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From: PHANTOMfan08
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  • that was pretty awful~

  • i wish they did it like this on the tour. Now its so sped up. :(

  • The singing IMO was off, but I think she acted the song better than a lot of others I've seen.

  • I'd like to see you haters get up from in front of your computers and sing like Daphne just did, with emotion. When it gets to the climax of the song, it just makes me want to cry. Truly amazing.

  • Your all complaining about her...Yet she is the one on stage whilst you are sat behind your computers.

    Great performance.

  • Ok...so I no problem with changing up a song or a character a bit...but Daphne is just BAD in the role. She doesn't have the voice for this song. Honestly...she doesnt have much of a voice at all. She could pull off Mimi....although I personally never liked her much. But Fantine...she doesn't even come close to. I honestly would have no interest in seeing her in the show....

  • wow...I'm sorry but this is terrible. I know that some people think it's "different" but I honestly think it's just so bad...I would not pay a dime to see this.

  • I never knew Daphne played Fantine! I'll take a unique singer over a perfect one any day.

  • I've never liked Daphne Vega very much, and she definitely looks like a drag queen here. But I like the emotion she puts into the performance. You can hear it in her voice even though her voice itself isn't very attractive. I suppose overall that's what counts >_<

  • WTF its not as bad as people think eh.. not the best but she fits the role just fine

  • At first I hated her then after I watched this again and again I fell in love with her portrayal of the song her voice sounds hurt and struggled witch has been what fantine has gone through. She uses to be my favorinte Fantine but now its Betsy Morgan. Daphne is now my second :)

  • I love her, but this was not her best,it was a DISASTER!!!! Sorry! :(

  • She's brilliant. Simply brilliant.

  • Wow. I thought that was really beautiful. She really captured the emotion and pain in the song, and her voice was very good for Fantine. It was so weird to hear her sing something like this, but she did really, really well. Again, beautiful.

  • Her voice sounds like someone who's been through a lot of work and pain. Perfect for the character

  • Now that I come back and revisit this video, I notice that her line "there was no ransom to paid" is absolutely gorgeous. Crystal clear belted note.

  • love it. BRILLIANT actress.

  • Personally, I don't believe that she was terrible. She's talk-singing. The only notes she full-on sings or belts are the notes that need to be held for awhile. It is a bit choppy, but the notes she's holding are strong and powerful. She's emphasizing on telling the story and conveying emotions, not belting out the song like a Broadway diva. I admire it's simplicity. She's no Lea Salonga, but she's not awful. I love how she handled, "And still I dreamed he'd come to me..." and onward.

  • For FUCKS sake Fantine is an unemployed hooker her voice doesn't have to sound angelic, you might not appreciate the voice but listen to how she says the words and you should feel something and that is the most important aspect of any performance.

  • @Platinum400 Does nausea count as a feeling? Fantine was (if I remember right) from a good family and she had only been a prostitute long enough to nearly get arrested on her first job. In the book she was also bald and had no front teeth. This woman's voice does not match any of the other voices in the cast. She doesn't sing it in the style it was written as. If the rest of the cast sounded like unemployed hookers, I wouldn't have been so upset, but I was glad the cast got better in the end.

  • @LitleDusk I don't give a shit how LONG she was a prostitute for, she was A PROSTITUTE. her life clearly couldn't have been all sunshine and roses before that. I havn't heard anything else from this production so I can't say anything about how she sounded with the rest of the cast. 

  • @Platinum400 No Daphne just always sounds like shit.

  • @Platinum400 THANK YOU. I actually really liked this performance. No, Daphne isn't the cliched "angelic" sounding Fantine, nor was she the best, but the emotion in here is staggering. I've always like Daphne's voice

  • @Platinum400 golf claps!

  • I'm just going to say, I'm glad I put the RENT obc recording nonstop so I could get used to her voice. Now that I am, I actually thought she did a wonderful job! There are people who sound better, but she did great!

