Part IV of V

None of today's characters are major enough to hurt the musical through bad casting, but a good choice always adds a little extra oomph to the recording.

Gavroche: All three actors of Gavroche are about equal in their roles. The Complete recording's Gavroche (Ross McCall) has the most believable accent, but makes his death scene ridiculously protracted, gasping for air after every syllable.

Young Cosette: The Broadway actress is the most believable as a singing tot, but Marissa Dunlop (C) has the prettiest rendition of the character's only song. Hannah Chick (T) does a decent enough job but stumbles a few times (probably because it was live).

Young Cosette, Broadway (MP3, 171KB)
Marissa Dunlop, Complete (MP3, 157KB)
Hannah Chick, Tenth Anniversary (MP3, 179KB)

Enjolras: Anthony Warlow's (C) powerful voice captures the character of the student leader who is completely consumed by thoughts of revolution. Michael MacGuire (B, T) sounds a little tentative in the role, and I don't like the way he enunciates his big entrance (in the excerpt below).

Michael MacGuire, Broadway (MP3, 258KB)
Anthony Warlow, Complete (MP3, 239KB)

Grantaire: Grantaire only has a few lines in the musical, but his part is greatly enhanced by Kenny D'Aquila's voice, which has been described as "brandy-soaked". The raspy, gruff timbre is perfect for the part of thedrunkard student. The Broadway Grantaire has a good voice, but an embarassingly canned laugh in the excerpt, which sounds like he was reading the score and it said "Laugh here."

Grantaire, Broadway (MP3, 217KB)
Kenny D'Aquila, Complete (MP3, 197KB)
Anthony Crivello, Tenth Anniversary (MP3, 199KB)

To be concluded...