'Notre Dame de Paris' premieres in Beijing

A modern adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic tale "Notre Dame de Paris" has premiered at the Poly Theater in Beijing. [File Photo: CRI Online/Handout]

A modern adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic tale "Notre Dame de Paris" has premiered at the Poly Theater in Beijing.
The modern musical telling the French story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame received a thundering standing ovation from the packed out audience.
The tragic love story follows the much desired beautiful young bohemian Esmerelda, played by Italian actress Alessandra Ferrari and the disfigured cathedral bell ringer Quasimodo, played by French Canadian Matt Laurent.
The show's music composer Richard Cocciante (Co-chan-tey) says storytelling through music resonates with audiences all over the world, "I think that there are many ways to communicate emotion to the people, even if they don't know the story they can discover the story. For me music is the first way to enter to the soul of the people after that they can go and inform themselves to go and read the story of Notre Dame, which is a beautiful story."
The new high-energy take on Hugo's tale will go onto Chongqing and Guangzhou after it wraps up its two-week stint in Beijing.