleil.
Dazzling as it is, however, style overwhelms story and, for the most part, distances us from the characters. Kabuki comes to mind with its extravagant makeup, costumes and highly ritualized movement. In Hunchback, for example, Quasimodo (Ron Pederson) frequently holds a hunched lunge position; Fleur-de-Lis (Molly Flood) appears on tippytoes; and Frollo (Scott Walters) lurches like a newly hatched Frankenstein. This is all very theatrical and perfectly in keeping with the design concept.
It doesnt, however, leave you weeping for Quasimodo, abandoned at birth because of his deformity or La Esmeralda (Ava Jane Markus), stolen by the gypsies and who falls in love with philandering braggart Phoebus (Andrew Cohen).
Dramatic highlights are the moments of the characters self-discoveries: Im not the man I hoped to be/This is the man I now am, sings an anguished Frollo; Im not a monster/Im a man, cries Quasimodo; and La Esmeraldas epiphany when she finally sees past Quasimodos ugliness and finds beauty there.
Presented by the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Playhouse and the Cultch, and written, directed and composed by Catalyst Theatres Christenson, Hunchback is ambitious, dazzling and hyper-theatrical. Is it too much to ask for more?
