SINGING LIVE

Last week I watched a brief teaser about the production of Les Misérables.  I love period pieces, musicals and all things behind-the scenes, which made the video triply fascinating for me.  I watched it more than once – probably five or six times.  I think I enjoyed it more every time.

If you’re a musical aficionado, you’ll probably dismiss me as a second-rate fan of the genre if I admit that I know nothing about Les Misérables, which is high on the list of best-known and most beloved musicals ever produced.  I didn’t really follow the comments in the video about the characters and the story, but I was very interested to learn what will make this film unique.  I’m interested enough that in spite of my ignorance, I plan to see this movie when it’s released. 

Musicals have been adapted for the big screen for decades now, and the people who make these movies have developed certain ways of doing it.  If you watch Robert Preston sing the title role in the original movie version of The Music Man, you’d have a hard time believing that his songs were pre-recorded, because his performance is so perfect; some of his co-stars are not as convincing.  But that was standard practice in the glory days of movie musicals.  When the cameras rolled, the actors had already done the singing, and were simply filling in the acting.  It might not sound revolutionary, but when the people behind this new Les Misérables decided to let the actors sing live in front of the cameras, it was very, highly unusual.

It isn’t hard to get into a rut – it’s dishearteningly easy.  I have always loved warm days, but they do have a way of inducing complacency.  It’s the complacency of a studio recording, of something so convenient that worry becomes unnecessary.  It’s the curse of knowing that when you open your mouth, you don’t really have to sing.  It seems perfect on sunny days, but you also lose your vulnerability.

I stepped outside this afternoon into a dreary, wet shade of grey, and it was cold.  I can’t say that I liked it better than a sunny day, but I did appreciate my own humanness and realness more than usual.  It was like singing live.  Whatever you might say about the cold, it is very genuine, and I suppose I admire that.  I certainly admire the prowess of anyone who can sing and act at the same time.  Like the cold, it’s inescapably genuine.