  • ok i don't necessarily like this performance, but i do appreciate a different take on it. no i do not think that her voice was the best fit for fantine but she acted the part decently. this is my least preferred version of the song (that's been performed on broadway and/or the west end) but i wouldn't go so far to say it completely sucks. she should probably stick to rocky horror and rent but it was a good effort on her part for trying something different

  • I think she did a fabulous job. Very different, but the girl can act.

    

  • Coming from someone who literally laughed out loud when I heard she had been cast as Fantine...this was a pretty damn good performance. The key change sounds very natural, and she handles the top notes beautifully. "Dreams that cannot be" was glorious.

    I agree with a commenter who said...Fantine isn't a Disney princess. She's a dirt poor prostitute who's actually BEGUN THE PROCESS OF DYING by this point in her life...she's allowed to have some rasp in her voice.

  • Im not a fan of hers but I think she sounded good. Maybe not the best Fantine, but she Made it her own.

  • SHE FUCKING SUCKS! i mean she can hold a tune but can you say SPEECH IMPEDIMENT?! and whats with the end of the song and the swoops? Fantine didn't deserve this. lol

  • @18DaynaRenee

    .....She doesn't have a speech impediment. It's a part of her singing style, which she uses to great effect when being emotive, especially in RENT. She hit all the notes and has a powerhouse voice for the longer notes, even if Fantine wasn't the right fit for her...(and I do concede that, yeahhh lol)

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  • This just prooves that you dont have to have a voice like Patti, or anyone like that she has her own voice, and she sounds amazing singing the song!

  • Isn't she the lady that Lea replaced as Fantine

  • @1419sunnyside yes she did :D

  • Daphne's solution: Can't sing the notes, so speak them instead. And oddly clutch to locket at random times.

  • oh dear lord

  • Wat. The fuck. Wasthat?! Omg terrible

  • Daphne Rubin Vega makes Fantine sounds like drag queen from Brooklyn... Daphne works for roles requiring a rock/pop voice, but as Fantine? Oh sweet mother was that unbearable... It would be like having Carol Channing play Fantine...

  • Not bad Daphne :) Not the best you could be, but good enough

  • OH MY GOD! THIS IS TERRIFYING!!!! SO BAD I COULD SHIT MYSELF!

  • I was raised on LesMis rather than stuff like Barney. When I was I guess 13 is when the show had its revival and I was SO excited that I was going to see it on Bway!! Well, I saw DVega and it remains the biggest disappointment on Bway for me. She seemed drunk because of her voice and it was impossible to fall in love with Fantine as audiences always do. My parents had seen the show 8 times prior and had never been disappointed by a key LesMis casting...til this. I've seen better middleschoolers.

  • They were very unfair to her in reviewing this performance. She was Fabulous in the role, at the time it was the most creative and inspired casting in years.

  • thumbs up if you love her, (;

  • This is the most believable fantine i have ever seen. and her singing is excellent, how dare people make fun of her, she has a beautiful and dynamic voice,

  • amazing beyond amazing

  • @1MissKarlieStarr I agree! Daphne is a true class act. Art is always open to interpretation and her take on this piece is beautiful and heartbreaking. Brava!

  • she looks very much like vannessa hudgens the difference is that daphne have some talent=)

  • I love how she wishpers is makes me belive her best fantine ever :)

  • This was all wrong.

  • She's Panamenian :D

    I'm Panamenian

    :D makes me feel proud of the arts in my country

  • Since when is Fantine supposed to sound like a buttery-smooth diva? Daphne sounds real. That's what she brings over most of her contemporaries. She doesn't sound like a wannabe.

  • One of my all-time favorite versions. Remarkable.

  • at first she sounds so odd,, and funny with those husky voice.. but then again .. as you realized... actors have to portray characters base on their prospective... know i come to know that.. atleast she gave her originality when i comes in a type cast role..

  • She really brought her own take to this character. I respect that :) Hey guys it's better than Vanessa Huggens right?

  • not my favorite version of this song, but it was interesting to hear a different take on it, and i quite enjoyed it.

  • Horse Shit...

  • Not a good part for her. I don't really like her voice that much but in other stuff that's more rock. Her hair is pretty though.

  • i thought that she sounded nice, considering that she extended her horizon

  • I thought she did fine...people are used to soprano's singing this, I found it refreshing.

  • I don't really like her voice for this part. She is great in the rocky horror show and RENT but I don't think she has the best voice for a classic Broadway show.

  • She seems constipated.

  • If the other cast members had unique voices as well, she wouldn't have stuck on like a sore thumb, but because everyone else in the performance I saw had a fairly conventional sounding voice, she just didn't fit.

  • When I saw her on Broadway, I was really, REALLY looking forward to Fantine's death because I was sick of her voice. She was a great Mimi Marquez. I just don't think this was a good role for her.

  • So she's not what you're used to, so what? She's still a fantastic actress.

  • Lea Salonga was asked to take over Daphne after her run in Les Miserables

  • She sounds like a baritone... Did this REALLY need to be lowered that much? ROUGH!

  • I really love Daphne, and I liked her acting, but I have to admit that I dont think this is a song her voice.

  • Damn just plain awful. I'm sorry people I don't care if you think she is a fantastic actor you need to be able to sing (and damn well) to be on broadway which she just cannot do. Absolutely no technique. Really a disgrace to this fantastic role.

  • She doesn't sound like a Disney princess... so WHAT?! Fantine has had a hard life. Daphne's raw and iconoclastic voice works for the character.

  • i hate her voice.... that was simply painful

  • What an interpretation! So brave and SO passionate. I saw her do this seven times on Broadway. I was VERY sad when she left.

  • I'm sorry, but this is GREAT. She really convey's the song's emotions. I mean come on, this song is about pain, loss, helplessness, devastation. I'm not saying that other women who played this song did bad (I still think Carmen did one of the best IDAD's ever) but Daphne showed such emotion, I got chills several times. I'll admit, there are times that are weird and not exactly amazing but listen to that first "I dreamed a dream" at 1:05, the way she sing's it is just amazing, and overall is grea

  • @degeorgetitanic Well yes, but there are women who can show a lot of emotion and still not sound as a dying old man with emphysema.....

  • @imRoxFarjat

    Hmm...I dont think she sounds anything like that....but I guess we have a little thing called differences of opinion

  • @imRoxFarjat "Dying old man with emphysema... HAHA. Pretty accurate lol

  • @Trebleguy123 hahaha thanks! But I think Daphne Rubin Vega as Fantine makes as much sense as Adam Pascal playing Eponine.....

  • She has an...unusual voice. I'm not saying it's bad, not at all. Just differen't I'll admit, sometimes she's hard to listen to, but when she sand Without You as Mimi from RENT, I thought she was really good, and she did a superb job here to.

  • Okay, it's not the best "I Dreamed a Dream" and it's not Daphne's best work, but I like it. It's not pretty, it's raw. It's not bad, just different.

  • I recently saw the show where this clip came from and my god I cringed every time she came onstage.

    This is not even the worst of it, her part in Lovely Ladies was almost unwatchable

  • not gonna lie i came into this not expecting much i heard the reviews of her, but that was amazing i love her version of it

  • this is a beautiful interpretation....HATERS get to steppin'!!!! Bravo magnifica Daphne

  • I don't know why everyone trashes this preformance so bad. I love Daphne as a singer and preformer and this she does this song beutifully. I put it up there with Patti LuPone and Ruthie Henshall. You go Daphne!!! :D

  • Something about this performance feels actually kind of haunting. Daphne really has a different level of desperation and sadness in her voice. Fantine when played by such as Salonga sound so pitch perfect and beautiful although I prefer that, this just rips my heart out.

