Musical feature films- studio vs live singing — Page 2

Let's all take to remember the travesty of Pierce Brosnan singing in Mamma Mia!

I suggest reading Marni Nixon's memoir. She talks about how they dubbed King and I. She and Deborah Kerr worked together on creating Anna. Marni rehearsed basically with Deborah. It became seamless. She writes later this was not the case with either Woods or Hepburn. That the dubbing was sloppy. Execs misled the actors and basically wanted Marni to just sing over the film.

I think a mix is good. For example, in "One Day More" I understood why Eponine didn't belt her part live in the overlapping section, but they should recorded her belting it and have Samantha Barks sing along to it when filming.

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This is an excerpt from a review of the film I found by a user on Blu-Ray.com:

"Les Miserables is a fantastic film rendition of the hit Broadway musical. I've seen the live performance 3 times over the last 10 or 11 years, and there are some significant distinctions to be made between the two. The live performances tend to be sung in beautiful, operatic voices that have earned Les Mis the honor of being one of the most beloved musicals of all time. The vocals in the movie version, however, are "gruffer" and grittier, much more in line with the actual characters of the story. I prefer the emotion and intimacy of the lyrics as performed in the movie than the live stage show."

I'm not saying this how you should feel about the film personally, I'm just saying you should at least understand why the approach worked so much for the common folks (like yours truly).

Natalie Wood found out she was dubbed at the premiere, I think if the studio had been honest then it would have been less of an issue.

Not all of Audrey Hepburns singing in My Fair Lady was dubbed, Just You Wait I believe was the only song that had her actual singing.