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Musicals.Net Forums -> Les Miserables

Aimee	Blonde Fantine or not? How important is it that Fantine should be blonde? I know many have not been but how do you feel about it? I ask as in the book her blondness it an important feature, she is known as The Blonde, so how do you feel about it being changed in the show [as and when it is]?
Fantine	Having seen one blonde Fantine and two brunettes, I must say I actually prefer a brunette I'm not sure why though... Has anyone else noticed that most Fantines are actually brunette instead of blonde?
Gargamel	In the novel, when we first see Fantine, Hugo says she is called "the blonde". In my opinion, I would'nt be very critical if she was shown as a brune in the show or in a movie. What is very important I think is that she has to have very beautiful hair. It is important as the dramatic impact is quite not the same if her hair is quite common. Of course, if she is blonde, the audience will notice her beautiful hair much more!
soph-les-mis	I saw Joanna Ampil playing Fantine, and before that I had only seen Ruthie Henshall on YouTube, in the TAC. Cannot say wich I liked best, they were both brilliant
pish123c	Gargamel wrote: In the novel, when we first see Fantine, Hugo says she is called "the blonde". In my opinion, I would'nt be very critical if she was shown as a brune in the show or in a movie. What is very important I think is that she has to have very beautiful hair. It is important as the dramatic impact is quite not the same if her hair is quite common. Of course, if she is blonde, the audience will notice her beautiful hair much more! Agreed. If she is blonde and the other women in the show are not, it makes her hair rare and exotic and beautiful, something kind of necessary.
Quique	soph-les-mis wrote: I saw Joanna Ampil playing Fantine, and before that I had only seen Ruthie Henshall on YouTube, in the TAC. Cannot say wich I liked best, they were both brilliant I prefer blonde because it's more faithful to the original description. Though I really don't mind if they're brunette.
lesmisloony	I'm always unreasonably happy to see a blonde Fantine, but if she's not blonde it won't ruin the performance for me. Blonde is just a lovely bonus. I'm glad that this show is fair to people of all hair colours. I have a friend who has dark hair and skin and a beautiful soprano voice, and she's quite depressed that she will never be able to be G(a)linda in Wicked. But LM is lovely and versatile, which I think is great.
ilovebway	Am I the only one that thinks blonde suits Fantine a tad bit more? I wouldn't mind a brunette though.
mastachen	I'm more intimidated by blondes. Thus, I prefer brunettes.
lesmisloony	Quote: Am I the only one that thinks blonde suits Fantine a tad bit more? Nope. Almost everyone said she's sort of better as a blonde... mostly because of the Book. Though Ruthie's wig in the TAC reminds me of Ramen. She looked much better in "Hey, Mr. Producer," IMO.
LesMisForever	I don't care AT ALL. From the live Fantines i have seen JO Ampil (not blonde) is my favourite though.
EponinesRain	I'd prefer her to be blonde if it were for a film adaptation. The film needs to be accurate b/c we know that it's drawing from the novel, not the musical. Like Quique and LesMisForever, I could care less if Fantine was blonde or brunette for the musical. I've seen Kerry Ellis and Lea Salonga and both were awesome as Fantine. So, gimme a girl who can sing and that's all that counts!
lckysvn777	As long as the person playing her can sing she can have blue hair for all I care.
Timmy_Wishes he was Quast	Quote: she can have blue hair for all I care This is where i would draw the line. NO-WAY could i accept that!
Orestes Fasting	Like lesmisloony said, I'm always secretly happy to see a blonde Fantine, but not if the color looks wrong on her. (It bugs me all to hell that Judy Kuhn, who could pull off blonde hair, has a light brown wig, while one of her understudies gets a blonde one even though it looks odd with her skin tone.) The most important thing is that the wig be gorgeous--it's always disappointing when Fantine takes off her cap and her hair is so thin it looks like it's falling out. What does annoy me is when the typecasting for a role goes against the book description; there's this stereotype of Eponine being unrealistically pretty, or Enjolras having dark and masculine good looks. So my secret happiness turns into full-fledged malicious glee when I see a pretty blond Enjolras or an Eponine who isn't exactly a looker.
Catherine	Orestes Fasting wrote: The most important thing is that the wig be gorgeous--it's always disappointing when Fantine takes off her cap and her hair is so thin it looks like it's falling out. . Like Ruthie Henshall's wig on the TAC! That annoyed me. I like this wig aaaaand this one both blonde, I know, but I think they look like "pretty hair, pretty locks you got there" as opposed to "ouch, go wash it"
Fantine	I seem to be the only person on Earth who actually really liked (adored) Ruthies wig on the TAC.
Quique	Orestes Fasting wrote: Like lesmisloony said, I'm always secretly happy to see a blonde Fantine, but not if the color looks wrong on her. (It bugs me all to hell that Judy Kuhn, who could pull off blonde hair, has a light brown wig, while one of her understudies gets a blonde one even though it looks odd with her skin tone.) The most important thing is that the wig be gorgeous--it's always disappointing when Fantine takes off her cap and her hair is so thin it looks like it's falling out. What does annoy me is when the typecasting for a role goes against the book description; there's this stereotype of Eponine being unrealistically pretty, or Enjolras having dark and masculine good looks. So my secret happiness turns into full-fledged malicious glee when I see a pretty blond Enjolras or an Eponine who isn't exactly a looker. I agree with everything you said here. I had a serious problem with the silly doll look they gave grown Cosette back in the day. She looked like a freak! lol.
pish123c	Fantine wrote: I seem to be the only person on Earth who actually really liked (adored) Ruthies wig on the TAC. You're not alone. I have no complaints about it, either.
