'Hunchback' coming to Greensburg Salem Middle School

It’s not easy playing The Hunchback of Notre Dame, according to Greensburg Salem Middle School student Loyal Wesley Heverly.

“One of the hard parts about Quasimodo is, I just have to bend down all the time, and it hurts my back,” joked Heverly, 13, who has the title role in this year’s middle school musical.

Musical director Melanie Callas said it’s the most challenging play she’s tackled in more than a decade on the job — for reasons beyond the star’s posture.

“It is a lot of Latin, that the kids are not used to singing, and the pitches and harmo nies are very difficult,” she said.

Greensburg Salem Middle School is the first school in Westmoreland County to tackle the play, she said.

In addition to the challenging music, the play delves into some difficult themes as well.

“I felt that the meaning of the story was really important in our day and age, that people with special needs, people that maybe are looked over because of how they look on the outside… the whole meaning of the show is that they are important, and can be loved,” Callas said.

Though much of the music and costumes are straight out of the 1996 “Hunchback of Notre Dame” Disney movie, there are some major changes to the plot, bringing it closer to the original 1831 novel by Victor Hugo.

Marlie Dietz, 13, who plays leading lady Esmeralda, warned audiences to expect a darker tone.

“All these characters have very different complexities,” she said. “There are deaths, which there are not in the movie, and you should expect that there isn’t always a happy ending to stories like this.”

Dietz and Haverly are both seasoned actors for their age. Dietz got her debut as an ape in “Tarzan” in sixth grade, while Heverly has been involved in theater for years through the Stage Right theater company in Greensburg.

“I just loved it, I loved theater growing up,” he said.

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” will be performed at Greensburg Salem Middle School 7 p.m. March 19-21 and 2 p.m. March 22. Tickets are $7 for reserved seats and $5 for general admission. They’ll be on sale from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the middle school lobby, or at the door before the show.