The musical based upon the intriguing Britain's Got Talent runner-up opened in Newcastle last night to an ecstatic audience and contented critics. I Dreamed A Dream, named after the song that shot the shy and retiring spinster to global fame in 2009, will tour 11 cities in the UK and Ireland before a possible West End transfer.
Based upon the mezzo-soprano's autobiography The Woman I Was Born To Be, the stage show is co-written by and stars Rab C. Nesbit actress Elaine C Smith as the unlikely singing sensation Susan Boyle. It follows her humble beginnings from schoolyard taunts to caring for her mother, through to the tv audition in front of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan that brought the nation - and subsequently the world - to a standstill.
She became an overnight youtube phenomenon, with celebrity fans such as Demi Moore and Oprah Winfrey singing her praises. She has since gone on to release three worldwide number one albums and has shifted over 17 million albums in under three years. Her debut album is the biggest-selling debut album of all time in the UK. The stage show also deals with the media backlash and her struggle to cope with life in the spotlight.
At the end of the performance, Boyle emerged to sing her version of the musical's title track from long running musical Les Miserables and was met with rapturous applause and a standing ovation. Her post-curtain appearance is planned for most nights on the tour. Dominic Cavendish of The Telegraph called the show "a delight that deserves to go far, and fast, as she has done".
Book Les Miserables tickets online now.
[posted by James, 28/03/2012]