  • hahaha. ok, GOOD.

  • When was she signed on as Fantine? What years?

  • The Les Mis revival in 2006. She only played it for three months before "leaving" and being replaced with Lea Salonga. However, it's pretty well understood that she left because the reviews of her as Fantine were so awful although I'm actually impressed with her performance.

  • sometimes theres more to it then the lines (and notes) on the page.

  • Honestly...I don't know what everyone is up in arms about. It's just different. If this were a new show, and she was the first person to sing it...ppl would not trip. I think this performance is very appropriate and honest to the character. I thought the point of revivals to try something different. Theater should change and be interesting. I like the effort.

  • @topless Yeah you're right! Theatre should be more interesting... Anyone for Patti LuPone as Glinda???

  • this is the worst version of this song.... very disappointing... Daphne was really good as "Mimi" in RENT.... But not as "Fantine"... i'm glad Lea Salonga replaced her.... who gave real justice to this song... million miles better than what daphne did.... ;-p

  • Actually, I take that back. She does have a nice voice. Her vibrato is beautiful and she is always on pitch. She is also great an enunciating. There really isn't anything negative about this performance in my eyes. Her natural voice isn't so beautiful, but what she does with it makes it lovely :-)

  • I actually love her take on this song. Nothing really different from all the rest, but she is so engaged in everything she is saying. She may not have the prettiest voice, but it is unique and I find her to be a captivating actress.

  • as far as looks, i think Daphne has the best Fantine appearance, but her voice is way to rock and roll for a part as soft as Fantine

  • I'm inclined to agree. For the part of a drugged up, streetwise Puerto Rican stripper, her voice is excellent. But I think Fantine's voice is supposed to be a bit softer, sweeter, and purer than Daphne. Obviously someone thought she was good though, they cast her.

  • who says Mimi is Puerto rican? Daphne's not :p

  • No, you're right, she isn't. I apologized if I've offended anyone. My theatre arts class just came to the conclusion that she was Puerto Rican due to the large amount of Puerto Ricans in New York, because it is so close to NY. Perhaps an incorrect assumption and again, I hope I have not offended anyone.

  • it's okay, i'm just teasing :). she's actually Panamanian.

  • At first i thought they casted her because even though Lea's a legend, Daphne's a bigger name just because of the fame of RENT. There's really no reason though character-wise that Fantine is supposed to be soft, beautiful, or pure. She even had to prostitute remember? She is not Cosette though often casted as if they're interchangeable.

  • I really do NOT like Daphne.

    I'm not a fan of her voice.

  • Yea I agree, it's kinda...strange

  • brilliant

  • Well, she certainly made me believe that she had consumption, which no other Fantine has done! LOLZ!

  • so I heard people clapped when she died.

    I now completely understand why.

  • I saw this cast and no one clapped when she died.

    If your gonna criticize her performance at least be respectful.

  • wow, i usually look this up for a good laugh, and that is what i was intending to do this time as well, but i LOVED it!!! wierd... i love her interperitation its so unusual

  • THANK YOU! I did the same thing. I said "from Mimi to fantine?? HAH" But i seriously fell in love with it.

  • Mimi from La Boheme?

  • as much as i love daphne i think she was better for voice cuz she has a rocker voice but this is preety good , she puts alot of emotion in in this and i love it

  • Daphne is one of my favorite fantines. sje puts so much emotion into her singing that it really makes me believe that shes been through all this and it brings me to tears! i love Daphne

  • It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as it should've been.

  • While I personally prefer other Fantines such as Ruthie and Lea Salonga and I loved her more in Rent, I really love Daphne's interpretation of her character.

    She does make unneccesary pauses but I really believe she did it as beautiful as she could.

  • She is one of the only actreses who seems to stress the end of the phrase...the important bit and carry it through to the next phrase emotionally. Full credit to the brave casting director...Daphne did HER Fantine and did it well.

