The Theatre

Der Glöckner von Notre Dame is in a unique situation, as it has had its entire theatre built for it! In Potsdamer Platz, a newly flourishing area of Berlin, the brand new 1,800 seat theatre now stands. It was designed by French architechts "Renzo Piano Building Workshop." It has become quite an unmissable eye-catcher around this area of the city, due to its unique industrial style and enormous glass facade. The theatre itself is not the only original-looking item on display though. The sets for Der Glöckner are truly revolutionary, and not only help to move the story along, but reinvent the way that a musical can be performed. One of the first questions that many people asked when they heard that Hunchback was being performed on stage was "How?" How on Earth could the creators portray the grandeur of Notre Dame cathedral or the bustling streets of 15th-century Paris effectively?

Developed by Heidi Ettinger, the entire stage is set on a three-row grid of 11 hydraulic cubes. These cubes are designed to raise and lower at any combination you could imagine, and to extremely tall heights if need be. (The highest set of cubes raise almost to 5 metres above stage level!) If all of the cubes were lowered, you would see a normal stage. However, all throughout the performance, the cubes are changing, altering the scenery. The whole cube system is controlled by two P.C.s, which have pre-programmed settings for all of the changes during the show. All the operator has to do is press a button at the correct cue, and the cubes will do the work on their own. Markus Bader, of Bader Maschinenbau - the company who constructed the cube system, says that "In Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, there are more than 1,300 different positions stored in the control system. Within our system it is not possible that a crash between two or more stage parts could occur." It is truly the work of genius, and one can only wonder why it hasn't been thought of before.

This would be all well and good to have a moving set, but big cubes with translucent metal grating covering them are not the most attractive things to look at. Nor do they portray the show's setting very accurately. This is why another ingenius idea was concepted; projections. Designed by Jerome Sirlin, this show does a lot more than simply project images up on to a backdrop. "Artistically I was trying to create an ephemeral world in which the story could be told visually," Sirlin says. "I tried to build each scene to be fairly unique, yet related to the ones that precede it or come after. I wanted the imagery to flow as it tells the story."

There are projections being shot from just about anywhere you could imagine within the set - a front and backlit backdrop, large columns (that serve as interior set pieces for the cathedral) can also be projected upon, and of course, the cubes themselves. The moving set pieces can have light thrown on to them from any angle, and also have images projected from within the cubes themselves! "You can create a lot of movement with the projections. The audience believes what you tell them, if you do it right," says designer Sirlin. One of the most incredible-looking scenes is the big finale to Act I, where Phoebus is shot by an arrow and falls off a bridge, into the River Seine. "The rear set of cubes is raised to create a projection wall 4.3m high," explains Sirlin. "The other rows of cubes are on a rake, from a 3m height right down to the floor to create a surface for the scrolling water to flow beneath the projection of an arched bridge with the sky as a backdrop."

Lighting designer Rick Fisher had a challenge ahead of him when he was set to the task of lighting the show. Not only did he have a constantly moving stage to contend with (think of how complicated this would be to light, without getting unwanted shadows) but also a set of projections coming from all angles! "I had to keep the light constrained and off of the surfaces with projections. I needed a flexible rig to deal with all the moving elements and their infinite set of configurations." Most of the actor's lighting actually comes from the side of the stage, so as not to interfere with the projections. With such tight lighting demands, the team constructed the largest moving light rig ever used in a Broadway-style musical. So yes, the lighting effects in the show are impressive!

As for other effects in the show, how's this? Der Glöckner employs NINE smoke generators, FOUR haze-makers, FOUR Bowens Jetstream machines and THREE liquid nitrogen fog generators!

Tony Meola, the show's sound designer, had a number of obstacles he had to overcome. Although there are no pre-recorded effects or sounds, there is still a lot on stage and in the orchestra pit to contend with. One issue arose when the actors insisted on having humidifiers on stage with them. (This is so that their throats don't dry out while performing) For a sound technician though, this is a nightmare. Meola did not approve. "These are loud things, pumping moisture into the air. It's like a steam bath backstage!" he says. Obviously there could be a profitable market for the "sound-less humidifier!" Add to this the fact that many of the tungsten lighting fixtures needed fans to keep them cool, and this also added a great deal to the noise in the theatre. "The moving lights are terrific, and I understand why the designers use them, but they make my job really difficult. I wish the lighting manufacturers would be more responsible. You can baffle the fans; we do it with the amplifiers."

There is always so much more to a large-scale production like this than the audience are ever aware. The actors are the ones who tell the story directly, but if it weren't for the lighting, the stage design, the magnificent projections, the sound setup, and - of course - a fantastic theatre, the story would never be told. So a big thank you goes out to everyone who's worked behind-the-scenes at Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, and we hope that many people the world over can appreciate your art Someday...

A special thanks goes to Ellen Lampert-Greaux of IndustryClick, who wrote the article from which the information on this page has been taken from. Used with permission.