Adam Lambert: Les Misérables Has "Great Actors Pretending to Be Singers"

American Idol alum blasts movie musical for its stars' vocal chops, saying that filmmakers should have prerecorded the music instead of shooting the actors singing live

By Rebecca Macatee Dec 31, 2012 2:11 PMTags
Adam LambertHall/Pena; PacificCoastNews.com

So, did Adam Lambert really want to play Jean Valjean or something? 

The American Idol alum was pretty harsh about the Les Misérables cast's vocal skills, tweeting Sunday that the music "suffered massively [because of] great actors PRETENDING to be singers."

"It's an opera," he clarified. "Hollywood movie musicals treat the singing as the last priority. (Dreamgirls was good)"

"And I do think it was cool they were singing live- but with that cast, they should have studio recorded and sweetened the vocals," he wrote, adding, "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."

Lambert was impressed with Anne Hathaway's vocals, describing her performance as "breathtaking." 

He also mused that "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," he wrote. "but it's so True!"

Hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion.