La Esmeralda: A Story in Props
- Cindy Case
- Apr 20
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 25
We are less than a week away from our performances of La Esmeralda, and the ballet is steadily coming together! In our most recent blog post, I discussed the ballet's story and some of its history. This week, I'm zooming in on an important part of the show: props.
Many elements work together to build a production, including lights, costumes, sets, properties, and more. In La Esmeralda, the props are surprisingly significant. A book, a rope, a knife--while this sounds not too distant from a rousing game of Clue, there's a huge variety of props in La Esmeralda that all contribute to telling the story. Read on for a few significant examples, as well as a behind-the-scenes look into our rehearsals.
Breaking the Jug
At the beginning of the ballet, Esmeralda agrees to marry Pierre Gringoire to save him from being hanged. To officiate the wedding, the Romani King brings Gringoire a large pot. He explains that Gringoire must throw it on the ground before they can be married. Once done, everyone onstage gathers around to count how many pieces it's broken into.
This moment is drawn directly from the original novel, Notre-Dame de Paris:
“Fling it on the ground,” said she.
The crock broke into four pieces.
“Brother,” then said the Duke of Egypt, laying his hands upon their foreheads, “she is your wife; sister, he is your husband for four years. Go.”
-Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo
How do you make this happen onstage without excessive force and pieces of crockery everywhere? Theater magic!
(In this particular case, that means the clever use of magnets.)
Gifting a Scarf
In the first act of the ballet, Esmeralda has a busy day: she marries a man to save him from the gallows, is almost kidnapped by the order of Claude Frollo, and is then rescued by Captain Phoebus.
Esmeralda expresses her gratitude, but she's taken by the beautiful scarf that Phoebus is wearing. Phoebus is interested in Esmeralda, so he thinks nothing of giving it to her.
This comes back to bite Phoebus in the second act. When he proposes to Fleur de Lys, the rich and beautiful woman he is obligated to marry, she asks what happened to the scarf she gifted him. "I forgot," he pantomimes, tapping one temple.
Neither of them notices when Esmeralda enters wearing it, but it catches Fleur de Lys's eyes as Esmeralda is sorrowfully getting ready to leave. She rips it from Esmeralda's shoulders and throws it at Phoebus's feet.
Esmeralda grabs the scarf back before she flees the party, and she keeps it with her through Phoebus's arrival to her room all the way through Frollo sneaking in to stab Phoebus.
When Esmeralda makes her slow walk to the gallows after being accused of Phoebus's murder, she carries the scarf as a way of remembering him. Luckily for her, Phoebus appears alive and well to accuse Frollo instead. At the end of the ballet, Esmeralda and Phoebus reunite to dance a brief scarf pas de deux.
Hitting Our Tambourines
In La Esmeralda, there are a lot of moments where the dancers supplement the music by creating rhythms live onstage. A lot of the time, it's with one specific prop: the tambourine. It's Esmeralda's signature prop, but she's not alone: not only do her four friends carry tambourines, but they appear in many moments throughout the show.
Teaching Pierre to Dance
After Esmeralda and Pierre Gringoire have gotten married, she tries to entice him to become a performer by handing him a tambourine. He takes to it quickly, gleefully accompanying her as she performs a Spanish dance. Afterward, she talks him into learning to dance.
One of the amusing things about this scene is watching our two Gringoires, Isaac Martinez and Diego Sosa, pretend that they don't know how to dance. In the very next act, their character will emerge as an accomplished performer!
Bonus percussion: In the same Spanish dance where Gringoire plays the tambourine, Esmeralda dons a set of castanets to play as she dances.
Providing Solace
After Phoebus and Fleur de Lys's engagement, Esmeralda is in the middle of performing for the party when she learns the truth about their relationship. Although she has no claim to Phoebus, she's still heartbroken when her daydreams are at odds with reality.
We've joked in the studio about how relatable this dynamic is--no matter what is going on in our personal lives, as dancers we know the show must go on. As Gringoire and Esmeralda's four friends paste on big smiles to proceed with their choreography, Esmeralda is melancholic.
Her tambourine features heavily here. Gringoire partners her by it in their pas de deux and then hands it to her for the rest of the scene. The usually cheerful sound of the tambourine provides an interesting contrast to the sad music of Esmeralda's variation.
Signifying a Larger Theme
Throughout the show, Quasimodo is fascinated by Esmeralda's tambourine. On more than one occasion, a scene ends with him alone onstage, clutching an abandoned tambourine.
Principal dancer Alexander Collen, who plays Phoebus in one cast and Quasimodo in the other, has described the tambourine as a symbol of freedom to Quasimodo. As the hunchback is struggling under the sway of the wicked Claude Frollo, he's fascinated by Esmeralda and her friends joyfully dancing with tambourines in their hands.
Quasimodo dreams of a life where he is free to do as he wishes. In the final act of the ballet, he has his first taste of this at the Festival of Fools. Rather than being shunned for his differences, Quasimodo is celebrated for who he is by a corps of dancers with tambourines.
At the very end of the ballet, Quasimodo is distressed after protecting Esmeralda and Phoebus from Frollo. To comfort him, Esmeralda gifts him her tambourine.
This signifies that his life as a free man has finally arrived.
If any of these moments from the show have piqued your interest, we hope that you'll join us for La Esmeralda on April 24 and 25. This performance weekend will bring our season to a close, and we'd love to celebrate it with you! To learn more about the show, check casting, and purchase your tickets, visit our La Esmeralda page.
Rehearsal photos by Lauren Martinez
