Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net |
| EponineBarker |
Favorite Fantine?I personally ADORE Lea Salonga! Her rendition of IDAD is beautiful!
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| Mademoiselle Lanoire |
Of the two I've actually seen (Tonya Dixon and Joan Almedilla), I'd have to say Tonya Dixon.
Of ones I've listened to on recordings, my favorites are Louise Pitre and Rikki Gal. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
HenshaLL. No W. | ||||||
| kitty17794 |
Ruthie and Lea. And whichever is on the CSR. | ||||||
| eponine5 |
Kerry Ellis by far. 
And I had this opinion before all the wickiboppers swarmed her fanbase. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
You like her so much you forgot her name? |
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| EponineBarker |
Oh, sorry. I can never remember. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Can you Google? |
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| Eponine93 |
Lea Salonga.
Who's surprised? |
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| Orestes Fasting |
 Oh look, TVAW's back. (And can probably confirm my opinion that Lea Salonga, Ben Davis, and the barricade boys are the only good things left about the revival.)
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| EponineMNFF |
I haven't seen Lea yet (two weeks before I do! SQUEE), so right now it's Ruthie Henshall. Tonya Dixon was really great too. | ||||||
| EponineBarker |
Yes, very well, thank you. |
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| Quique |
Grrr...grrr...grrr. Well, at least I'll probably get to see Rosie O'Donnel as Mme. T! lol. 
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| Quique |
TVAW, did you see Les Mis during your recent trip to NY? If so, what are your thoughts on it? | ||||||
| The Very Angry Woman |
TVAW was in New York, and although she never saw the original revival cast, she pretty much agrees with you. She speaks like Elmo. |
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| Quique |
Mandy Bruno, right? 
Ack. That sucks. I hope they switch Eponines by the time I get to see it. |
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| JulieJordan |
I think Rebecca Thornhill would have to be my favourite Fantine. I also love Kerry Ellis, Ruthie Henshall, Lea Salonga, Cornelia Drese and Louise Pitre. | ||||||
| flying_pigs |
Kerry Ellis. Her IDAD sent shivers up my spine and her acting and singing were superb! | ||||||
| Fantine |
Having seen Joanna Ampil twice in the role, Kerry Ellis once and Ruthie only on the TAC, my fave is Ruthie... Altough you can't really compare the TAC with the staged version. Otherwise it's Jo for me. | ||||||
| Eponine93 |
I really want to replace your statement with Lea Salonga, because I was going to say the same exact thing about Lea. Her Fantine was somewhere beyond amazing. The best part about her Fantine for me was that I saw it right as she took on the role, within the same week, so I had no idea what to expect besides the fact that it was Lea Salonga. But she was just... amazing beyond words. My only problem with Lea is that there isn't a legal recording with her on. Besides Ruthie, all the recording Fantines are just awful. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
I have to say I'm a bit less enthusiastic about the prospect of a revival cast recording now that the choices are between the original revival cast with DRV as Fantine or the current cast which is decidedly lackluster. After Lea came in as Fantine, but before Celia and Aaron and Jenny left, the revival was actually really good. Now its best supporting performers have been yanked out from under it and it just feels limp. I'm not sure Aaron and Celia would have come across as well in just audio, but for god's sake they're better than Max and Mandy. (No offense to Max. He's cute and he's a competent Enjolras. But he's not doing anything particularly special with the role.) |
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| EponineBarker |
That was the cast I saw. Except that Celia didn't play Eponine that day, we saw Marissa McGowan. (And she was awesome!) I wish that they did have a cast recording for the revival. 
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| elphclaudia |
My Favorite Fantine is Nikki Renee Daniels, Lea Salonga's understudy. Of course, she's the only Fantine I've ever seen. | ||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
And a fine Fantine she is too. Gorgeous voice. |
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| Quique |
Elinore O'Connell - 2nd National Tour | ||||||
| Trevor |
I voted Lea. She was amazing. Like... not just because of her fangirl status among theatre fans... she was genuinely good. I don't like her performance just because of her name. lol | ||||||
| Quique |
All the Fantines I've seen:
Elinore O'Connell - 2nd NT (Amazing) Susan Gilmour - 1st NT (Also one of my faves) Jill Geddes - 3rd NT (Excellent) Alice Ripley - 3rd NT (Meh) Susie McMonagle - 3rd NT (One of the worst I've ever seen) Juliet Lambert - Broadway (OK, I guess) Joan Almedilla - 3rd NT (Good) Jane Bodle - Broadway (Great) Jacqueline Piro - Broadway (Good) Lauren Kennedy - (Boring) Tonya Dixon - (Good) Here's hoping I get to see Lea. |
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| LesMisForever |
I think it is very hard to compare live with cast recordings, so i won't vote.
