San Diego-based choral group SACRA / PROFANA.
LA JOLLA–San Diego choral group SACRA / PROFANA will participate in the upcoming U.S. premiere of La Jolla Playhouse’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The acclaimed musical was written by the multiple Academy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning team of composer Alan Menken (Newsies, Little Shop of Horrors) and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin), featuring a book by Peter Parnell (The West Wing,On a Clear Day You Can See Forever) and directed by Scott Schwartz (Playhouse’s Jane Eyre, Broadway’s Golda’s Balcony). A co-production with Paper Mill Playhouse, the musical will run in the Playhouse’s October 28 to December 7 in the Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre
To help bring Menken and Schwartz’s soaring score to life, the creative team has chosen to feature the San Diego-based choral group SACRA / PROFANA on stage throughout the show.
“In this production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the score will be the central focus and the essential means of the storytelling. A community of voices comes together to re-enact the story of Quasimodo, and as they sing, they summon the world of medieval Paris and Victor Hugo’s rich characters,” said director Scott Schwartz. “I am so excited to work with SACRA / PROFANA, noted for their bold approach to new music and choral singing, as a central part of the community that brings our story to the stage.”
“While the Playhouse has a national reach, we are deeply committed to and rooted in our own community. There is enormous excitement about partnering with SACRA / PROFANA, not just because they are an acclaimed and extraordinary group in their own right, but also because it allows us to continue building on our meaningful partnerships with local artists and organizations across San Diego,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.
Based on the Victor Hugo novel and featuring the Oscar-nominated score from the 1996 Disney animated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the only stage collaboration from two masters of the American musical theatre, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Celebrated for such beloved and award-winning works as Menken’s Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Little Shop of Horrors and Schwartz’sGodspell, Pippin and Wicked, their artistry reaches its zenith in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Featuring a lush, emotionally rich score, this brand-new production from acclaimed director Scott Schwartz highlights the music’s orchestral power and choral beauty in an intimate retelling of the famous love story. Librettist Peter Parnell finds a bold, highly-theatrical take on the moving tale of the scorned bell-ringer Quasimodo, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the dashing Captain Phoebus in 15th century Paris.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is produced by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions, who earlier had developed Peter and the Starcatcher at La Jolla Playhouse as part of the Page To Stage Play Development program before it went on to win five Tony Awards on Broadway.
Tickets are available only through a subscription purchase by calling the Patron Services Department at (858) 550-1010, or online atLaJollaPlayhouse.org. Group sales are available now by calling (858) 550-1070, x131.
