The musical Notre Dame de Paris, or Notre Dame Cathedral, was created in France based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. Thanks to the successful distribution, over time, the musical appeared in American, Italian, Russian and other versions.
In two acts and fifty-two songs of the musical, the plot of the novel of the great French writer is revealed. The action begins with the story of gypsies, vagrants who arrive in Paris and try to walk to Notre Dame Cathedral. They are stopped and driven away by a regiment of royal riflemen led by Captain Phoebus. The captain, betrothed to the young Fleur de Lys, looks at one of the gypsies - Esmeralda. She is under the auspices of a gypsy baron, since she was left without parents.
Esmeralda is no stranger to male attention. The bell ringer Notre Dame, a hunchback named Quasimodo, who is trying with all his might to please the gypsy, is also in love with her. Priest Frollo is also not indifferent to the beauty, but his love borders on hatred. He accuses Esmeralda of witchcraft and persuades Quasimodo to kidnap the girl. The plans are thwarted by Captain Phoebus, Frollo goes into hiding, and Quasimodo is arrested by the royal guards and sentenced to the wheel, but he manages to escape, not without the help of Esmeralda.
The gypsy, meanwhile, falls in love with Phoebus: she agrees to come on a date, spends the night with him. Having learned about this, the priest bursts into their bedroom and wounds the captain with Esmeralda's dagger, and he disappears again. Now the girl is accused of attacking the royal shooter, she is facing the death penalty. The judge is the two-faced Frollo: after Esmeralda refuses to become his mistress, he orders her to be hanged. And Captain Phoebus, having recovered, returns to his bride.
In the dungeon, where Esmeralda is waiting for the hour of execution, Frollo tries to rape the girl. But he is hindered by Quasimodo and the gypsy baron Clopin. Having escaped with the gypsy, they all hide in Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is besieged by soldiers. Captain Phoebus, who has promised his bride that he will take revenge on Esmeralda for the wound, is looking for her. The innocent gypsy is given to him by the priest. Her patron Clopin, like many other vagabonds, is killed.
Esmeralda is executed. Learning about this and about the role of Frollo in the whole story, the inconsolable Quasimodo, the only one who disinterestedly loved the girl, throws the priest off the bell tower of the Cathedral. In the finale, the hunchback dies with the body of his beloved in his arms.