  • Actually, I find this performance quite beautiful. I can feel the pain that she's conveying here. She may not be the best singer in the world of Broadway, but damn, she is sure singing her heart out here. Her acting is superb, which saves any flaws in her singing. Brava Daphne, brava.

  • oh gosh! terrible performance. how for God sake did she become fantine? she's the worst singer for this role i've seen.

  • The casting directors were trying to draw in the crowd by using big names. Hers is one of them being from Rent and all.

    UGH! BAD CHOICE!

  • horrible for this role Dx so bad DX her voice has never been my favaorite in general, but for rougher belting, she owns it. but never for smooth singing Dx but the acting was brilliant. her facial expressions, and the way it shows through in her voice. just not the voice for the role.

  • Les Mis is an Opera, and Opera focuses on beautiful singing. This is wrong for the show in general, she seemed like she was talking the whole song. Very strange indeed.

  • I think you're right,this was'nt really Daphne's role.She's more of a raunchy,earthy singer.She was great as Mimi.

  • It's certainly very different than what people are used to, but I really like it.

  • the wrost Fantine ever!

  • Wow, people talked about Daphne's performance like it was some kind of horror film. I think it's great. As an actor AND as singer you are free to interpret the role as you wish. If she had interpreted it like everyone else, would people have remembered it?

  • @avantgarde1226 Well bad things tend to stay in the memory more than good things... she is not even hitting the low notes right! When there were sopranos in the role getting them perfect!!!

  • I surprisingly liked it ... a very different approach to the role but it worked for me.

  • She's better as Mimi but I think she's still pretty good

  • I don't see why everyone hates it so much. I didn't see much wrong with it. And i certainly don't see why people say she can't sing because of it. Is it because like die hard fans aren't used to someone playing it this way? I guess I could understand that..

  • Oh dear. Broadway, what were you thinking?

  • I think she's got a terrific, strong voice, but I'm not crazy about the way she sang this song. Lots of....pauses in....very odd, awkward....places. For me, it took away from the power of the song.

  • I'm sorry, but I don't like this version at all. There were some big notes that were actually pretty good, but other than that, no. I loved her Mimi, but I don't think she's suitable for this.

    One small thing that keeps annoying me in the comments: It's a common misconception that Fantine sings this song when she is a dying prostitute. She is not yet a dying prostitute by this point in the show. She becomes a prostitute in Lovely Ladies, right after this, and gets sick sometime around then.

  • I saw this live, and LOVED it. The role of Fantine, for me, always seems to be over sung, so refreshing to hear it so raw and earthy and more focussed on the lyric and point of the song than the big notes.

  • I thought that this was wonderful! I love her! And she did a wonderful job considering she is completely wrong for the role...but still I thought that it was suberb

  • Daphne's At The End of the Day was on here, but I can't find it now, has anyone seen it?

  • better than i thought it would be when i saw she was doing it, but way worse than others. her voice is just wrong for it- the breathy bits and childish sounding words.

  • maybe it sounded better live? 0_o

  • hm,.....I was there in March. It was not.

  • good try?.....

    rocky horror was her best

  • okay, here's the thing. She is a wonderful actress! She is a wonderful singer! SHe is great in RENT! Les Miz is a bit of a streach for her, she pulls the song off with her belt, when she belts I forgive her for her meak breathy stuff. Maybe not the the rught choice, but I would still have loved to see her in this role. Great interpritation of this classic role!

  • wow the the girl I saw at the local high school was better than her

  • Great actress, just sings like she got a bee stung tongue. Still got a great voice.

  • I think its just a completely different take on the role. Idk why Fantine can't be gritty? I personally LOVE it.

    Her voice is definitely a required taste, I will say that.

  • I completely agree. I don't understand why everyone hates this. I think it's great.

