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I HAVE ACQUIRED OTHER CAST RECORDINGS OF LES MIS. This is the first in a projected series of posts with my Opinions. Because of course I have opinions!
A note: my baseline is the Complete Symphonic Recording, as the cast I grew up with and didn't even realize there were other casts out there. In fact I didn't even think to consider the possibility that some of the actors on the CSR weren't the best for their role; because to me, they were that character. I DISAGREE WITH MY PAST SELF.
So. Today! The Tenth Anniversary Concert cast!
First off, I am happy to discover I'm more openminded than I thought I'd be about the possibility of other casts. There were a few characters where I was like LOLNO but mostly I was like, "yep, this is different but also valid!"
So the very first real reaction I had to the TAC was to think: "gosh this Javert sounds an awful lot like the one I'm familiar with. I bet it's the same dude!" And lo, upon googling, it is indeed the same dude! Philip Quast!
It was actually really disconcerting to me, because so much else about this recording was Different and then it kept on falling over into familiar whenever Javert had a piece and it THREW ME OFF.
Valjean, on the other hand, was pretty different. But I was down with this dude's interpretation too. (and a good thing, because upon googling, it is Colm Wilkinson, aka the dude that everyone apparently loves)
I really disliked the casting for the Bishop. He sounded... very cold and polished and distant. Not welcoming like he's supposed to be. HE'S MONSEIGNEUR BIENVENU, being welcoming is WHAT HE DOES. Not cool, TAC.
I liked Fantine well enough, or at least better than the Fantine of the CSR, but I have realized that Anne Hathaway has quite possibly ruined me for all other Fantines. ANNE IS JUST SO GOOD IN THE ROLE.
Enjolras....I AM SORRY FOR EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT ANTHONY WARLOW IN MY POST ABOUT THE CSR. ANTHONY WARLOW IS AWESOME. I could not take this Enjolras seriously at all; I kept on giggling during his most dramatic bits.
The Thenardiers were eh. I have decided that I am weirded out by the musical's decision to write the Thenardiers as the comic relief, when the things they do are really not actually funny.
The Marius I also listened to ONE SINGLE LINE of his and was like "....I bet he's ALSO the same dude as the CSR", and lo I was correct again. Apparently I am AWESOME at recognizing voices, even though I'm utter shit at recognizing faces. I think I like Michael Ball's confident-sounding Marius better when paired with the TAC Cosette, because the TAC Cosette also sounds confident and sure of herself and stuff, so they make a better matched pair. Whereas my impression of the two of them in the CSR has always been of Cosette as a pretty waifish thing looking adoringly at Marius and having no strength of her own. I LIKE IT BETTER WHEN THEY SOUND LIKE EQUALS.
I quite enjoyed this Gavroche.
Eponine was perfectly decent but not my Eponine.
I didn't really have thoughts one way or another about most of the other characters.
So it was interesting to discover what actors I'd imprinted on rather more than I'd realized, and which ones I was easygoing on! Looking over this, the only ones where I was like NO THANK YOU were the Bishop and Enjolras. And I never would have expected that about Enjolras.
Some other thoughts: The orchestration was subtly different in places, and I almost found that more disconcerting than the different actors, because it's all subtle and background and stuff but it put me off kilter every time. I found the Attack on Rue Plumet way more exciting than I usually do in the CSR; idk how they did it but it was successfully really tense and stuff! There were a few small bits that were missing in this version, like the bit with the townspeople singing about M Fauchelevent being caught under the cart, and it also disconcerted me.
OVERALL I VERY MUCH LIKED THE TAC! Except for how it was DIFFERENT WAHHHHHHHHH so I could never quite settle into it because my brain kept on EXPECTING DIFFERENT THINGS. :P But that's just that I've trained myself too much by overlistening to the CSR :P
Next up: idk, one of the other ones in my new collection. STAY TUNED!
A note: my baseline is the Complete Symphonic Recording, as the cast I grew up with and didn't even realize there were other casts out there. In fact I didn't even think to consider the possibility that some of the actors on the CSR weren't the best for their role; because to me, they were that character. I DISAGREE WITH MY PAST SELF.
So. Today! The Tenth Anniversary Concert cast!
First off, I am happy to discover I'm more openminded than I thought I'd be about the possibility of other casts. There were a few characters where I was like LOLNO but mostly I was like, "yep, this is different but also valid!"
So the very first real reaction I had to the TAC was to think: "gosh this Javert sounds an awful lot like the one I'm familiar with. I bet it's the same dude!" And lo, upon googling, it is indeed the same dude! Philip Quast!
It was actually really disconcerting to me, because so much else about this recording was Different and then it kept on falling over into familiar whenever Javert had a piece and it THREW ME OFF.
Valjean, on the other hand, was pretty different. But I was down with this dude's interpretation too. (and a good thing, because upon googling, it is Colm Wilkinson, aka the dude that everyone apparently loves)
I really disliked the casting for the Bishop. He sounded... very cold and polished and distant. Not welcoming like he's supposed to be. HE'S MONSEIGNEUR BIENVENU, being welcoming is WHAT HE DOES. Not cool, TAC.
I liked Fantine well enough, or at least better than the Fantine of the CSR, but I have realized that Anne Hathaway has quite possibly ruined me for all other Fantines. ANNE IS JUST SO GOOD IN THE ROLE.
Enjolras....I AM SORRY FOR EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT ANTHONY WARLOW IN MY POST ABOUT THE CSR. ANTHONY WARLOW IS AWESOME. I could not take this Enjolras seriously at all; I kept on giggling during his most dramatic bits.
The Thenardiers were eh. I have decided that I am weirded out by the musical's decision to write the Thenardiers as the comic relief, when the things they do are really not actually funny.
The Marius I also listened to ONE SINGLE LINE of his and was like "....I bet he's ALSO the same dude as the CSR", and lo I was correct again. Apparently I am AWESOME at recognizing voices, even though I'm utter shit at recognizing faces. I think I like Michael Ball's confident-sounding Marius better when paired with the TAC Cosette, because the TAC Cosette also sounds confident and sure of herself and stuff, so they make a better matched pair. Whereas my impression of the two of them in the CSR has always been of Cosette as a pretty waifish thing looking adoringly at Marius and having no strength of her own. I LIKE IT BETTER WHEN THEY SOUND LIKE EQUALS.
I quite enjoyed this Gavroche.
Eponine was perfectly decent but not my Eponine.
I didn't really have thoughts one way or another about most of the other characters.
So it was interesting to discover what actors I'd imprinted on rather more than I'd realized, and which ones I was easygoing on! Looking over this, the only ones where I was like NO THANK YOU were the Bishop and Enjolras. And I never would have expected that about Enjolras.
Some other thoughts: The orchestration was subtly different in places, and I almost found that more disconcerting than the different actors, because it's all subtle and background and stuff but it put me off kilter every time. I found the Attack on Rue Plumet way more exciting than I usually do in the CSR; idk how they did it but it was successfully really tense and stuff! There were a few small bits that were missing in this version, like the bit with the townspeople singing about M Fauchelevent being caught under the cart, and it also disconcerted me.
OVERALL I VERY MUCH LIKED THE TAC! Except for how it was DIFFERENT WAHHHHHHHHH so I could never quite settle into it because my brain kept on EXPECTING DIFFERENT THINGS. :P But that's just that I've trained myself too much by overlistening to the CSR :P
Next up: idk, one of the other ones in my new collection. STAY TUNED!
