elise @LateInTheEvenin Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @AghastFurious You and I are opposite. I like Anne Hathaway as an actress, but this role was a big disappointment. I just went back and listened to her on “I Dreamed a Dream” and yes, it’s not very good. The song was meant to be sung, not cried.

Sally Dehner @LateInTheEvenin Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @AghastFurious It’s a movie, context is different. The director told her it was “this woman’s howl”. With a camera in your face it’s incredibly different - subtlety is everything. Her pain is palpable. As a musician, this is the first time I’ve enjoyed a non-trained singer in a singing role.

elise @LateInTheEvenin Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @AghastFurious Odd that you say subtlety is everything with a camera in your face (I agree) yet there was no subtlety in this performance.

Sally Dehner @LateInTheEvenin Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @AghastFurious On the stage you literally over exaggerate everything so the house can see what you’re doing, and your voice needs to be strong. Her performance was nuanced, and especially in the beginning & the very end her choices were subtle and beautiful. A woman scored and broken. Nailed it

elise @LateInTheEvenin Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @AghastFurious I wish I could have seen it thru your eyes. For me it was just wincing and disappointment all the way thru.

Sally Dehner elise @LateInTheEvenin @AghastFurious That's because you're viewing it as a musical. It isn't. It's often said that in a musical, the characters break out in song when the emotions are too strong to be contained. But because of the focus on a polished performance, it's usually the opposite.

Sally Dehner elise @LateInTheEvenin @AghastFurious Songs are when they are the most emotionally restrained, so they can give a clear performance. Here though, they go above that. You get that raw emotion breaking through the song. It's not pretty, but then neither is the story.

Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 elise @LateInTheEvenin @AghastFurious No, just no. It’s telling that the people who love great musicals were not enamored of this one. If you don’t want to make a musical, then don’t. Les Miserables stands on it’s own certainly. But don’t take the beauty of the songs & trash them (Russell Crowe 🤦🏻‍♀️)

Sally Dehner Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @LateInTheEvenin @AghastFurious I love great musicals & loved this *movie adaptation*. They enhanced the emotion of an already hugely emotional piece. Can Russell Crowe sing? No. But that doesn’t have to take away from the incredible work they’ve all put in. There’s a reason it swept that year(Anne especially).

Sally Dehner Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @LateInTheEvenin @AghastFurious Actually that’s not fair. He can sing. He has a rock background and although his voice may not be great for the actual theatre, once again it was a choice made for the movie to reach beyond theatre-goers.

elise Jonathan Hibberd 🌹🏳️‍🌈☯️🍣 @LateInTheEvenin @AghastFurious I had no idea Crowe had a rock background. Thank you for the laugh! Reading about it was hilarious.