I saw Olegg as Valjean, and he was all right. He definitely actually has an amazing voice, but he absolutely can't sing Death's part. He has that more classical technique in his singing and apparently can't do the kind of rock singing that Death requires. Anyway, his singing as Valjean was good, but I didn't care much for his acting. His Bring Him Home sounded like "GOD ON HIGH HEAR HOW MIGHTILY I CAN BELT" rather than prayer. I know it's a hard song to sing right without sounding stupid, but it's maybe not the song just for showing how loud you can sing. Anyway, while he's an acceptable Valjean, he's my most loathed Death ever. His interpretation is indeed how Solyndra described it and it's extremely annoying. And I don't know why some people think he's good-looking. He doesn't look like anything to me.

It's funny, I used to obsess over the Essen recording of Elisabeth (barring Carsten) but nowadays I rarely listen to it. I guess it's just because I've listened to it so much. But it also bothers me that while the actors are great, the orchestrations somehow sound really thin and dull on that CD. I miss some depth and darkness from the music.