‘American Idol’ notes: Adam Lambert’s critique of ‘Les Miserables’

There has not been much happening this weekend in the world of “American Idol,” at least when it comes to comments away from Twitter. However, Adam Lambert posted earlier in the day such a fascinating critique of the recent “Les Miserables” film that is sure to stir up all sorts of debate about whether or not singing within the moment of the scene should be substituted for the stronger vocals that would be provided by pre-recording the songs in a studio. Adam is someone with plenty of experience singing on stage, so it is fair to say that he is more than familiar with the soundtrack to this story.

Before we get into any commentary on the issue, let’s start things off by posting Adam’s take on the subject in full courtesy of his Twitter account:

“Les Mis: Visually impressive w great Emotional performances. But the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers … …it’s an opera. Hollywoods movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority. (Dreamgirls was good).

“Anne Hathaway as Fantine and Enjolras were the exceptions for me. Helena B Carter and Sasha B Cohen were great too, and I do think it was cool they were singing live- but with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals.

“… I felt like I should ignore the vocals and focus on the emotional subtext- but the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out. 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? Sorry for being so harsh but it’s so True!”

First things first, we really don’t feel as though Adam was being necessarily “harsh” at all when it comes to the critique, mostly because he was careful to point out that the actors were fantastic in their roles, and the issue here is one of direction rather than anyone necessarily doing a bad job. However, we don’t think that everyone out there is going to agree with him, as your opinion here is largely going to depend based on your feelings about what you want out of a trip to the cinema. Those who see “Les Miserables” more as an exercise in story will likely enjoy the raw nature of the vocals, whereas those who prefer the word “music” within “musical” could feel a little slightest about the alterations to some classic music.

Some former stars of the stage version of the show, including “Glee” actress Lea Michele, have applauded Tom Hooper’s theatrical version.

Do you appreciate Adam’s perspective here, regardless of whether or not you agree with it? If you want to read some more news pertaining to some new music from Adam, be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: RCA Press / Lee Cherry