Seriously, can anyone just leave this guy alone?? Drew was an UNDERSTUDY, and this was a hard role for him to understudy. He was making his Broadway debut (although he had built up a relatively extensive stage repertoire in Germany), and he was (I believe) in his 30s, and he's a tenor. For what we got from him, he was VERY GOOD! He gave a great interpretation of the character, providing a young and energized Javert with a determination matching as such. And he most definitely delivered when he became Valjean!!

@ruthkenyon1723

6 жыл бұрын

I agree. I'm doing research into Les Mis and I'm doing a lot of watching different performances on KZread. There are some awful Javerts out there and he delivers perfectly well. I have a lot of time for understudies (my favourite JVJ was one).

@user-rp7tl8vp3e

6 жыл бұрын

he s so serious and passionate. I think the main question about javer performance is "do you believe this guy should really kills himself when his "reilgion" crushes down by valjan behavior?" me for example believe only in Crow's Javer - he's to strait and simple to survive and be flexible and this- he's too young and passionate and impulsive to do this. the reast are to tricky for this, so they are bad javers, no matter how good they sing

@YogaWithCriss

6 жыл бұрын

I watched his videos as Jesus and Judas and was wondering how could he even try to sing a baritone role. Although, I don't think he sounds bad. I can tell the lowest notes are not perfect, but Russell Crow was waaaaay worst. I would give Drew 4 stars out of 5 for this performance, because he's still an awsome singer.

@leefriedman2274

4 жыл бұрын

@@ruthkenyon1723 It's been two years since this comment but, who was the understudy? Also, my favorite Javert happens to be an understudy (as in I've seen in person)

@EmeraldTalks

4 жыл бұрын

@Lee friedman Drew Sarich, I believe

some of you are saying that you prefer him as valjean because he's "too young" for the role of javert.... but you don't realize that javert was younger than valjean by about eleven years...

I simply adore the elegance and passion of this 'younger' Javert. He's quite attractive too, which is a plus ^^

Ooo my gooood Javert here is so young determind and charming I absolutly love this version! And yes his voice is powerful and bright i love it

This is my favorite version of Stars. I don't even care that Javert is supposed to be older.

@TheJuniorHighWeirdos

9 жыл бұрын

I completely agree with you.

@warrenmcfadden3918

6 жыл бұрын

phillip quast and norm lewis will always own this song

Favorite Javert! I wish I had seen him perform

Drew Sarich is so amazing! I was honored when I met him back in 2007. He has amazing talent and when I asked he still aspires to play the Phantom. He also gave me inspiring words and encouraged me to pursue the role of Javert or any musical role once I'm ready and despite my age and lack of experience

@leefriedman2274

9 жыл бұрын

you are so lucky that you met him!!

@ixaaicactus

9 жыл бұрын

awww You lucky man!!

@ogphantom15

9 жыл бұрын

Sarahi Gomez Wow! lucky :)

I love Drew in every role he plays. :) I was a huge fan of his Armand, his Judas, his Jesus, His Javert.... literally all his roles! I do wish he had more of a following! He has a huge following in Europe, but not so much in the US.

Age and voice aside, I like Sarich's interpretation. He's one of the few Javerts on KZread that actually scares me because there's an intensity he gives to the character that a lot of other performers don't have, and that plus the youthfulness gives an impression of potentially dangerous zealousness. I have no doubt that this Javert would hunt his target to the ends of the earth, and he's so intent on it that I almost worry he'd do something stupid in the process.

He is my favorite Javert! Hes an amazing actor and plays this part so well. Same goes to when he plays the Phantom.

@jessicanite1197

3 жыл бұрын

DREW PLAYED PHANTOM?? I want to see that😭🖤

This guy... He is so awesome that he's been cast in Les Miz as two different roles!! Drew's voice is so powerful and breathtaking. I want to meet this guy!!

what people overlook about Drew in this show is that he's a wonderful rock singer who happens to be blessed with overall wonderful vocal technique. I think his greatest strength especially in the roles he's played (Valjean, Javert, Enjolras) is that he goes against what people expect from this show-- he brings some rock and roll honesty to the performance that most of the singers who inhabit these roles tend to overlook. I'd watch him in pretty much any role in this show, to be honest.

