Many thousands of moviegoers and musical theater enthusiasts lined up to see the big screen version of Les Miserables over the holiday break. Among those in the audience: American Idol alum and stage veteran Adam Lambert, who took issue with the film’s vocal performances and let his opinion be known via Twitter.
“Les Mis: Visually impressive w great Emotional performances. But the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers,” the season eight runner-up tweeted. “It’s an opera. Hollywood’s movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority.”
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Although Lambert stopped short of calling out which actors, in his opinion, sunk the film with “distracting” vocals, he was quick to point out that Anne Hathaway‘s portrayal as Fantine, particularly her solo on “I Dreamed a Dream,” earned his respect.
“DO go see it for Anne Hathaways performance. It’s was breathtaking,” he said.
Lambert also praised Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen (who play the Thenardiers), Aaron Tveit (Enjolras) and Samantha Barks (Eponine) for their vocals and performances.
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The singer, fresh off hosting VH1 Divas 2012 on Dec. 16, apologized for his negative tone, but explained that he grew up with the musical and had high expecations for the film.
“I do think it was cool they were singing live – but with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals,” he continued. “The industry will say ‘these actors were so brave to attempt singing this score live’ but why not cast actors who could actually sound good?”
Actress Evan Rachel Wood later chimed in on the debate, tweeting: “We sang live in ‘across the universe’ #justsaying.” To that, replied Lambert (who also noted that Dreamgirls was an exception to the rule): “And that sounded Good!!! Ok yes, that’s another movie musical exception. That movie was on point. And U were stunning in it.”
What do you think, Worshippers? Did you see the movie this week? Do you agree with Adam? Leave your reviews in the comments below.
Update: Russell Crowe, who plays Javert, responded to Lambert’s criticism on Jan. 1.
Twitter: @MicheleAmabile
