Les Misérables

Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

SweetChristine wrote:Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

Hadley's Raoul is, for me, the worst Raoul I've ever seen besides Tim Martin Gleason's. No idea about his Javert; I hear he's good.

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

Hadley's Raoul is, for me, the worst Raoul I've ever seen besides Tim Martin Gleason's. No idea about his Javert; I hear he's good.

And which one is the best Raoul for you?

SweetChristine wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

Hadley's Raoul is, for me, the worst Raoul I've ever seen besides Tim Martin Gleason's. No idea about his Javert; I hear he's good.

And which one is the best Raoul for you?

Well, this is O/T, but from those I've seen live, Tomas A. Kofod and Simon Bailey stand out. Maybe Niklas Andersson as well. From those I haven't, Steve Barton definitely and Björn Olsson come to mind. I quite like the Raoul on the Hungarian cast recording; his name escapes me for the moment. I hear very good things about the recent Broadway Raouls (Ryan Silverman, Sean MacLaughlin) but have never seen or heard them, live or otherwise.

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

Hadley's Raoul is, for me, the worst Raoul I've ever seen besides Tim Martin Gleason's. No idea about his Javert; I hear he's good.

And which one is the best Raoul for you?

Well, this is O/T, but from those I've seen live, Tomas A. Kofod and Simon Bailey stand out. Maybe Niklas Andersson as well. From those I haven't, Steve Barton definitely and Björn Olsson come to mind. I quite like the Raoul on the Hungarian cast recording; his name escapes me for the moment. I hear very good things about the recent Broadway Raouls (Ryan Silverman, Sean MacLaughlin) but have never seen or heard them, live or otherwise.

Ok thank you, you mean Zoltan Miller from the Hungarian Recording. Ok one last question to Raoul. And what do you think about the actual Raoul in London?

SweetChristine wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

Hadley's Raoul is, for me, the worst Raoul I've ever seen besides Tim Martin Gleason's. No idea about his Javert; I hear he's good.

And which one is the best Raoul for you?

Well, this is O/T, but from those I've seen live, Tomas A. Kofod and Simon Bailey stand out. Maybe Niklas Andersson as well. From those I haven't, Steve Barton definitely and Björn Olsson come to mind. I quite like the Raoul on the Hungarian cast recording; his name escapes me for the moment. I hear very good things about the recent Broadway Raouls (Ryan Silverman, Sean MacLaughlin) but have never seen or heard them, live or otherwise.

Ok thank you, you mean Zoltan Miller from the Hungarian Recording. Ok one last question to Raoul. And what do you think about the actual Raoul in London?

Killian Donnelly? I've seen in him Les Mis but not in Phantom. Last time I went to Phantom, his understudy was on as Raoul.

Re my earlier post about the Mis OLC royalties issue, it's now been resolved. First Night Records gave in and the cast are still going to receive royalties after the 25 years. I imagine the same will happen with Phantom.

Good news. If only public outrage worked so well with RUG.

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SweetChristine wrote:Has anyone seen Ramin Karimloo as Jean Valjean? And how is Hadley Fraser as Javert?
His Raoul was a little bit strange for me...too dominant..he looks good and stands in life...but...I see no real feelings for Christine.
For me he sounds like Javert.

Hadley's Raoul is, for me, the worst Raoul I've ever seen besides Tim Martin Gleason's. No idea about his Javert; I hear he's good.

And which one is the best Raoul for you?

Well, this is O/T, but from those I've seen live, Tomas A. Kofod and Simon Bailey stand out. Maybe Niklas Andersson as well. From those I haven't, Steve Barton definitely and Björn Olsson come to mind. I quite like the Raoul on the Hungarian cast recording; his name escapes me for the moment. I hear very good things about the recent Broadway Raouls (Ryan Silverman, Sean MacLaughlin) but have never seen or heard them, live or otherwise.

Ok thank you, you mean Zoltan Miller from the Hungarian Recording. Ok one last question to Raoul. And what do you think about the actual Raoul in London?

Killian Donnelly? I've seen in him Les Mis but not in Phantom. Last time I went to Phantom, his understudy was on as Raoul.

Re my earlier post about the Mis OLC royalties issue, it's now been resolved. First Night Records gave in and the cast are still going to receive royalties after the 25 years. I imagine the same will happen with Phantom.

Thank you! Yes I mean Killian Donnelly!
Yes I think so, at first the Les Mis Record and then Phantom.

More casting news. Aaron Tveit will be Enjorlas

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52744

Yeah, we already posted that from BWW a few weeks ago.

I've read that Colm Wilkinson will be the Bishop, and that Francis Ruffles will be one of the 'lovely ladies' in the movie:

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/159620/original-cast-members-colm-wilkinson-and-frances-ruffelle-set-for-les-miserables-film/

It's so nice to see that they're honoring some of the players from the original cast

Yeah, someone posted that in the "what are they doing now?" thread in the Phantom section last night. Also, it's Ruffelle; she's not a potato chip.

Apparently Samantha Barks, whom Cameron found via the reality TV show he did with ALW to find a Nancy for Oliver! and whom he subsequently cast in the West End production (I believe I saw her last time I went to the show), is going to play Eponine in the film. Surprised they haven't chosen someone more high profile.

Scorp wrote:Apparently Samantha Barks, whom Cameron found via the reality TV show he did with ALW to find a Nancy for Oliver! and whom he subsequently cast in the West End production (I believe I saw her last time I went to the show), is going to play Eponine in the film. Surprised they haven't chosen someone more high profile.

No, it's gonna be Taylor Swift, as reported a few weeks ago here. She's in London (or was last week) to meet with CamMac and Hooper and start rehearsals.

