Theatre singing vs Film singing - Same rules- Page 2

[jo]

Posted: 4/8/15 at 9:02am

Film-making is masterful storytelling, first and foremost. In the movie musical LES MISERABLES Tom Hooper pursued his cinematic vision of realism and heightened reality in his storytelling, with the singing complementing the acting choices.  More of those details emerge if you have a chance to listen to the Director's commentary.

Here's a featurette which explores why live singing was the choice  of the director in adapting the stage musical to  film   --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Su_n0PAuXk

[Dave19]

Posted: 4/8/15 at 6:53pm

And that's where Tom Hooper got it wrong.

"realism" when singing lies in other things.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 4/9/15 at 1:30am

I thought Russell Crowe's entire performance was horrendous -- he was too stiff. Javert is, of course, a prig, so a DELIBERATELY stiff performance would be fine. However, I don't think he was doing it deliberately.

Gerard Butler does not have a Broadway voice.  The first time I heard his version of MOTN from the 2004 POTO movie, I cringed.  But then, I started watching for the emotion rather than looking for a Michael Crawford performance. The chemistry between him and Emmy Rossum during the song is extraordinary.  I think he pulled off one of the most erotic performances in musical film history -- it's at least as erotic as the scene in Gone with the Wind, where Rhett carries Scarlett up the stairs, and Gable and Leigh didn't have to contend with trying to sing.

I think Gerard Butler would have pulled off Javert successfully.  For that matter, I think he would have been much better as Thenardier than SBC, who plays most of his roles the same way. In fact, I can think of many people who would have been better as Thenardier -- Steve Martin, Richard Gere, Nathan Lane ... the list could go on and on.