The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film) June 21, 1996 to generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest-grossing release of 1996. The film received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Menken's musical score. A darker, more Gothic stage adaptation of the film, was rewritten and directed by James Lapine and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical in Berlin, Germany, as "Der Glöckner von Notre Dame", and ran from 1999 to 2002. A direct-to-video sequel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame II", was released in 2002. In 1482 Paris, Clopin, a gypsy puppeteer, narrates the origin of
Notre-Dame de Paris (musical) on Paris with its dark and hidden secrets commented on by Gringoire ("Les portes de paris"). Quasimodo stalks Esmeralda through the dark streets and is about to seize her when Phoebus and his guards arrive and arrest Quasimodo. Phoebus introduces himself to Esmeralda. He makes a date for a rendezvous with her the next night at the Cabaret du Val d'Amour. Phoebus and his men take Quasimodo away and Esmeralda darts off into the darkness ("Tentative d'enlèvement"). At the Court of the Miracles, the haven for all of the outcasts of Paris, Clopin presides over a wild revel, remarking that