I'm so impressed!! Drew can play a Baritone role just as amazing as a Tenor role! :3 We all know he is a Tenor, but he was amazing as Javert... and JVJ!! #hedicho

@alexanderzamora5930

6 жыл бұрын

Sarahi Gomez he blew me away as Valjean! He was so flawless in his portrayal on Broadway

@rodrigodaniel738

6 жыл бұрын

Sarahi Gomez Has dicho bien! :)

My words exactly. Classical voice types have been employed (or applied to parts) for over two centuries now. For a good reason. Basses and bass-baritones singing with their power and color in their tessitura evoke certain emotions in audience, tenors and lyric baritones evoke other emotions. Technique and expression of Drew aside (very good), Javert is a man of authority, power figure, and tad of a bad guy too. Look up Bryn Terfel singing Stars to get the idea.

@HaydenofEverything

4 жыл бұрын

Interesting case with Bryn Terfel: a lot of people dislike his performance as Sweeney Todd, but his performance as Javert blew me away when I first heard it. The main reason why is because Terfel is a trained opera singer and the more operatic style of Les Miserables fits better with the technique he's learned than the operatic but still modern-theater-heavy Sweeney Todd which leds itself better to performers like George Hearn, Michael Ball, and Len Cariou.

The song is a masterpiece regardless who sings it.

he has such good diction i’m obsessed with his voice! brought a terrifying immaturity to javert which isn’t too far fetched! i think he’d been an excellent marius when he was this age!

His voice is placed a bit too high to play Javert or Jean Valjean -- but his diction is wonderful. You can understand every word which makes him an excellent theatrical singer-actor. I can see why producers cast him. The audience has the rare treat of hearing the very literate Les Mis lyrics. Thanks for posting this!

Excellent... Love the Thenardier too...

Enough Drew bashing, people! When *YOU* can step up as an nearly absurdly young understudy in a part that's outside of your comfortable vocal range, and pull it off half as well as he does here, *then* you have a license to bitch about his performance. I think he did a good job of it, considering the circumstances, and as usual, his acting was spot on. This was grace under pressure, nothing more or less.

@brancellbooks

7 жыл бұрын

The "YOU do it" argument is fallacious. People are allowed to critique a performance or any piece of artistic media without having the abilities to create the same experience; it's a different skill set. Regarding his vocal range: You're absolutely right, he's a tenor. So he *shouldn't try playing a baritone role.* Javert is a tough part to play for baritones, let alone for tenors. It was foolish of him to try to perform this part. I much preferred him in Valjean's role.

@neuralmute

7 жыл бұрын

Sarcherre Gaming Just for the sake of reference, I'm a triple-threat stage performer myself, so I likely know a hell of a lot more about what I'm talking about here than most armchair critics. I personally have no idea why they cast him as the understudy for Javert, considering his vocal range. But that's on the production's management, not on Drew as a performer. He did the best with what he had under less than ideal conditions, and as a performer, I respect him for that. And I agree, he plays a lovely Valjean. Nobody can ever match Colm Wilkinson in that role, in my opinion, but Drew's one of my favourites.

@brancellbooks

7 жыл бұрын

It's not entirely the management's fault. At some point in the casting process, Drew Sarich absolutely had to say yes to taking the role. Yes, the management is at fault for casting him, but it was him who auditioned and accept the understudy role. People are allowed to critique someone's performance, regardless of who is at fault in the casting, or whether they can do it themselves. People critique Russell Crowe's performance in the movie plenty, not the least of reasons because he didn't have the timbre for Broadway-style singing and performing. It's irrelevant whether or not you're a stage performer, when it comes to critiquing a performance. My father was never a performer himself, but he identifies perfect pitch and knows musical theory, in addition to having an excellent ear for timbre. Just because he never performed in his life doesn't mean that he can't critique a performance. This goes for other critics - passing, amateur, or professional - in the comments.. They know enough about the character from past examples to know that Drew Sarich was not right for the role; and it can be heard in his singing how he struggles to get to the lower notes. --- Do not take this to mean that you need no experience or knowledge to critique. I'm simply saying you don't need to have performed yourself to critique a piece of entertainment effectively.

@HaydenofEverything

4 жыл бұрын

@@brancellbooks I'm pretty sure that, if the casting directors knew what they were doing, they wouldn't have approached him with the opportunity UNLESS they felt him capable. You can't go up to your director as a coluratura countertenor and ask to understudy Judge Turpin in your production of Sweeney Todd and they'll just give you the understudy. If you were to request Beadle Bamford, it would be a bit more likely, but still require an audition process. No competent casting director would put somebody into a role unless they knew they could do it, even if it's an understudy. He wasn't just some ensemble member that didn't do anything on his own either: in that same production he was both Grantaire and the Innkeeper, so he had some singing roles outside of the ensemble. If we're assuming that "innkeeper" means Thenardier, then he was CAST in TWO other baritone roles.