Aimee	There are some pretty rough looking ones here.
Timmy_Wishes he was Quast	Quote: There are some pretty rough looking ones here. Are you talking about the members or the wigs?!
lesmisloony	Quote: So my secret happiness turns into full-fledged malicious glee when I see a pretty blond Enjolras or an Eponine who isn't exactly a looker. Yes, word. I saw a blond Enjolras once, and I hardly remembered specifics of his performance because I was so excited about the blondness. And I know it wasn't made terribly clear in the Book, but I'm pretty sure that in the scene where Fantine drops Cosette off Chez Thenardier it's mentioned that Eponine and Azelma have brown and reddish blonde hair, or something like that. *is too lazy to check* I think that may be the last of her hair colour that's mentioned... Ugh, it's bothering me now. Norman Denny: One was russet-haired, the other dark. Not!Wilbour: One was a rosy blonde, the other a brunette. Haha, I'm going to end up hijacking this topic, but, Bookwise, doesn't that make it a leetle unlikely that Eponine would have black hair? Maybe? Ish?
herkind	Quique wrote: I agree with everything you said here. I had a serious problem with the silly doll look they gave grown Cosette back in the day. She looked like a freak! lol. Are you talking about the wigs? Most of the wigs I've seen Cosettes wear have been awful. http://www.broadwaylesmis.com/Gallery/PAPhotos/1992June/cosette.jpg ^She looks like she has dreads there. A lot of the 3rd national tour wigs were so boxy. Ali's wig in the revival did so much more for her pretty face than the one she wore on tour. Also, whatever did poor Cosette do to deserve that dress? You would think that after dressing the entire cast in rags Neofitou would want to make something pretty. I agree with Orestes about Eponine being pretty. That has always driven me nuts. One of the many things I loved about Celia was that she wasn't traditionally pretty. That sounds really mean and I don't mean it that way. I love Celia and she is anything but ugly. She does have a very unique look to her which worked for the character and I loved how she used her facial expressions and posture to make herself awkward and unpresentable.
Vanessa20	Eponine and Azelma's hair Just this afternoon I did some research on that line about Eponine and Azelma's hair colors. I looked up the original French line, "L'une etait chataine, l'autre etait brune," and then looked up the exact meanings of the words on Wordreference.com. The gist I got was that "chataine" usually means reddish brown hair, while "brune" means dark brown or black hair. So I suppose it's possible that Eponine's hair could be black. Does the book ever clarify which girl is which? And where did Wilbour get "rosy blonde"? I agree about blonde Fantines. I'm always happy to see one, but I don't mind brunettes either. Which is lucky, because so far I've only seen one blonde Fantine onstage. Is it just me, or did blonde Fantines used to be more common than they are now?
Quique	herkind wrote: Quique wrote: I agree with everything you said here. I had a serious problem with the silly doll look they gave grown Cosette back in the day. She looked like a freak! lol. Are you talking about the wigs? Most of the wigs I've seen Cosettes wear have been awful. http://www.broadwaylesmis.com/Gallery/PAPhotos/1992June/cosette.jpg ^She looks like she has dreads there. A lot of the 3rd national tour wigs were so boxy. Ali's wig in the revival did so much more for her pretty face than the one she wore on tour. Also, whatever did poor Cosette do to deserve that dress? You would think that after dressing the entire cast in rags Neofitou would want to make something pretty. I agree with Orestes about Eponine being pretty. That has always driven me nuts. One of the many things I loved about Celia was that she wasn't traditionally pretty. That sounds really mean and I don't mean it that way. I love Celia and she is anything but ugly. She does have a very unique look to her which worked for the character and I loved how she used her facial expressions and posture to make herself awkward and unpresentable. Yes! The wigs. I grew up on the doll-like Cosette look. It was awful, fake, and just weird.
Orestes Fasting	herkind wrote: One of the many things I loved about Celia was that she wasn't traditionally pretty. That sounds really mean and I don't mean it that way. I love Celia and she is anything but ugly. She does have a very unique look to her which worked for the character and I loved how she used her facial expressions and posture to make herself awkward and unpresentable. I don't think it sounds mean--Celia made Eponine look rather ugly, but mostly by the way she carried herself. Offstage she's cute as a button. I'm pretty sure that the upswing in brunette Fantines has a lot to do with the rise of multiracial casting. Of the nine actresses I've seen in the role, four were white and three of those got blonde wigs slapped on them whether it matched their skin tone or not.
Trevor reincarnate	I love Celia. So much. One of the nicest Broadway people I ever met. Anyways... carry on with the topic. I don't care what the color of Fantine's hair is as long as she's talented.
Sweeney Hyde	Trevor reincarnate wrote: I don't care what the color of Fantine's hair is as long as she's talented. Ditto.
Fantine	I think a redhead would be interesting
Colle	I have only seen one blonde Fantine on stage(Lisa Capps). I am one of those people that doesn't care what color hair Fantine has as long as she is talented. Same thing with the Eponine being too pretty. It is strange that of the Eponines I have seen; the one that I thought looked the plainest(Melissa Lyons) I also thought was the weakest actress I have seen in the role. I guess looks just don't bother me that much, plus it just seems kind of unfair(for me) to judge an actor by looks too much, it is not something that would ruin a performance for me. Btw, I liked Ruthie's wig at the TAC, I thought it was much better than the one she wore on "Hey, Mr. Producer!"

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