Cast Recordings: Ruthie Henshall by far. Live: Jo Ampil. I love her Fantine. She has great voice, and looks vulnerable and fragile. And although Come To Me is not one of my favourite songs, i like how she does it. Her "IDAD", and the whole decline is just great stuff. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Interesting -- I've heard so little about her, and the day I saw the 3nt when she was in the cast, she was out. What was so bad about her? |
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| Quique |
She had a good voice but her acting was horrible. She seemed completely bored with the role and hardly even wrinkled her forehead. She really was awful the two times I saw her. I've heard audio of her doing the role on Broadway and it doesn't sound bad at all. You've got to see her to know what I'm talking about. She seemed to be tired of playing the role and basically phoned it in. | ||||||
| Moci |
Carmen Cusack. | ||||||
| Eponine93 |
I was lucky enough to see the revival in the six-week period where Lea was Fantine and Aaron, Celia, Jenny and Norm were still in it. I wasn't impressed by Norm and I saw Megan McGinnis, but Jenny and Aaron were both excellent and from what I saw of Celia on Youtube, it was a shame that I missed her. I really doubt now that half the cast has left they'll make a revival recording. That being said, hopefully Lea will make a solo album sometime in the future with I Dreamed A Dream on it. |
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| Salome |
Ruthie is miles ahead of lea. | ||||||
| The Very Angry Woman |
Did you see both live? |
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| Fantine |
I thought you hated Ruthie? |
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| PappyCat |
I just watched some videos of Daphne Rubin-Vega...what in the hell were they thinking? Terrible, terrible. | ||||||
| Eponine93 |
Now there's a youtube clip of Lea singing "I Dreamed A Dream" at the Stars in the Alley concert so you can compare... Imagine her in costume, on the stage and you'll realize how far ahead she is of Daphne Rubin-Vega. Lea has a great voice, but she's also a great actress which really comes across everytime she sings IDAD. | ||||||
| Kaaatrina |
Lea Salonga. Hands down. 
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| rita0629 |
Lea and Ruthie. but i chose Lea here. she's really good! | ||||||
| windbelle |
For some reason I really don't like Ruthie's Fantine. She is probably my least favorite Fantine on the four English recordings. I haven't seen Lea as Fantine so I can't say, but one of my friends went to see the show not long ago and said Lea was her favorite Fantine, and from the clips I've seen I trust she'll be great. |
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| EponineBarker |
Lea is wonderful as Fantine!
And even though her Eponine is pretty good, I prefer her as Fantine. The way she escalated those five notes on 'shame' in IDAD is priceless. That's one of the things I remember the most after I saw the show two months ago. |
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| NotoriousFunnt |
I've seen Les Mis twice before it went off and once on the national tour, and I've never really seen a stage Fantine I was boggled with, so I'm going to say Ruthie because her voice is beautiful and I love what she does with the character on the TAC. | ||||||
| Fantine |
I know
She makes me wanna hug her and never let go. |
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| Fantine |
I just watched it and I loved it. She has an emotion I have never seen in any other Fantine before. I also really appreciate the fact that she has actually read the book and what she says is true: when you see IDAD without reading it you think: "Oh okay, she's lost love but oh well, get over it already!" But after reading it and you see how she has been betrayed and robbed from her purity and innocence, there is so much more to that song. |
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| Eponine93 |
^ Definitely. Reading the book makes all the difference in the performances. Even though I hated the orchestrations of the the revival, I loved the fact that all of the principals had read the book and that in most cases (especially Lea's and Celia's Eponine), you could tell. I swear, someone can see teh show as many times as they want, but unless they read the book, they're no Les Mis fan.
I used to just like Lea's performances because of her voice. But after I saw her Fantine and all the emotion in it I'd love to see her in a straight play. I saw Lea before I read the book and still appreciated the character and what she brought to it, but I wish I saw the show after I read the book, because I would have gotten so much more out of Lea's performance. |
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| javertim |
Here are the Fantines I have seen, in order of favorite to least.
Jayne Patterson Tonya Dixon Susan Spencer Melina Marie Kalomas Lea Salonga Jane Bodle Joan Almedilla Jacqueline Piro Michelle Aravena Lauren Kennedy Daphne Rubin-Vega |
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| lianneMiserables516 |
LEA SALONGA. simply amazing
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| What Is This Feeling? |
Lea Salonga is brilliant in anything. We all know that. But I'm really partial to Ruthie though. Her voice is effortless and siply a beautiful delight. | ||||||
| Glissando |
I must admit, I went into Les Mis questiong Lea as Fantine, but by IDaD, I was like "I LOVE YOU, LEA!!!!!!" She's amazing. | ||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
Of the Fantines I've seen live, I'd rank it:
Nikki Ren�e Daniels (Fantastic!) Lea Salonga (Also fantastic) Kerry Ellis (Very good) Haviland Stillwell (Good) Joan Almedilla (Mediocre) Daphne Rubin-Vega (...why, god, why) Nikki and Lea are almost tied for the top spot; Lea's acting and her take on the role are superb, but Nikki's voice is so gorgeous that I had to put her first. |
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| Fantine |
Now I'm really curious about Nikki. | ||||||
| EponineBarker |
From what I've heard, she's really awesome. |
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| Fantine |
What does her voice sound like then? Warm? Is she belty? Calm? What about her acting? | ||||||
| EponineBarker |
She has a lot of vibratto in her voice. See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3foNvoNRGY |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Great, now I feel like ranking. (I'm sure I missed someone, too.) Linda Pierson-Huff Lea Salonga Tonya Dixon Jayne Paterson Thursday Farrar (rather thick vibrato; nice acting) Carmen Cusack (cold and distant; nice voice, though) Joan Almedilla (eh) The ones I couldn't include are Lisa Capps and Kristen Behrendt, because I don't remember enough about them. |
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| Fantine |
You're right, quite a lot vibrato there. Especially the shame bit.... I'm surprised she even managed to sing that one all the way through with all that loss of support 
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| EponineBarker |
*shrugs* She's still pretty good, though. I kinda liked her acting, even though it wasn't a Broadway performance. |
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| Colle |
On recording my favorite is Ruthie, and I have liked what I have heard about Lea.
