#1
Posted: 9/4/05 at 5:14am
Just wondering what everybody thinks- I've got a couple of "Les Miz" c.d.'s, and I kind of like what Debra Byrne does with it on the symphonic recording. Oh, I don't know...
Best Fantine on record...
#2
Posted: 9/4/05 at 5:32am
Randy Graff will always be my favorite Fantine. She's the first Fantine I've heard on a recording, and I've always liked her work in other shows like CITY OF ANGELS.
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
#3
Posted: 9/4/05 at 6:05am
Anyone but LuPone. She sounds like she's on valium on the OLC recording.
#4
Posted: 9/4/05 at 6:11am
ah...
is there really any competition here?
clearly, ms. ruthie henshall takes the cake as the most vocally capable fantine. not to mention her stunning acting performance. she is a sure fired star.
definitely the best fantine. ever.
is there really any competition here?
clearly, ms. ruthie henshall takes the cake as the most vocally capable fantine. not to mention her stunning acting performance. she is a sure fired star.
definitely the best fantine. ever.
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending.
The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
#6
Posted: 9/4/05 at 6:29am
yes, i agree with me too
RUTHIE IS THE BEST!
RUTHIE IS THE BEST!
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending.
The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
#7
Posted: 9/4/05 at 8:31am
I also agree. It's definitely Ruthie. She's my favorite overall Fantine as well, and I never even saw her live.
#8
Posted: 9/4/05 at 8:40am
I agree with Henshall. Graff is to Broadway brassy, LuPone is just a mess.
#9
Posted: 9/4/05 at 9:12am
Ruthie Henshall, but in all fairness: I've never seen any of them perform live (I have the Tenth Anniversary Concert DVD, though, for Henshall).
#10
Posted: 9/4/05 at 9:20am
RUTHIE LOVE!! 
With Debbie Byrne a second. However Debbie is without a doubt my favorite Grizabella in Cats.
With Debbie Byrne a second. However Debbie is without a doubt my favorite Grizabella in Cats.
#11
Posted: 9/4/05 at 9:36am
Count this as another vote for Ruthie! So far, she's my favorite...and one of the few I've bothered to remember by name.
Patti LuPone...though I like her in other things...did nothing for me as Fantine (and Fantine is my favorite female character in the show)...she didn't seem fragile enough.
http://www.hugh-panaro.net
Patti LuPone...though I like her in other things...did nothing for me as Fantine (and Fantine is my favorite female character in the show)...she didn't seem fragile enough.
#12
Posted: 9/4/05 at 9:40am
Also gotta go w/ ruthie. I also haven't seen the big ones live, but in terms of who is my fav to listen to, it's definitely her.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
#13
Posted: 9/4/05 at 10:13am
Ruthie
~And let us try, before we die, to make some sense of life~
#15
Posted: 9/4/05 at 10:41am
Fantine was my favorite when I first got into Les Mis. I had the OBC so my first was Randy, whom I later saw in Fiddler but didn't get to talk to her about it 
, but Ruthie is great as well.
, but Ruthie is great as well.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
#16
Posted: 9/4/05 at 10:47am
Sorry. Gotta say Patti LuPone. She was the first _I_ had heard and I was floored by the song and the voice. I guess it's a lot about the first time we hear (and re-hear and re-hear) a particular voice in a particular song. 'Never heard Ruthie Henshall, but I can only imagine . . . . .
#17
Posted: 9/4/05 at 10:58am
Ruthie Henshall!!!!
"They hear drums. We hear music."
#20
Posted: 9/4/05 at 12:48pm
In English? Ruthie, by a long shot.
Otherwise, Louise Pitre on the Paris cast is my favorite.
Otherwise, Louise Pitre on the Paris cast is my favorite.
#22
Posted: 9/4/05 at 1:38pm
Ruthie. (as on Record)
not on record Joanna Ampil, Jayne Paterson and Carmen Cusack as phonomennal(sp?) as well
not on record Joanna Ampil, Jayne Paterson and Carmen Cusack as phonomennal(sp?) as well
#24
Posted: 9/4/05 at 2:05pm
You gotta go with the actress Cameron Mackintosh chose for the dreamcast himself: Ms.Ruthie Henshall! Both of her major songs "I Dreamed a Dream" and "Fantine's Death" are so touching!
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
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