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"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the musical Les Misérables.[1] It
is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by
Claude-Michel Schönberg, with
orchestrations by John Cameron. The English
lyrics are by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the
original French libretto by Alain Boublil.
History
The song, as it appeared in the original Paris production from 1980, was entitled "J'avais
Rêvé d'une Autre Vie" (translated as "I Dreamed of
Another Life"), and was originally sung by Rose Laurens. The first English
language production of Les Misérables opened on the West End in London in October 1985, with the role of Fantine
portrayed by Patti
LuPone.[2] She
would later feature the song on her 1993 album Patti LuPone
Live![3]
When the musical made its Broadway début in New York City in
March 1987, Fantine was played by Randy Graff.[1] Laurie Beechman
would perform the role in the original U.S. touring production in
1988 and then on Broadway in 1990. That year she included the song
on her album Listen to My Heart.[4] Debra Byrne sang the
song on the Complete Symphonic
Recording. Ruthie Henshall sang it on the
Tenth Anniversary Concert Recording (2004). A Broadway
revival in 2006 featured Daphne Rubin-Vega (2006-2007), Lea Salonga (2007) and
later Judy Kuhn
(2007-2008), in the role.
The show — and the song — has been translated into twenty-one
languages, including Japanese, Hebrew, Icelandic, Norwegian, Czech,
Polish, Castilian, and Estonian, and there have been 31 cast
recordings featuring the song.[5] The
London cast version is Triple
Platinum in the UK, for sales of more than 900,000, and
Platinum in the U.S., for sales of more than one million. The
Broadway cast version is Quadruple Platinum in the U.S. (more than
four million sold), where four other versions have also gone
Gold.[6]
Cover
versions
Numerous popular singers have recorded cover versions of "I Dreamed a Dream". Neil Diamond recorded
the song for his 1987 live album Hot August Night 2, and
released the song as a single. It peaked at #13 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart
in November 1987 [7] and at
#90 on the UK
Singles Chart.[8]
Diamond's version features a lyrical alteration at the end of the
song; instead of "Now life has killed the dream I dreamed" Diamond
sings, "But life can't kill the dream I dreamed."[9]
Other male singers who have recorded the song include rock
singer David Essex
on his 1987 album Centre Stage,[10] Phantom of the Opera star Michael
Crawford on his 1987 album The Phantom Unmasked,[11]
LuPone's Evita co-star Mandy Patinkin on
his 1994 album Experiment, and British theater star Michael
Ball (Marius in the Original London
production of Les Miz) on his 2003 album
I Dreamed a Dream.
In 1991, Aretha Franklin included a version of
the song on her album What You See Is What You Sweat.[12]
Although not released as a single, Franklin has performed the song
at various venues, including the 1993 inaugural celebration for U.S.
President Bill
Clinton.[13]
Other female singers who have recorded versions of the song
include English singer and
stage actress Elaine
Paige, from a 1993 performance at Birmingham Symphony Hall which was included
on her 1995 album, Encore,[14]
original Annie title cast member Andrea McArdle in
the 1996 recording On Broadway,[15] New Zealander singer Hayley Westenra
and British pop star Petula Clark, each in 2001, Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe in
2005, and Broadway actress Susan Egan in 2008.
Susan Boyle
version
The song had a resurgence in popularity in 2009 when Scottish singer Susan Boyle performed
it live as her audition for the third series of the
British reality television programme, Britain's Got Talent. Boyle's
performance elicited a unanimous vote for passage into the next
round of competition by judges Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell, with Morgan giving Boyle
"the biggest yes [he had] ever given" in his three years of judging
the show. Elaine
Paige, Boyle's role model, later expressed interest in singing
a duet with her.[16]
The programme received high ratings and Boyle's performance was
quickly added to sites such as YouTube, where millions of people viewed it in
the first month alone.[17][18] Boyle
sang the song again during the finals of Britain's Got
Talent on 30 May 2009, where she placed second in the
competition behind British dance troupe Diversity.[19]
Today, it is known as the song that catapulted her to
super-stardom, and it helped sell I Dreamed a Dream more
copies. Currently, the album has been declared as the fastest
selling debut album of all time in the UK, and sold 701,000 copies
in its first week in just the US, breaking the record for highest
debut ever for a solo female artist.
Shortly after Boyle's audition aired on ITV in April, the Original London Cast Recording of
LuPone singing "I Dreamed a Dream" was downloaded to such a degree
that the song entered music charts in the U.S. and UK. The UK
Billboard magazine's Hot Digital Songs and Hot Singles Recurrents charts for the week
of 2 May 2009 had LuPone's 1985 recording at #61 and #20,
respectively.[20]
LuPone's version also reached #45 on the UK Singles Chart on the
week of 25 April 2009.[21] Susan
Boyle's later 2009 recording rivaled pre-order sales records on
Amazon.com in November 2009.
Chart
performance
"I Dreamed a Dream" entered the Irish Singles Chart on 26 November
2009 at number 20. It also entered the UK Singles Chart on the 29th November
2009 at number 37.
References
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