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

[metropolis10111]

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 ...

[SporkGoddess]

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).

[Baby Jack]

Was Catherine Zeta Jones lip syncing?

[metropolis10111]

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

[RaisedOnMusicals]

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.

[jo]

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!

[metropolis10111]

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.

[OperaBwayLover]

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.

[SporkGoddess]

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

[metropolis10111]

But loved Helena Bonham Carter's hair

[grandpianoalex]

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

[willep]

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.

[Londonskyguy]

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

[ACL2006]

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.

[boggess]

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

[broadwayfever]

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

[RippedMan]

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

[OperaBwayLover]

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?

[fingerlakessinger]

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

[jimmycurry01]

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.

[GavestonPS]

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.

[CapnHook]

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).

[emjullee]

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.

[GavestonPS]

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.

[ClapYo'Hands]

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

[best12bars]

At least Catherine did a good job of lip-syncing, unlike Liza and many others in Oscar and Tony year's past. With that much dancing, lifting, and rolling around other bodies, I'm glad she did it. I thought she was terrific.

Hudson was great, too, sure, but I could swear her dancing was completely done off-stage. All she did was walk around and stand in place with a mic. I'd like to see her sing that song live, with Zeta-Jones's full-out choreography.

As for Les Miz, I thought it came off a lot better than I was expecting. Crowe was the Elaine Stritch of the group. Fine in the solo parts, but toward the end, his mic was too loud. I kept thinking of the OBCR of "Company" with Stritch too loud and cutting off notes. But I kinda love Crowe's insistence and persistence with the music. It's almost like, "Screw you. I'm here, and I'm not giving up, and I won't go away." Which is why, to a degree, he works for me a Javert in the film. Unfortunately, he is ultimately way too reserved in the part (and in the music).

It was nice to see them spend so much time on movie music and musical moments. I really loved that, and in year's past, they have paid tribute to other film genres ... so yeah, it was about damn time.