Making of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" Studio Cast Recording

this is one of those beautiful scores ever written I love this score I do I love the score deeply the lyrics are incredibly smart funny witty and painfully honest at times and the music is I would venture to say Alan's best score thank you all to be Oh it all comes down to her and me I remember sitting in the audience in tech and we had the orchestra there for the first time and just this huge wall of sound hit us and I looked at Julian our swing and just wide-eyed looked each other like and whoa VR is something special working with Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz is a dream come true I mean their music has been the soundtrack of my life I kept having to pinch myself and still even recording the album I can't believe it I'm in the room with these people and and we're making this together I really enjoy my collaboration with Alan Menken I have since the very first song we wrote together we get into the room and things happen that surprised both of us and this score is probably the deepest embodiment of that we have very similar sensibilities and I think we bring out the best in each other and our collaboration it's a little bit greater than the individual sum of its parts it has been an incredible honor and I think a really wonderful collaboration I try to put aside my awe when I'm working with them having said that I've never been quite able to do that I'm always a bit nervous around them because it is after all Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz I have several favorite musical moments in the show I think I love singing out there I love the lyrics it never gets old all I have to do is just try to do them justice by taste a morning pair like ordinary man the great great song that Alan and Steven wrote from my character Frollo is called Hellfire and let her taste the fires of hell or else Oh your I have to say that there are two songs in this that I have a great personal fondness for one of them is Hellfire and then I really like Quasimodo's number in the second act called made of stone yeah let it remain true to the taillight were made of I always love some day it's such a gorgeous song I feel blessed to be able to sing that song when we are wise when the world that sounds like it may have been written a thousand years ago it's so a hauntingly human Esmeralda gets screwed over a lot but she still finds a way to forgive and be hopeful I mean that's what some day is about is trying to find hope in the absolute bleakest moment of your life and I think that's so inspiring Oh today when we were recording this score we were doing the finale and everyone including our conductor and and listening to it and the rest of the cast I got myself I can't help but cry when I hear it I I don't know Oh I will be kind laughter hearing that refrain and the choir coming in and the bells and how beautiful and rapturous it all is I feel like my heart just opens it just opens in this incredible way every time I hear it I do think that this version of Hunchback of Notre Damas is the best I'm really proud of this show and and what it eventually evolved into ultimately it's a story about choosing to do the right thing and choosing to stand up for the outcasts and I think ultimately what Disney has done for so many years is teach people how to choose love of the fear and so I think if it's perfectly within the catalog it's a real journey emotionally and it ends up taking you to a pretty inspirational spiritual place very proud of it you won't despair and I won't care

Channel: Disney On Broadway

Views: 1,646,089

Rating: 4.9759598 out of 5

Keywords: Disney, Hunchback, Cast Album, Theatre

Id: VIoxqM4loNw

Length: 7min 54sec (474 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 22 2016