So, it started when ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
megan_moonlight posted the video of Susan Boyle singing "I Dreamed a Dream". I've listened to Susan, decided that she is, indeed, incredible (especially considering that she's a complete amateur), and then I went to YouTube to look for other versions of this song. I've listened to Lea Salonga, Judy Kuhn, and Ruthie Henshall. About half an hour later, I've reached the following conclusions:
Lea Salonga is ...hmm. I've listened to this and this and, as long as I like her as Eponine (not as much as Stephanie Martin, though. But then again, Stephanie Martin just beats everyone hands down), here she makes me wince. I mean, she sounds nice in the first half, but in the second she gets too loud and sounds like she has to strain herself horribly to be able to sing this song to the end. Together with the way she enunciates words, it makes her look and sound overdone and unnatural. So I'll give her that she's better than Frances Ruffelle (who played Eponine in the Original Broadway version), but nah, overall, I'm not a big fan of Lea.
Judy Kuhn's version didn't blow me away, either, but I also didn't catch anything particularly off-putting about her performance. She's good, but she definitely didn't KILL me like Ruthie Henshall did.
Ruthie Henshall is the only person whose performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" makes me actually feel anything; the only one who can make me feel the character's emotions as I watch her. Her version of "Fantine's Death", it's made me cry. And being moved to tears by fictional events is an extremely rare occurence in my life. Not only do I love everything I've seen her in so far and like her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" better than Salonga's, but also I think, quite blasphemously, that she completely kicks Liza Minelli's arse in this one. So yeah, I have a new idol. 8D
OMG #1 - Eee, Ruthie Henshall and John Barrowman's Anything You Can Do!
OMG #2 - Ruthie Henshall was the original Roxie in Chicago. :D (And Chicago = 1920's! ^^)
megan_moonlight posted the video of Susan Boyle singing "I Dreamed a Dream". I've listened to Susan, decided that she is, indeed, incredible (especially considering that she's a complete amateur), and then I went to YouTube to look for other versions of this song. I've listened to Lea Salonga, Judy Kuhn, and Ruthie Henshall. About half an hour later, I've reached the following conclusions: Lea Salonga is ...hmm. I've listened to this and this and, as long as I like her as Eponine (not as much as Stephanie Martin, though. But then again, Stephanie Martin just beats everyone hands down), here she makes me wince. I mean, she sounds nice in the first half, but in the second she gets too loud and sounds like she has to strain herself horribly to be able to sing this song to the end. Together with the way she enunciates words, it makes her look and sound overdone and unnatural. So I'll give her that she's better than Frances Ruffelle (who played Eponine in the Original Broadway version), but nah, overall, I'm not a big fan of Lea.
Judy Kuhn's version didn't blow me away, either, but I also didn't catch anything particularly off-putting about her performance. She's good, but she definitely didn't KILL me like Ruthie Henshall did.
Ruthie Henshall is the only person whose performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" makes me actually feel anything; the only one who can make me feel the character's emotions as I watch her. Her version of "Fantine's Death", it's made me cry. And being moved to tears by fictional events is an extremely rare occurence in my life. Not only do I love everything I've seen her in so far and like her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" better than Salonga's, but also I think, quite blasphemously, that she completely kicks Liza Minelli's arse in this one. So yeah, I have a new idol. 8D
OMG #1 - Eee, Ruthie Henshall and John Barrowman's Anything You Can Do!
OMG #2 - Ruthie Henshall was the original Roxie in Chicago. :D (And Chicago = 1920's! ^^)
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