Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

#1

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:03pm

It was alright... a bit of a mess in the middle with the song being shortened so much, but they ended strong I thought... now if they could have just not turned on Russell's microphone all would have been better ...

#2

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:06pm

They shouldn't have featured Les Mis live after Jennifer Hudson, IMO, definitely showed the lack of vocal prowess (minus Aaron Tveit and Sam Barks).

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Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#3

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:10pm

Was Catherine Zeta Jones lip syncing?

#4

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:11pm

Yea Jennifer totally blew it out of the park! No great way to follow that.

#5

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:12pm

I think there is so much hyper criticism (Crowe notwithstanding). Everyone watching at my house loved it, and apparently the live audience did as well.

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CZJ at opening night party for A Little Night Music, Dec 13, 2009.

#6

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:13pm

I thought the Les Miserables number was a well-done ensemble piece and the standing ovation was well-deserved! This is the essence of the modern FILM musical!

Updated On: 2/24/13 at 10:13 PM

#7

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:14pm

All paths are valid and we can all have an opinion. No one opinion is right nor wrong but at the viewing party I'm at it was quite another story.

#8

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:17pm

I think they could have done the whole song and no one would have minded, as long as the Oscars typically are. The cuts were a bit odd, but it wasn't bad. I did wonder why Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen showed up, though- you could barely hear them, Russell Crowe's mike was so loud.

#9

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:17pm

I'm gonna repeat what I said on the other thread: did they lower Cosette's part?

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Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#10

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:19pm

But loved Helena Bonham Carter's hair

#11

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:23pm

The whole song was lowered a whole step....

#12

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:53pm

Why did Amanda change dresses just for the song?

I read an article that said at the rehearsal, Catherine was the only performer to lip sync, but they weren't sure whether or not she was going to at the actual ceremony apparently.

#13

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 10:53pm

I loved that Ramin Karimloo was in the ensemble,, if only for half of a split second.
Right before Russell Crowe appears.

#14

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 11:04pm

the general opinion of all my theater friends on facebook is that CZJ was lip syncing. it was clear when she was being lifted and it sounded like it was straight from the soundtrack.

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A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.

#15

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/24/13 at 11:43pm

Quite a few of the actresses changed dresses for the song, which confused me as well.

#16

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:01am

Russell Crowe sang better tonight than he did in the movie.

#17

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:09am

Sam Banks was really the only one who "wowed" me vocally. The others were just like so boring.

#18

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:28am

It sounded like the keys on "All That Jazz" were lower than what she sang in the movie. Given the recent trend of pre-recording, maybe she did that and did lip-sync?

#19

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:30am

Wow. Just taking it down to that key made it less powerful. The original is vastly superior.

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"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."

#20

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:35am

ACL2006, that sounded like it was lifted from the soundtrack to you? Her voice was clearly lower here and her track was way less polished then the one on the soundtrack.

#21

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:36am

Personally, I was impressed that Russell Crowe made the appearance, given the criticism he has received for his singing. It's not like he needs to work on more musicals to have a career.

I would swear that CZJ was lip-synching whenever she had to sustain notes. Some of the shorter phrases at the beginning sounded too low (In pitch and volume) for her tonight, so I thought maybe they were live.

#22

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 12:51am

CZJ lip-synced the entire song. Completely obvious. She didn't wear a mic. It was necessary to her because she agreed to dance. Good for her!

Hudson was the best part of the ceremony. Blew Adele, Streisand, et al out of the water (vocally).

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"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle

#23

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 1:08am

Personally, I still prefer if they sang the original composition of One Day More. But I understand that they would have to shorten or improvise a bit during Oscars because of limited time. Was happy to see the movie cast & some of the theater actors on stage!

How I wish that it was only the Les Miserables cast in that production - don't get me wrong, I love chicago and dreamgirls! But I wanted Les Mis to have that limelight because the previous two had theirs already in past Oscars. LOL. And the entire show was already a tribute of movie musicals.

#24

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 5:52am

CZJ lip-synced the entire song. Completely obvious. She didn't wear a mic. It was necessary to her because she agreed to dance. Good for her!

For reasons that escape me, CZJ has her champions here. But, again, I have it on excellent authority that they barely got useable tracks for the CHICAGO film out of her and had to record her part, basically one line at a time.

She's a dancer who barely sings and occasionally acts.

Updated On: 2/25/13 at 05:52 AM

#25

Les Miz on the Oscars. or Russell Crowe still can't sing

Posted: 2/25/13 at 6:48am

People criticised CZJ's singing on the Tonys and now criticise her for *not* singing on the Oscars? I can't work it out.