Les Miserables Symphonic Recording Question- Page 2

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 9:38am

Spidey...Phillip Quast is indeed Australian and played Javert in Australia before going on to play him in London as well.
Phillip Quast Bio

[leon1489]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 10:05am

I'm sure I'll get slaughtered for saying this, but I never liked Frances Ruffelle's singing in Les Mis. I know it's like blasphemy, but it didn't work with me. Lea Salonga defines the role for me. HOWEVER, while Kaho Shimada's voice takes a little getting used to, she is actually not thad bad. She also takes the optional high note in "Pretending" in "On my Own", which is the only English-language recording to feature that. I'm weird, so little things like that make me happy.

Overall, I find the CSR a refreshing take on the show. Even Philip Quast sounds different than he did in the 10th Anniversary Cast recording. I like the fact that it features very few of the other performers because as much as I love Colm Wilkinson in the role, for example, it's nice to have a different interpretation of the role on a CD.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 1:18pm

I love the "pretending" when Kaho Shimada sings it! But after that, too many actresses copied her and now, everyone's singing the high note... (Even high schools...)

Has anyone seen Kaho Shimada's performance at Royal Variety show when she sang the song in Japanese? It's on the unmentionable tube site.

[mustard]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 1:18pm

I think Lea Salonga sounds too perfect. There's something almost not quite human about her for me. I like Frances Ruffelle's scrappiness (but I must say I liked her better on the London recording than the Broadway). Eponine is a dirty street kid, not a pop singer or gorgeous robot.

Kaho Shimada... I don't know. I'd like to hear her sing it in her native language, but her singing it in English did nothing for me.

[mustard]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 1:18pm

oops

double post Updated On: 8/3/06 at 01:18 PM

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 1:54pm

I have both Japanese recordings with Kaho, and I'm not a big fan of her there either. I just don't like the tone of her voice.

[augustine73]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 7:43pm

i agree with you leon1489... i like lea salonga as eponine but kaho shimada's eponine is not bad. in fact its my 2nd fave. her 'on my own' was pretty and heartfelt. although salonga's 'a little fall of rain' was a real knock out and a winner for me. frances' was ok.

[Stphen1187]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 2:09am

Whoops! My bad on Philip Quast being Australian...I totally knew that too. As far as Frances Ruffelle goes, I feel like she deserves credit for establishing the role of Eponine (evidently she did something right, because she's so imitated by several of her predecessors, but I before a cleaner-voiced Eponine. Lea Salonga's voice is of the opposite extreme, but it doesn't bother me that an actress with a pretty voice should play a dirty street waif. As far as the high D on "all my life, I've only been PRETENding..." goes, I think it's a fantastic addition to any rendition of "On My Own" so long as the actress can securely hit the note. If anybody's heard Sutton Foster's "On My Own," they might agree with this.

[mustard]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 2:42am

I guess I'm old school. I don't like it when they go up on "pretending." It ruins the upward surge for me. I must have listened to the London cast too much way back when.

[javertim]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 8:03am

I really do not like the "optional" higher note in OMO. When done the original way, I think the desperation comes through so much more in Eponine's voice. It sounds more like a sob that way, more anguished. Also, I think the higher version adds a premature climax to the song, whereas the climax *should* be on "known." At least imo. Oh, well ...
Updated On: 8/4/06 at 08:03 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 10:40am

"Well, they needed the token Asian to complete the international feel and Kaho Shimada fit the bill at that time."

Actually, I remember there being a television special about the complete symphonic recording and Shimada's performance in Japan was very highly regarded. She was considered one of the best Eponines worldwide at the time. The producers knew they were taking a risk using her on the recording, but they were passionate about her performance. While her voice is not the best, I really do love her heartfelt performance on the recording.

Which reminds me, why weren't Les Miserables: Stage to Stage or The Heat is On: The Making of Miss Saigon ever released on DVD? And The Making of Martin Guerre: A Musical Journey was never even released on VHS in the US. Pooh!

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 10:47am

Sutter Foster was so far and away the best Eponine that she's in a category all by herself.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 10:57am

I've lost the libretto/recording notes from this album (I was young and careless when I bought it) but I remember them saying something about trying to get someone for the Thenardiers (from Turkey or Israel, or somewhere in the Middle East, I think) but that their performance lost a lot in the translation to English. But they were standing behind Kaho's performance.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 11:03am

Yeah, I think it was the Israeli Thenardier's.

[Colle]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 6:25pm

About the high note in "pretending," I like it, especially the way Kaho sings it. That said, it doesn't bother me if the actress playing Eponine doesn't go for the high note if the rest of the song is done really well.

[poppy isabella]

Posted: 8/4/06 at 11:58pm

The pimp's name is Bamatabois.

[Shawk]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 1:48am

Bamatabois is Fantine's, er, special customer. The pimp is just identified as "Pimp." Thus, I feel free to invent for him a name and/or backstory.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 9:32am

I thought everyone was good except for Tracy Shayne. She has a strange voice. And she was Christine in POTO at one point, too.

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 9:54am

Yes Shawk, I feel I must find out the truth behind this sleazy good for nothing dead guy's past. Christophe, wasn't it?

And yes, Bamatabois is the guy who reports her to Javert. But does anyone else think that it's a bit much to credit people for characters with names too hard to pronounce let alone remember, who only have one or two lines? There must be forty different characters, and thirty might as well be called ensemble.

[jpbran]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 12:26pm

I like this recording quite a bit, even Kaho's odd enunciation.

BUT it is Tracy Shayne who really makes my eardrums blead. SHRILL SHRILL SHRILL. Several years ago friends riding in my car wouldn't say a word until Cossette started her piercing shrieking and then they'd say something like, "Jeez! Can we listen to something else?" And even now my

It really is painful and makes me picture her acting as being something akin to an over-caffeinated silent movie heroine being threatened by a mustaschioed (sp) villain. A major flaw on an otherwise impressive preservation of the complete score.

[Weez]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 1:13pm

I must say, Tracy Shayne is the only thing I actually dislike about the CSR. I even don't mind putting up with Gary Morris over Colm Wilkinson, but I prefer a softer Cosette.

I should really make myself a playlist with my ideal cast from the three recordings I have. And try not to be frightened at how many different recordings Michael Ball has snuck onto. XD

Also, I love Frances Ruffelle's Eponine. She and Shimada sound a little similar (they're both utterly different from Salonga, at least ) so I couldn't really like one and dislike the other.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 1:45pm

My two main problems with the CSR are Debbie Byrne as Fantine and, as already stated, Kaho's Eponine. I adore Debbie Byrne on other recordings, but she just rubs me the wrong way as Fantine.

I'm one of the 3 or 4 people on this planet who actually doesn't at all mind Gary Morris OR Tracey Shayne.

[mustard]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 4:20pm

I don't like most Fantines. Randi Graff especially uspets me. They always get too warbly (HOLD A NOTE, PLEASE!) and half the time the song is too low for them. They all sound like gasping, bleating monstrosities to me. Heh.

[LovinGoodMusicals]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 4:25pm

Who do you prefer as Fantine then?

[mustard]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 4:33pm

I'll have to dig through my old CDs and see which one I thought was least objectionable. Their vibratos are usually so intense that they are never actually ON the note. I don't think I "liked" any of them. Even the times I saw the show live (4 times), I was unhappy. None of the live Fantines had the low notes.

But the tigers come at buuuhhhhhhhh.......
With their voices soft buuhh buhhhhhhhhhh-der!

Know what I mean?