Word: frollo
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...history. A far cry from the beautiful Snow White--hated for her beauty by the jealous Queen--Quasi is reviled by the public for his misshapen form--and Disney spared no effort in making the guy ugly. He yearns to leave Notre Dame, where his ward, the evil Judge Frollo, keeps him isolated...
This Quasimodo (voiced and sung by Tom Hulce) is a young man with the most intense growing pains--Beauty's Beast, but without the majesty. Imprisoned in the Notre Dame bell tower by his master, the imperious Judge Frollo (Tony Jay), Quasi pines to be among the people he sees from above. His one furlough has him crowned King of Fools and leads to his lovestruck meeting with the Gypsy Esmeralda (the indomitably spunky Demi Moore). Frollo, to his surprise and shame, loves...
This Esmeralda is less a medieval Gypsy than a willful California teen with Joan of Arc aspirations; imagine a Loire Valley Girl, a Militia Silverstone. Hurling invective at Frollo, flirting with the hunky, John Smith-like Captain Phoebus (Kevin Kline) and singing the film's most poignant solo, about a Gypsy holocaust ("God help the outcasts, or nobody will"), she emerges as the latest in Disney's line of feminist freedom fighters--a Pocahontas with Romany eyes...
...little sex. Frollo can't understand his ardor for the Gypsy. Like the Schindler's List commandant with his pretty Jewish captive, the judge both loves Esmeralda and hates the love she makes him feel. Frollo's aria, Hellfire, is a clashing symphony of red and black: crimson-shrouded ghosts line his way to a raging hearth, where he shouts out his twisted passion. This one will be hard to explain to the kids. But then Disney animation, from Snow White to The Lion King, is a parade of grim fairy tales about death, separation, betrayal. Hunchback has new traumas...
...lacks the force to capture the audience when the orchestra stops. Dave Studenmeund, as the lecherous but cowardly Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers and Maury Levin, as the lecherous but frustrated poet Pierre, also do their best with the weak script, while Stacy Stein shines as the unqualifiedly lecherous Archdeacon Frollo. Perhaps the best performance, though, comes from Fred Barton, who plays the politically slick hosier Jacques Coppenole. With a strong voice and an ingratiating smile, Barton is perfect for his role, and steals the show early on with a phenomenal Bert Parks imitation that highlights an ingenious parody...