@sebart9321

2 жыл бұрын

@@brancellbooks who says this role MUST be barritone?? He has a RIGHT to perform this role which is why the crew WANTED him to play it and gave him the role! He doesn't owe anyone to not take on the role. Maybe you're just fixated on a certain interpretation and category for a specific role

Yes, I do agree with you. This Javert is a half-tone higher than the usual deep baritone voiced actors I have heard. I think I saw Drew as Valjean with Lea Salonga as Fantine... it was magical!

i saw him as javert the second time I went. Absolutely fantastic =]

I love dew her rocks in all he dose he so talented ! he played a great Dracula as well. he rocked it in Germany! :)

Actually, what I like about Russel Crow's Javier was how impassive he came off. You're exactly right, this Javert has a youthful intensity; he burns. Norm Lewis's Javert felt like cold steel. Crow's Javert felt like stone: No fury, no intensity. But a rigid, absolute belief in order. His flat voice added to that impression for me: like he was always keeping himself reigned in, under control. I can believe someone like that would kill themselves if their sense of order in the world was shattered.

@unicornalq11

2 жыл бұрын

And all of those actors are good in their own way and bring something new. Javert is one of those characters that you can really play with and bring differing nuances too. I adore his character (his arc and material…not him…he is an asshole.)

@tillyboos

2 жыл бұрын

That's EXACTLY why Javert is my Les Mis dream role. He's EXTREMELY nuanced and complicated and conflicted and I ❤️ that about the character.

@WELCOMEHOMEBONE

Жыл бұрын

@@tillyboos hope you land that role you hope for mate:)

Drew😍😍😍

Wow if I was Drew I might have broke character and laughed. Gary Beach is so funny.

He’s really good! I liked it! 👍

He is amazing! He is quite young but still he gets the tone right

I want to see him live!

Amazing how he´s able to darken his voice,good performance, a little lack of drama because the song is too easy for him to sing;) I think he´s just singing in his low register. His Valjean is impressive as many other roles he played.

The sexy young Javert lol

I prefer a deeper voice as Javert, but he does have a lovely voice. I kinda fancy him too...

Linda interpretação! !

The thing I find perplexing about a lot of these critiques is that they critique Drew for lacking power in this role when I clearly heard him power through the song. I would like to make a suggestion to any who want to critique vocal prowess in this scenario: this is a low-quality recording that was probably made on a really early smartphone so it's hard to tell if his performance is actually bad and lacking in power. There are moments where you can tell that he has power in the performance in areas that are rather uncommon for tenors such as himself. The point of the matter is that you're trying to critique a vocal performance with only a bootleg to go off of.

Lol, of course Javert is not a tenor role. The original is written for bass-baritone, but both basses and dramatic baritones have performed Javert on the stages from Moscow to London.

@TaurusGirl423 i think he means that in like the confrontation its hard to tell the difference between javert and valjean (like even with prior knowledge its still important to have that contrast between javert and valjean, its part of their characters) cause theyre both tenors

Stars, (A fugitive flees in the dark) Sung during Coventry Peace Festival 12/11/2011 by John Kiefert in Songs of the Nations - Music Unites us Concert

Javert is a Bass-baritone role played famously by Baritones. It is absolutely NOT a Tenor role.

He realy has done it all, hasn't he? And in a realy good way too :)

And plus, he was an understudy to this role (I believe, if this was shot in 2006)

I think he's good, it's just that his voice is so bright, which makes him sound so young, when in terms of the character, Javert probably isn't that much younger than Valjean.

My favorite Javert from the revival is Ben Davis. Amazing low baritone, perfect age, great emotion portrayal, gestures and overall performance. Too bad he was fired without a reason by Macintosh...

Drew Sarich *__*

Three, he was also cast as Grantaire.

i really like his Javert :3 He's rather scary.

Do you have the song that Gavroche sings right after stars

Is it so bad to have hated this performance at first but then develop a love for it??

what was the full cast in this performance?

Never heard a Tenor play Javert

@pannicatack I wonder why...it's too low, maybe?

it's not the deepness of his voice that make's him sound a bit iffy, i have heard higher singers sing javert it is because he pronounces some of the words with a real thick american accent so he sounds really young but don't get me wrong i still really enjoy this

@pannicatack I don't know, but they should have their head examined. Javert is a solid baritone role with low notes that are impossible for a tenor to bring off correctly (that low F in the Confrontation for one). His voice still rocks though!!

Thank God! No 'portamenti'! =D

why did you turn the camera away near the end?

