FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SERBIA! THE ORIGINAL MUSICAL IN FRENCH!
More than 15 million spectators
Over 19 million albums sold
More than 5,000 performances
Over 200 tons of set design used
The legendary French musical listed in the Guinness Book of Records
Only from the 14th to the 17th of February 2025, on the stage of Sava Center.
The Serbian audience will have the opportunity to hear the famous songs “Belle,” “Danse mon Esmeralda,” and “Le temps des cathédrales” in a musical performed in French. In February 2016, the creators announced the revival of the original version of the musical. The world premiere took place in the fall of that year at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. The show was a huge success: the musical ran for eight consecutive weeks, and tickets were sold out months before the premiere.
Notre Dame de Paris is a brilliant example of the unprecedented success of French musicals worldwide. In its first year, the French version entered the Guinness Book of Records for the number of tickets sold. The legendary song “Belle” was recognized as the best song of the 20th century in France and the best song of the decade in Russia.
This legendary musical, performed in French, will be presented in Belgrade.
Notre Dame de Paris is a legendary Franco-Canadian musical by Riccardo Cocciante and Luc Plamondon, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The musical premiered in Paris in 1998, after which it was seen by over 12 million people across various countries worldwide. Over 20 years, more than 11 million copies of CDs and DVDs were sold, and more than 5,000 performances were staged in 20 countries. The musical has been performed in 9 different languages!
The original version of Notre Dame de Paris includes 200 tons of set design, transported in 7 mega trailers.
THE CREATORS OF THE MUSICAL
LUC PLAMONDON
Author, Librettist
One of the most famous French-speaking librettists and lyricists. In 1969, after watching the musical Hair on Broadway, Plamondon realized that his calling was musical theater. In collaboration with French composer Berger in 1978, Luc Plamondon released his first musical, Starmania, which earned him four Félix Awards. His work on the play Sand et les romantiques was particularly significant, as it led to the creative duo of Luc Plamondon and Riccardo Cocciante, who in 1998 amazed France, and later the world, with the musical Notre Dame de Paris. Luc Plamondon continues to write lyrics.
RICCARDO COCCIANTE
Composer
In his youth, Riccardo Cocciante became interested in opera and classical music. Soon, Riccardo led his band, The Nations, and in his spare time, he taught himself to play the piano. After several years of experimentation, Cocciante began working on his first solo album, which was recorded in Italy in 1972. In 1994, he released the album Greatest Hits—a collection of over 20 years of work. The album Instant present, released in 1995, was a collaboration between Cocciante and Plamondon. The pinnacle of their cooperation is undoubtedly the musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel Notre Dame de Paris.
GILLES MAHEU
Director
A multidisciplinary artist, actor, director, teacher, choreographer, and film director, Gilles Maheu has been one of the leading directors in Canada and abroad for over 40 years. Together with his troupe Carbone 14, he has performed in over thirty countries worldwide and won more than forty prestigious awards, including one for creating the play Dead Souls in 1996. In 1995, he directed the film Skin, Flesh, and Bones, which received a prestigious award at the Montreal International Film Festival. For directing Notre Dame de Paris, he won the award for best stage production in Canada and Italy.
MARTINO MULLER
Choreographer
Already known as a dancer and skater in Amsterdam, Martino Muller mastered the profession of choreographer. His first success in this field was with the Karlsruhe Ballet in Germany. Muller has created choreography on prestigious stages such as the Lyon Opera Ballet, Berlin Opera, National Ballet of Croatia, Stuttgart Ballet, and the Ballets of Gothenburg, Basel, and Bern. He also worked at the Lucerne Theater and the Israel Opera. Notre Dame de Paris is Muller’s first choreographic creation for a musical, which earned him a Canadian award for the best choreography for a musical.
CHRISTIAN RATZ
Set Designer
Graduated from the Lyon and Strasbourg Schools of Fine Arts. He has created numerous set designs for opera houses in France and beyond, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Child and the Spells, The Trojans, Benvenuto Cellini, and others. His works at the Lausanne State Opera include Dido and Aeneas, The Soldier’s Tale, and Werther. He has also designed for The Papal Coronation and Eugene Onegin at the Swiss Theatre Mezjer, and for The Magic Flute at the National Opera of Wales and Frankfurt. Other notable works include Dibbuk at the National Theatre of Belgium, Iphigenia in Tauris at the National Opera of Wales, and The Abduction from the Seraglio and Jenufa in Tel Aviv.
ALAIN LORTIE
Lighting Designer
For over thirty years, Alain Lortie has been passionate about his profession. He began his career collaborating with renowned and diverse Canadian artists such as Michèle Lemieux, Marie Chouinard, and Édouard Lock. In addition, he has created lighting scores for singers from Quebec and Europe, including Jean-Pierre Ferland, Diane Dufresne, Robert Charlebois, Peter Brian Gabriel, Francis Cabrel, and Eros Ramazzotti. Alain has been named “Lighting Designer of the Year” many times. He received the Golden Mask award for lighting design for the play Dead Souls and the prestigious Dora Mavor Moore Award in Toronto for lighting the production King Oedipus.
Over 70 people are involved in the production, including actors, dancers, acrobats, and technical staff.
The long-awaited French version of the musical will be presented to Bulgarian audiences. The best artists and dancers were selected from various countries worldwide. For the premiere in Paris, the role of Esmeralda was performed by Hiba Tawaji, a young star from Lebanon. A finalist in the French version of The Voice, Hiba has already released two solo albums, which became instantly popular. Angelo Del Vecchio, who previously played the hunchback in both English and Italian, performed the role of Quasimodo. In the role of Frollo at the Palais des Congrès in Paris shone the legendary Daniel Lavoie, a star of the Canadian stage, known for originating this role. The director and choreographer of the revived version of the musical is Gilles Maheu, known for his productions in Canada and abroad.
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