  • Great? C'mon! Ticket sales picked up when she was replaced by Lea( though it wasn't Daphne's fault why shes being mocked by Les miz fans for singing the part-it's the casting team to blame)

  • Her voice is very unique and I think it's beautiful. It might not be everyone's jive but she's definitely really raw and earthy.

  • Plus this is a youtube video. It would be very different live.

  • Yack, I don't like her voice (it's annoying and also a bit more of a rock and roll voice), so I thought she wasn't that good in Rent, but this is terrible sorry (It's a bit the same like in Holland: Nurlaila Karim as Mimi and as Fantine and in Rent she was 'okay' but in Les Mis she sucked).

  • she was the best fantine i saw live. she was amazing. her acting and soulful voice is so original and makes you want to cry. she was so believable and moving. she has a cry in her voice, which added so much truth to her character.

  • lol. she kinda sucks.

  • One thing that people forget to respect that theater is constantly changing. We really need to respect other performers' interpretations. Daphne has great vocals, she did sing this song well, he showed emotion and exhibited her vocal power. Sure, not our best Fantine, but they cast her for a reason.

    My point is, we have to respect different performers who sing the same song, we can't demand them to sing just like the original one or your personal perferance

  • But sometimes people are just miscasted. (Sh)it happens.

  • Poor Daphne...she was just miscast. She's got a great rock and roll voice, but she's no Fantine.

    PS: lay off the Botox, honey. It's hard to look sad or troubled when you can't move your forehead.

  • Fantine is essentially a street rat, its not meant to be beautiful, most folks try to sing it pretty and perfect, but that's not really it. Daphne's characters she plays are not pretty and refined; they're raw and untamed: Magenta, Mimi and this. I give her props, i think shes a great performer. DAPHNE=<3

  • fantine is from a high background, she is highly educated, she fell from grace due to the pregnancy and ran away and is drawn into the street and this leads to her destruction. this is in the novel, all direction for professional shows involves this back story...she is a fallen angel

  • Wow. I've never really liked her voice. Even in Rent.

  • This is bad.

  • i agree with criznueve, and i dont think that les mis characters should be played with that much- although u can see essential differences between, say, kerry ellis' and joanna ampil's interpretations, which is ok because at least they stick to the original framework of emotions- daphne's was not rly emotional- i dont think she got the depth at all, just sang some bits louder and screwed up her face a little- just a bit self indulgent.

    (sorry, rant over)

  • She's not the best Fantine I've ever heard, but she is definately not the worst.

  • I think shes the best Fantine I've seen. Her voice isn't pretty, but good god she puts so much emotion into this role that so many other Fantines leave out. Most just think "oh this is a pretty song" and sing pretty. Daphne understands the depth and the result is heart-wrenching.

  • ew. terrible.

  • BRAVO DAPHNE! BRAVO!

  • Maybe she wasn't that effective for the role becayse of the phrasing and the way she delievered the words int he song. :-)

  • I don't care what people say, i liked it. it was deffinitely from the typical fantine. i do prefer the more beautiful perfected voice, because its supposed to sounds more innocent, but i did like this. and i still love her as Mimi!

  • No I dont think she was right for the part. I know I'll get negative marks which is really petty. I know you're fan(s) of Daphne but if you can't handle criticisms, I don't think you should bother to post her vid. Get your rose-colored glasses off. Daphne just wasn't right for the part, but she did great in Rent.

  • She has the vocal chord for the high part but in between is what gets me. The way she annunciates some of the vowels were laughable. There were no control of her in-betweens. She was peaking too fast. Fantine is supposed to have a glorious swan song, defeated yet elegant. She definitely looked the part of a two bit hooker even sounded like a prostitute in crack,Daphne had the "innocent of Fantine" disappaer.

  • I think she actually does a pretty fantastic job in this performance.

  • I love Daphne.

  • I don't understand how she gets these huge parts...I feel like there are better people out there...

  • I really like this for the character.