@GommyT Those coats can be restrictive, so in order to get the air he needed it might have been necessary to fill his chest cavity rather than his diaphragm

Is that Gary Beach as Thernardier??

What year is this from?

Who's Thenardier in this clip?

I've seen the Broadway pri

Wow. The sideburns are so, so very tiny. That's not the Javert I know! Love the voice and performance. It feels like a different take on the character, but one that works!

Doesn't anyone realize that Javert is a tenor role?

@xxkewldudexx Same thing in the touring cast. Guy playing Javert there is a tenor, and I think both of his understudies are, too. Like Sarich, he has a fantastic voice, and he sounds awesome on the solos, but the stuff that isn't solos... The Confrontation in particular was a mess.

All things considered, he did a nice job. But he was miscast as Javert and Valjean. You can give him gray hair, but he’s still going to look like and sound he’s 25. Stars in particular is a song that’s quite low, and his tenor voice just isn’t meaty enough for the sustained low notes.

I really love Drew's voice... I just don't think his looks and style are convincing enough to match anyone in Les Mis except for Marius. His style is too "light" for Enjolras and sounds too young for Valjean. I do think his Javert is surprisingly good, though!

Just who thought it'd be a good idea to cast a tenor in the part?

too light and bright voice for this role

I always thought javert was a baritone role

@xxkewldudexx I found that both the singers kinda... blended together so it was impossible to make either of them out.

Any one saw the spit hitting who I assume is Marius?

@TaurusGirl423 oh yeah..thats confusing

How old was Drew when he played this character? 27-29, right?

@ogphantom15

9 жыл бұрын

Jacqueline Garcia Around there! :)

try philip quast he's amazing

Look for spit between Javert and Marius in between :31 and :32.

He needs to get into a production of Phantom...he has the Gerard Butler looks with a trained voice.

Javert is a tenor role. But it is famously played by baritones.

I agree. I don't think he was necessarily bad, but I don't think he was "strong" enough.

Why is a Marius singing Stars?

@ericdickey6523

7 жыл бұрын

Agustin Eijo as much as I think he did a good job for the situation he was in... this comment is gold 😂

@rodrigodaniel738

6 жыл бұрын

Hahaha good one 😂😂😂

where are his mutton chops of justice??

he spits at 0:34

I must say despite his javert being mostly terrible, he does do well on the "could it be he's some old jail bird" to "could it be he's Jean Valjean". He sticks so well to the beat, whereas a lot of Javert's try to riff it too much, which kind of makes it less menacing.

@seangriffin5967

8 жыл бұрын

He does a good job with the acting, he just doesn't have the baritone voice required for Javert.

@hazomina7253

8 жыл бұрын

+Sean Griffin yeah I agree

Or Armand *dreams of Armand* yay Anne Rice!!

Is he the only tenor to play JAVERT?

@ruthkenyon1723

3 жыл бұрын

@Anjelica Snorcket he was understudying at short notice, and when he was told did point out he was both only just turned thirty, and a high tenor. There were a few tweaks to the music for his voice but he does a wonderful job. A ‘young’ Javert is a thing - there have been others in casts in different countries too and they all fun to watch. It’s just a different way of playing the part and using what cast you have. Drew also played Enjolras and did Valjean twice (I prefer his London iteration of that). I interviewed him for a book I am writing on the show and he was very interesting.

Javert is a bass-baritone role. He is an authority figure, therefore it works better when he has a richer, lower sound. Drew has a beautiful voice, but he's too much of a tenor to make this role really work for him.

prety good.. tho as a trained singer myself wasnt too impressed by the huge shoulder movements on his breathing near the end... thought that was one of the basics??

tenor, yes, but he is pretty dang good

@thesilvershining I still think he's great as a tenor though.

norm lewis anyone?

Yeah, Valjean is a nerd

Fabulous singer... but I could just as easily see him as Marius at points in this song, vocally. No amount of side burns and wig will make this man believable to me as having been in law enforcement for something like 30 years (Ten years since "I have heard such protestations every day for 20 years").

Great vocal work his vowels just need to be a little more defined.

His Javert isn't bad... I prefer an older deeper voiced-actor though.

He's all wrong. Wrong.

How pretty!

Look, he is clearly an excellent singer and performer, just horribly miscast as Javert. Sure, he may have been a understudy but that isn't a excuse. He is better suited to almost every other main male character

Although Drew has a beautiful tenor voice, I really don't think it fit in the part of Javert.

Javert is just wrong

he's a great actor, but he's not the best Javert... he doesn't sound masculine enough to me...

Sounds too young to be Javert.

Please don't act like you know music and singing when you clearly don't.