For Rudeboyelvis- Crowe & Jackman

[GenuineRisk]

In case you hadn't seen- the two Aussies did a live performance of "The Confrontation" at a club in NYC:

http://www.newnownext.com/les-misera...-live/12/2012/

[Rudeboyelvis]

That's very funny - hugely talented guys

[GenuineRisk]

Speaking of, saw the movie today. What did you think? I am mixed.

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Speaking of, saw the movie today. What did you think? I am mixed.

Never made it...stayed in and watched movies at home. The next day I spoke with 3 people who did go, and they all relayed a similar experience... principally that the singing, while impressive considering it was the actors performing, was noticeably lacking and would have greatly benefited from professional singers overdubbing their lines, and that Anne Hathaway was horrible (which surprised me) - so it went straight to my "wait for it on HBO" list.

[Danzig]

i loathe musicals, so i'll never see it. love the book tho!

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i loathe musicals, so i'll never see it. love the book tho!

I love musicals, even though I very seldom choose to see new ones, because most of them are crap. But it's really a very great art form, and one that I think is so extraordinarily American, because we (well, Rodgers and Hammerstein) were the ones who finally figured out the songs needed to advance the action of the story (musical theater can be divided into "Before 'Oklahoma!'" and "After 'Oklahoma!'" That show was really an incredible milestone in American theater). Though, before that, oodles and oodles of popular songs came from musicals- "The Lady Is a Tramp," "My Funny Valentine," "I Got Rhythm," etc. Jazz standards and musical theater standards are inextricably linked.

Ironically, as the structure of musical theater improved (linking the songs to the action), the influence of musical theater on popular music declined. Other than "Hair" there really hasn't been a successful rock musical on Broadway (I loved, loved, loved, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" but it only ran Off-Broadway and it was over ten years ago. Jesus Christ, I'm old.).

What bothers me about musicals now is that a lot of the songs seem to be about vocal pyrotechnics and not story.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Never made it...stayed in and watched movies at home. The next day I spoke with 3 people who did go, and they all relayed a similar experience... principally that the singing, while impressive considering it was the actors performing, was noticeably lacking and would have greatly benefited from professional singers overdubbing their lines, and that Anne Hathaway was horrible (which surprised me) - so it went straight to my "wait for it on HBO" list.

Fell in love with her in Prada, can't imagine her horrible in anything..

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Never made it...stayed in and watched movies at home. The next day I spoke with 3 people who did go, and they all relayed a similar experience... principally that the singing, while impressive considering it was the actors performing, was noticeably lacking and would have greatly benefited from professional singers overdubbing their lines, and that Anne Hathaway was horrible (which surprised me) - so it went straight to my "wait for it on HBO" list.

I've seen the musical twice- once when I was 16 and then again at 22, and adored it as a teenager (a lot of teenage girls really fall in love with it) so I owned the original cast album, blah blah blah. So, I was surprised to find I didn't love it as much as I'd hoped, nor hate it as much as I expected.

I didn't love Anne Hathaway, because she did something that I just hate. There's an old saying, "Tears on stage means dry eyes in the audience" and I think it's really true.I spent "I Dreamed a Dream" thinking, "Wow. She is sure crying hard. I'm impressed she can still sing while crying so hard." I like her, but I think she's a Julia Roberts- she's just better in lighter material.

Thanks to a friend who mixed the show and got me in to see previews, I saw Hugh Jackman when he did "Back on Broadway" and he's an amazing, amazing musical theater singer/actor, but his voice is all wrong for Valjean. He gets really nasal in the higher parts, which sounds great in Rodgers & Hammerstein, but not in Les Mis. In my opinion, anyway. He had to shout "Bring Him Home" which really takes away from what the song is.

I felt like Russell Crowe was working so hard to hit all of Javert's low notes that he forgot to act. I did think he was pretty good in his last song, though.

I really, really do not like Sacha Baron Cohen and yet I thought he was AWESOME in this. I usually find the Thénardiers boring and he turned them into my favorite part of the movie. Knock me over with a feather. I think because he was one of the few actors in the film who was always trying to get or to do something, rather than just FEELING.

And the guy who played Marius was really good, even if he has a frog mouth. And the Enjolras was hot, though I think that's required in the casting for Enjolras. He can climb my barricade anytime.

The big mistake Tom Hooper made in the singing live thing, and the main reason I think you can certainly wait for HBO is that he couldn't do any big grand wide shots during the songs because... you would have seen the microphones! My sound mixer friend went with me to the movie and pointed that out as soon as the movie was over. So the cinematography is not great because it has to be all in the actors' faces the whole time.

And yet, it's Les Mis, and, even as cynical as I am, "A Little Fall of Rain" will still never NOT make me cry. Because I am a cynical sucker.