Adele took to the Dolby Theatre stage on Friday, followed by the cast of Les Misérables.
The Oscar nominees Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, along with co-stars Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Helena -Bonham-Carter, Sasha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Samantha Barks, rehearsed their performances on the Oscar stage and were backed by members of the musical’s stage productions from London and Broadway.
The film's director Tom Hooper sat in the front row of the theatre as his cast sang. Minutes earlier, Adele dazzled the tiny audience of show workers with her performance of the James Bond theme Skyfall. "I need a lot more reverb on me," she said after her first run. "You might need to get a new reverb machine."
The 24-year-old singer arrived wearing a black tunic, black leggings and flats, with no make-up and her hair in a ponytail.
“I’m going to have very high heels on the night, guys,” she announced from the microphone, sipping tea between verses. She performed her Oscar--nominated song five times before leaving the theatre. “It’s been good, yeah?” she asked the producer Neil Meron, who nodded in approval.
Then the Les Misérables cast took the stage. Hathaway chatted with Bonham-Carter as Jackman sang a cappella. Then Hathaway checked her microphone with a quick verse. “Ooh, that was flat,” she said.
The entire cast assembled for a final run-through when Jackman spontaneously began singing My Bonny Lies over the Ocean.
"My bonny lies over my daddy," the ensemble responded, breaking into laughter. – AP