Barks is confirmed on Mackintosh's Facebook page, so it looks like Taylor Swift fell through for one reason or another. Just YouTubed her "On My Own"--decent pop voice, and I liked the way she acted the song. Good choice--I must say the Swift rumor had me a little uneasy.

~LCD

Whoa, wonder what happened? Maybe her subsequent screen tests weren't up to snuff. Guess they also really didn't like Lea Michele, or maybe her schedule got booked up after she lost the role in the first place.

SenorSwanky wrote:Whoa, wonder what happened? Maybe her subsequent screen tests weren't up to snuff. Guess they also really didn't like Lea Michele, or maybe her schedule got booked up after she lost the role in the first place.

I'm not up to scratch with what's been going on -- Lea Michele *lost* the role? How so? As in, they gave it to her and then had second thoughts?

Scorp wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:Whoa, wonder what happened? Maybe her subsequent screen tests weren't up to snuff. Guess they also really didn't like Lea Michele, or maybe her schedule got booked up after she lost the role in the first place.

I'm not up to scratch with what's been going on -- Lea Michele *lost* the role? How so? As in, they gave it to her and then had second thoughts?

No, but it was rumored she, Swift, Evan Rachel Wood, and Scarlett Johansson were finalists for the role, and that Swift won out. Of course, that may never have been the case, as it was never confirmed officially.

Apparently Barks learned onstage along with everyone else. Must've been thrilling.

Also, don't know who he is, and the report didn't say in what role, but George Blagden has been cast in the movie. Grantaire?

SenorSwanky wrote:

Scorp wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:Whoa, wonder what happened? Maybe her subsequent screen tests weren't up to snuff. Guess they also really didn't like Lea Michele, or maybe her schedule got booked up after she lost the role in the first place.

I'm not up to scratch with what's been going on -- Lea Michele *lost* the role? How so? As in, they gave it to her and then had second thoughts?

No, but it was rumored she, Swift, Evan Rachel Wood, and Scarlett Johansson were finalists for the role, and that Swift won out. Of course, that may never have been the case, as it was never confirmed officially.

Apparently Barks learned onstage along with everyone else. Must've been thrilling.

Also, don't know who he is, and the report didn't say in what role, but George Blagden has been cast in the movie. Grantaire?

Ah, thanks for the explanation. Here's a news video about Barks' casting and how Cameron announced it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16831033

Great piece. Proud of her.

SenorSwanky wrote:Also, don't know who he is, and the report didn't say in what role, but George Blagden has been cast in the movie. Grantaire?

I don't know how reliable it is, but IMDB has him listed as Grantaire. Fantastic news about Samantha Barks playing Eponine. I saw her in the role, she was a lovely Eponine and has an amazing voice. All the best to her.

Didn't think to check IMDb, but I guess I was right in my assumption. He doesn't have any credits until two movies that come out later this year. There're two clips of him singing on his site: http://www.georgeblagden.com/George_Blagden/Music.html. He'll do. Also has legit theater experience.

Making this movie now is so timely, considering the economy, the Occupy movement here and the riots in London and elsewhere, and the Arab Spring.

SenorSwanky wrote:Making this movie now is so timely, considering the economy, the Occupy movement here and the riots in London and elsewhere, and the Arab Spring.

Very true. Surprisingly not all sees the parallels. Several Les Mis performers judged the UK riots hard. They were described as brute beasts and whatnot. I asked if they didn't see any similarities to the roles they performed every night on stage. And yes, they did. They just hadn't thought of it that way. Of course riots in costumes (historical or far away) are easier to swallow than local, contemporary and ones.

But I think it's healthy to be reminded that a repressed people eventually will... sing. If not literary.

Playbill article featuring CamMac talking about the inevitable Oscar bait song and the decision to have the actors sing live: Click-click

My hopes for Hooper increase--one of my main problems with a lot of recent movie musicals is that the directors obviously didn't know how to tell the story through the music. This article seems to indicate that Hooper at least understands that singing is the medium of the drama, rather than incidental to it.

~LCD

LadyCDaae wrote:Playbill article featuring CamMac talking about the inevitable Oscar bait song and the decision to have the actors sing live: Click-click

My hopes for Hooper increase--one of my main problems with a lot of recent movie musicals is that the directors obviously didn't know how to tell the story through the music. This article seems to indicate that Hooper at least understands that singing is the medium of the drama, rather than incidental to it.

~LCD

I hope you're right! And also along those lines, can I just say that I am sooo excited for big-budget orchestrations? (Possibly my bias as a musician speaks -- I love when my colleagues get work! -- but there is nothing more awesome than hearing those opening bars of "Look Down" with a full orchestra, and nothing worse than hearing them with a budget-cut pit of ten people. ) No matter what I think about the rest of the movie, I'll be very happy with that.

The new song for the film is called 'Suddenly', which is a song that (I'm assuming) takes place after Valjean leaves with Cosette and before we meet the rest of the gang 10 years later.

ML6 wrote:The new song for the film is called 'Suddenly', which is a song that (I'm assuming) takes place after Valjean leaves with Cosette and before we meet the rest of the gang 10 years later.

Yeah, that's what it says in the Playbill article LadyCDaae linked to.

It sounds like a good idea for a song, but I'll have to reserve judgement until I hear how well it fits in with the rest of the score. Too often additional songs end up being incohesive with the original work.

It's been rumored for a while now, but Helena Bonham-Carter has officially been announced for Mme. Thenardier. I'm still not sold on the idea, but if someone can coax a voice out of her that doesn't sound so frail and delicate she could work.

~LCD

Amanda Seyfried talks about preparing for Cosette: Showing here

While having classical training as a teen is obviously no indication of her vocal quality now, I think her general attitude is in the right place.

~LCD

Such a cutie. "You can't just take any pop star and teach them to sing classical" (paraphrasing)...burn, Taylor Swift...burn.