i'm going to cut to the chase and i have to say this is by far the worst musical i have ever seen in london.
It is simply dreadful.
I went in with an open mind and a ticket from the half price ticket booth in leicester square (£21.50) - i knew it was tina arena's last night so i thought i'd pop along and see what it's like
There is only one good thing about the show and that is the cast. All have brilliant voices and you can't fault any of them. I was pleased to see steve balsamo and the cast who had played the parts in montreal were all on stage. Everyone had fantastic voices and sang their hearts out.
There was only two songs i remembered afterwards and that was the opening song (the age of the catthedral) and live for the one i love.
this is staged as more as a concert than a musical - a cast member comes and sings then goes off -
However this makes the story so confusing - it is very hard to keep track of what's going on
with the exception of two songs, the rest are just trash and instantly forgettable - the lyrics are a joke - my three year old niece could have done better
the pre recorded backing track is very loud and it is sometimes hard to hear what the cast is singing - mix this with the repetitive music and you have a show which left me cold
the whole staging was very "french" and for me it just didn't feel right here in london -
if i hadn't bought the ticket i would have walked out at the end of the first act - the people sitting around me were also bored and i almost fell asleep - when you see people twitching in their seats and looking at their watches you know the show is in trouble
plaese avoid this at all costs - wait until disney brings the hunchback of notre dame to london - it may not be as true to victor hugo's story but it is a hell of a lot more entertaining -
but the disney video instead and save yourself a load of money