On stage, my favorite was probably Lisa Capps. From what I remember about her voice was kind of pretty and I liked her delicate protrayal of Fantine. I have also seen Tonya Dixon and Joan Almedilla. |
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| lianneMiserables516 |
lol
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| Xxmcfly85xX |
my vote is purely based on what ive seen on youtube... which is really sad coz im itching to see Les Mis...anyway, absolutely adore Lea singing anything, especially IDAD. | ||||||
| Gargamel |
Of course, as a "French concept album fanatic", I will say Rose Laurens!
In fact, I think she is very different to the other ones I could see here and there. She is stronger. She fights against life, more like the novel Fantine. I love her "desperate rage" feeling! I love her in the scene where Mr Madeleine saves her from going to prison. "�tes-vous un ange ou un d�mon? J'aime mieux mourir qu'avoir encore de faux espoirs s'il le faut, mieux vaut encore d�choir � ce point je n'sens plus rien " translation: "Are you an angel or a demon? I would rather die than have false hopes again If necessary, better still to demean myself At this point, I no longer feel anything." |
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| Orestes Fasting |
I do like Rose Laurens' performance at times, but her interpretation is too rough and ragged for her to be my ideal Fantine. I don't get enough sense of a defiled innocent from her--anger, desperation, sacrifice, but little indication of the initial fall from grace.
Perhaps when Daphne Rubin-Vega was cast, they were hoping her Fantine would hearken back to Rose Laurens. Of course it exploded in their faces, but if that was the intention, I might understand why DRV was cast as Fantine. What do you think of Louise Pitre? |
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| Gargamel |
That's why I like her: for her roughness. She had to be rough and ragged to survive as long as she did: she sold her hair, her teeth, and her body. She was ill, but prefered sending her money to Cosette than buying medecines for her. One has to be very strong minded to do that, to have such a level of sacrifice. I still feel her innocence when she sings "ma pauvre t�te" ("my poor head!") when the old lady asks her to sell her hair. Also at the very beginning of "la mis�re".
I also like her very much! She is much more like the "regular" musical Fantine is: not as strong, more na�ve. I saw her in Paris in 1991. It was quite memorable!
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| YourMom |
Lea Salonga's performance has been the only one to physically affect me.
The moment she was on the floor pleading "if there's a God above, he'd let me die instead". My throat closed right up & I had to hold the tears back. The desperation in her face/voice was so believable. It was amazing to witness.
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| TLKbroadway |
I thought Lea was amazing! There have been some good Fantine's on tour, but I'd have to go look at my programs for their names. I am so glad Lea is in the show, I thought her voice was amazing and her acting was fantastic. | ||||||
| Eponine93 |
It wasn't Lea's voice that affects me, it was her acting. For roles like Fantine, Eponine, I don't think the singing is that important. Sure, the actress has to be able to hold a tune, but what's the big deal about an impressively sung OMO or IDAD? Anyone can sing those songs.... I like Lea's voice, but her acting truly won me over. Not everyone can portray Fantine convincingly. Anytime I see or hear Lea sing I Dreamed A Dream, it still physically affects me. She breathed new life into that song. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Eponine93--have you seen Nikki Ren�e Daniels? On reflection, I do prefer Lea's acting, but Nikki holds you spellbound by the simple trick of singing the hell out of the role. If/when Lea leaves, Nikki should totally be promoted to principal Fantine.
(The sound quality of that YouTube clip that got posted was kind of unflattering to her voice. In real life it's equally rich and vibrato-heavy, but it has this sort of 'sparkle' that gets lost on the recording. Ah well.) Lea... bah, we've been discussing Lea to death, haven't we? I never had the near-religious experience that some of you seem to have had while watching her, but I do agree that she's very good, and I'd like to add that she definitely stands up to repeated viewings--I've seen her at least 10 or 15 times and loved her every time.
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