Story of love and passion. In the first verses of the Cathedral Period, the poet Gringoire anticipates the theme of Notre Dame de Paris, the popular opera to be performed at the Teatro di Verdura in Palermo from tonight until August 29, with the original cast almost inside. starting with the protagonists in Lola Ponce, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, and Giò Di Tonno, the bellboy Quasimodo. It’s the celebration of the 20th Italian anniversary of a show that debuted in France in 1998 and immediately enjoyed unprecedented success. “We immediately saw the potential of Notre Dame also in Italy – says Giò (Giovanni) Di Tonno, from Pescara, now forty-nine – but we have exceeded expectations and we are here to celebrate the twentieth anniversary with so many evenings is a source great pride and joy ».
A joy shared over time with Lola (Paola Fabiana) Ponce, who was born on June 25, 1982 and had not even turned 20 on the day of her debut at the GranTeatro in Rome. Today, the Argentine singer feels satisfied as an artist and as a woman, “happy to have fulfilled my dreams, to have traveled the world thanks to music, but also to have found love and have a wonderful family”. «Our life has been accompanied by Notre Dame – explains Gio Di Tonno -, Lola and I are like brother and sister, in these twenty years she has married and had two children, I have done the same. We’ve always had the feeling that we’ve done a lot together, even won the Sanremo Festival. And here we are in Palermo, a city we love and where we have many friends, with the same emotion as always. It is true that the show is consolidated and we have directed it many times. But there is something that changes every night and that is the audience ». “It’s like watching the sunrise from the same place every day – Lola intervenes – it looks like the same show, but it’s not. Every day gives you different sensations and emotions ».
The story comes from the novel of the same name written by Victor Hugo in 1831 when the author was only 29 years old. The idea of a novel set in fifteenth-century Paris (“It is a story set in Paris in the year of the Lord, 1482”, again from the incipit of Gringoire) came to Hugo through the discovery of an inscription in a hidden one Corner of one of the cathedral towers. A word, ananche, denoting the goddess of fate in ancient Greek religion. And the inevitability of events guides the pen of both author and lyricist Luc Plamondon. Riccardo Cocciante wrote the music and Pasquale Panella the Italian version. The story tells the tale of a group of gypsies who march into Notre Dame to seek asylum and meet resistance from the power, but which crumbles in the face of the irresistible beauty of a young gypsy, Esmeralda, who eventually breaks through the heart and in everyone’s mind.
A great story of love and passion that has brought an unimaginable success to its protagonists, who return today with the same scenic vision of the time. «It’s true – Giò Di Tonno admits – we are like the comic book heroes, immortal. I couldn’t think of any other hunchback but me,” he jokes. Palermo is here to rediscover the story of a gypsy born together with the word “beautiful”. «Bringing Notre Dame de Paris back to Palermo – comments the organizer of the show on the island, Giuseppe Rapisarda – was a winning bet. We thank the audience, who once again placed their trust in us and allowed the musical to set a new record. From now until August 29th, 12 iterations are planned and we are already thinking about adding a 13th. The city administration has accepted our project and we are already working on bringing the city back into the circle of major events ».
Songs
Act I
overture
The time of the cathedrals (Gringoire)
The Illegal Immigrants (Clopin)
Intervention of Frollo (Frollo and Febo)
Where are you from from the beautiful stranger (Febo)
Gypsy (Esmeralda)
Esmeralda you know (Clopin and Esmeralda)
The Diamond Ring (Cornflower and Phoebus)
Feast of Fools (Gringoire)
The Fool Pope (Quasimodo)
The Witch (Frollo and Quasimodo)
The Foundling (Quasimodo)
The Gates of Paris (Gringoire)
A Kidnapping Attempt (Febo, Esmeralda, Gringoire and Frollo)
The Court of Miracles (Clopin, Esmeralda and Gringoire)
The Word Phoebus (Esmeralda and Gringoire)
As Beautiful as the Sun (Esmeralda and Fiordaliso)
heart in me (febo)
Also (Frollo and Gringoire)
To drink (Frollo and Quasimodo)
Bella (Quasimodo, Frollo and Febo)
My house is yours (Quasimodo and Esmeralda)
Hail Mary pagana (Esmeralda)
If you look inside me (Quasimodo)
You will destroy me (Frollo)
The Shadow (Febo and Frollo)
The Val d’Amore (Gringoire and Febo)
Lust (Febo and Esmeralda)
Fatality (Gringoire, Frollo, Quasimodo, Clopin and Fiordaliso)
Act II
Tell me about Florence (Frollo and Gringoire)
The Bells (Gringoire, Frollo and Quasimodo)
Where is she (Frollo, Gringoire and Clopin)
Cage Wings, Wild Eyes (Esmeralda and Quasimodo)
Condemned (Clopin)
The Trial (Frollo and Esmeralda)
Torture (Frollo and Esmeralda)
A Priest in Love (Frollo)
My Phoebus (Esmeralda)
I return to you (Febo)
The Mount (Cornflower)
Frollo’s visit to Esmeralda (Frollo and Esmeralda)
One morning you danced (Frollo and Esmeralda)
Free (Quasimodo, Clopin, Esmeralda and Gringoire)
Luna (Gringoire)
I’ll leave you a pipe (Quasimodo and Esmeralda)
God, but how unfair is the world (Quasimodo)
Live to Love (Esmeralda)
The Attack on Notre-Dame (Clopin, Frollo, Febo, Esmeralda and Gringoire)
Deported (Febo)
Master and Savior (Quasimodo and Frollo)
Give it to me (Quasimodo)
Dance my Esmeralda (Quasimodo)
The time of the cathedrals (all together)
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