Les Mis

Les Mis

I have never heard a movie name butchered the way Les Miserables has been.  The old lady sitting a few rows down pronounced it Lays (as in the chips) Mirre-o-blees.  Not that I am a pro at pronunciation, but this annoyed me.  Like always, when I go to the movies, I was the only person under 40 there.  This truly surprised me because of how well this movie has been doing in the box offices.  Everyone I know is going to see Les Miserables, but then again I have friends with good taste.

The movie itself stood well for three hours of singing.  I was surprised at how well I sat through the movie.  I sometimes have trouble watching something over the two hour mark and I was surprised at my grown tolerance to violence in movies.  Three years ago I hid my head during bloody fight scenes, but now I only slightly cringe yet eyes wide open.  The movie was not unnecessarily gory, yet it had enough to get the idea across.

I've known the music to Les Mis since I was seven, yet it was nice to put a picture next to the music.  I hope this musical comes back to Broadway because I would love to see it.  And with all of this publicity from the movie I hope it comes soon.

Anne Hathaway.  I know she's amazing.  I love her and once again she amazes me with her performances.  Her version of I Dreamed a Dream was amazing.  The whole song was one shot and she stayed perfectly in focus the entire time.  This to me was unbelievable, that an actress could be that expressive without moving to much.  I hope that she wins the Oscar, but my Oscar predictions will come tomorrow once I have seen Argo.
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Tomorrow Matt and I will be going to see Argo, thanks to free movie Tuesdays.  I will post on that tomorrow.

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The Acting Workshop

There is so much to learn without actually doing anything.  The day started with a vocal technique which is supposed to help you keep your voice loud and strong.  With my singing background I was not surprised with some of the exercises.  Within 20 minutes my voice actually felt different then before. The difference was that the breathing was supported.

The only scene that happened was the one between Sabrina and Bari.  All the workshops this year keep on enforcing that you do your research and that you memorize everything.  I learn more from other's mistakes then my own sometimes.  Although Sabrina and I don't have the same scene or monologue, I take with me the skills she learned.  The technique was similar to the one Karen DeMaro was teaching during the play.  It was all about giving your dialogue a defining factor.  What I enjoyed about this workshop was that he was not asking us to pretend to be upset, he showed us how to be upset.  I can't just be upset with someone, because that is extremely fake.  Over the last few years I have learned the EXTREME importance of feeling what you act.  I finally figured out that acting is like playing dress up.  You can be a princess, frog, or fairy, yet in the end it's still you.  It's not the princess who has to feel left out, the toad who has to confess his love or anything, in the end it's all me.  Acting is about emotion.

I am disappointed that I have to come late to the acting workshop, but I hope that I will get a chance to run my scene or monologue tomorrow.  I spent some time trying to find the right monologue.  Something more challenging then sweet.  I am sweet, so it's easy to play sweet.  I choose my monologue from my favorite playwright David Ives, Ancient History.  I pieced together two monologues which were only separated by a short phrase.  After watching Sabrina and Bari I have a better idea of what will be coming for me.  I better mentally prepare for what I am going into.