Notre Dame de Paris

Venue: Astana, Astana Opera

Date: 19 May, 2024

Time: 18:00

Duration: 2 hours (including one interval)

Age limit: 10+

Additionally: The Management reserves the right to replace performers and performed works.

Maurice Jarre

Notre Dame de Paris

Ballet in 2 acts, 13 scenes

Libretto and Choreographer by Roland Petit

based on the novel by Victor Hugo

Co-produced by Astana Opera and Les Ballets Roland Petit Foundation (France)

The premiere took place on December 11, 1965, at the Paris Opera.

In 1844, Jules Perrot staged the ballet “La Esmeralda” based on Victor Hugo’s novel. However, Roland Petit changed back the original title to assert his interpretation: “I want the Middle Ages to be forgotten, so that the tragic sense of Victor Hugo’s creation become clearer to the audience".

It is not the beautiful gypsy, who is in the centre of his ballet, but Quasimodo. The choreographer, who was also the first performer of this part, did not need to put on a disfiguring costume and make-up he ‘danced’ his hump. Quasimodo’s regeneration from the dog-like loyalty to his ‘master’ Claude Frollo to the heroic attempt to save the innocent Esmeralda and take revenge for her death is convincingly presented on stage.

The sharp grotesque, imbued with modern plasticity, accentuates perfect beauty of classical dance in the ballet “Notre Dame de Paris”. The harsh reality and grim fantasy are intricately combined in this monumental tragic spectacle. If the 19^th century “La Esmeralda” had an obligatory happy ending, the lone miserable Quasimodo is the only character who is left alive in the severe 20^th century performance.

The celebrated fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who has created the costumes for the ballet, shocked the whole Parisian beau monde by having dressed the heroine in staggering mini miniskirts were timidly coming into fashion in those years. However, he was sure that the beautiful and conquering all men Esmeralda should enter the stage wearing such a white-lilac mini-dress.

It was a victory of Roland Petit and his team of directors: almost immediately after the premiere, “Notre Dame de Paris” became a classic of the world choreography.

ORCHESTRA, BALLET, CHORUS AND EXTRAS OF THE ASTANA OPERA HOUSE

PRODUCTION GROUP:

Ballet Master-Producer Luigi Bonino

Costume Designer Yves Saint Laurent

Set Designer René Allio

Assistant Ballet Master-Producer Gillian Whittingham

Music Director and Conductor Arman Urazgaliyev

Revival Costume Designer Philippe Binot

Lighting Designer and Production Coordinator Jean-Michel Desire

Revival Assistant Costume Designer Assel Dosmuratova

Artistic Director of the Ballet Altynai Asylmuratova, Honoured Artist of Russia

Tickets purchased at the Astana Opera are exchangeable and refundable only in cases of cancelled or postponed performances. In all other cases, no refunds and exchanges are possible.