"I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables, Debra Byrne - Original Australian Cast 1987

Debra burns up I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables. Still the best version ever of this now classic ballad. Enjoy everyone!

[@kevinhalsted766]

I too saw this original Australian cast - and have been fortunate enough to see this show many more times and all over the world. Debbie Byrne is the very best and deserved to be on the international cast recording.

[@koalasarah]

Absolutely, hands down, the best "I Dreamed A Dream" I've ever heard.

[@normgilmore7541]

Yes no one can surpass Debbie

[@stevesize3262]

Ive loved Debra since 1971 This shows why so talented..

[@estellehobbins1928]

I ve seen quite a few LesMiz production and Debra is the best Fontine ever...she is so sad and broken..with every word, every gesture I feel her pain. No others have ever brought me to tears like Debra has

[@eccentra89]

YES @ sad and broken. No-one else captured the raw emotion the way she did!

[@mssuziquzi]

The best version by far. Debra Byrne is incomparable!!

[@carolemitchell5259]

Debra is the best Australian singer I have heard yet. Just brilliant!

[@bendabledoll]

Now I want somebody to tell me that this woman couldn't act in a movie. She's a natural. Debra's wretched and falling, and you want someone to catch her before she looses who she is. Ms. Byrne in real life suffered from clinical depression and was abused,and has been brave enough to discuss how she felt publicly. I can imagine how that must have informed her work, when she has to go to these dark places emotionally. debra byrne inetrview today - depression pt 1

[@kevinmattaboni6555]

Les Miserable and Cats were the two Stage Productions I saw and both had Debra Byrnes in the lead rolls. I loved her then and I love her now. Such a powerful and deeply timbred voice and still my all time favourite. Please make a comeback, Debra.

[@reneepianocovers]

Me to i saw Les Miserable twice in Melbourne and once Sydney and Cats

[@racheldownes6633]

way more people need to see this! you believe every word she says - sings :)

[@PaulBrown-il3wl]

I did not expect hat she would have been this good.

[@helenholder5691]

Saw this Australian Les Miserbles in Sydney in 1989. Changed my life. Most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen x

[@justinemckay386]

Anyone who saw the original cast of Les Miz is doomed!! Doomed never to see such a wonder ever again - no matter how they search. I’ve seen many Fantines, including performances in the West End and on Broadway - and no1 has come close to Debbie!! She ripped my heart out!! And Anthony Warlowe and Phillip Quast aNd Marina Prior - need I go on? I curse the fact they didn’t film it or at least make a cast recording - a great opportunity lost for ever!!

[@normgilmore7541]

The Cast should have been born in the US and then they would have got the Recognition they Deserve

[@Kate1620]

THE. BEST. FANTINE. Always been my favourite Debbie! No comparison - what's all this current rubbish that..."you can't have a beautiful voice - AND the interpretation still be realistic, heartfelt and convincing?" Of course you can! You just need talent! - and Debbie shows how it is done right here. Unforced and beautifully sung!

[@debrataggart116]

Les miserable was the first time I had seen a musical. It was this one in 1989. I was crying by the end. I have loved it since. They were magnificent.

[@HighLive]

1987

[@mssuziquzi]

I was lucky to see Debra perform in this production many years ago. She was magic...

[@andrewgibson]

She never quite made it her most recent role was feeding the pigeons in Mary Poppins

[@mssuziquzi]

@@andrewgibson Never made it? Debra was one of the most respected and popular leading ladies in Australian musical theatre back in her day. Unfortunately she had a problem with drugs which was sad because she was an amazingly talented singer and entertainer. She's 65 now and pretty much retired I would think.

[@ashleycorkadale1744]

Brilliant

[@nickfranich3172]

Surely, without doubt, the best version of that song. Heart-rending - and I wonder whether you have to experience horrific pain, in order for it to conveyed dramatically. Just a stunning performance; regardless of the angle you look at it.

[@HighLive]

Because she was a sexually abused heroin addict prior to entering the entertainment business

[@mca1218]

Smashing performance by singer AND the photographers. You can tell the cameras are very respectful of the television medium with various close-ups, zooms, and dissolves. The first shot which slowly zooms in on Fantine- and lasts almost an entire minute- allows us to draw in her sad, determined character as she slowly removes her kerchief, fingering and glancing at her waist-length hair [foreshadowing], and at 2:39 gently strokes the locket around her neck. And Ms. Byrne is gorgeous and completely poignant in her rendition. Lovely clip.

[@stevesize3262]

From an Australian midday show. Hosted by Ray Martin. Debra Byrne is the ultimate Fantine..

[@ballaratboy1]

Brilliant!

[@ashleyartus8430]

GOD! She is extraordinary.x Shes heartbreaking.

[@bubble8829]

You forget how brilliant she was ... and then you watch it again ...

[@dama5053]

Debra is the very best Fantine.

[@JasGould-sh3fh]

This is my favourite musical and I was lucky to see this production. Debbie Byrne was heartbreaking as Fantine. She truly deserved to be immortalized on the international cast album along with Anthony Warlow. ❤😂

[@lisaminooli42]

Superb! Heart breaking.

[@0263Rafael]

BRAVO.....BRAVO.......

[@0263Rafael]

Tha best Fantine I ever saw

[@waynespeers]

She's on the international cast recording!

[@yvonnelesage4107]

I saw this performance.

[@youngsterjam]

I may be partial to this because I grew up listening to the Complete Symphonic Recording album (the black label) but I just think she kills this. I've watched the other Fantines and they just do not possess the same maternal softness as Ms. Byrne. Sorry Lea and Ruthie but you can't touch this version. I also kind of like the inferior audio quality and VHS style of this one. Takes me back...to when I was 8.

[@dmckAU]

This was done on the Midday show TCN9. You see Ray Martin at the end!

[@TPATA]

THE BEST EVER!!!!!

[@rkomgm3932]

Shame that demons rake over such talent

[@EmpressSofia]

Ah, well it looks like its from a TV show and not from the stage production. :( For a glorious second, I had a glimmer of hope! :\

[@ChristianPug]

Not my favourite Fantine vocally but she is, most definitely, the most heart-breaking. Amazing performance.

[@greykonos]

And this sort of thing is why I won't be able to go see the new tour. Besides butchering it down to the ADD version of the musical, how can anyone match the likes of Debbie Byrne, Normie Rowe and Anthony Warlow?

[@seangunn3079]

Probably THE ultimate version...

[@SamuelDJCox]

The amazing thing about her vocal sound is that it has this almost breaking voice quality to it. So yes it is perfectly sung but it still has that affectation which sounds like someone trying to control their emotion, like at any moment the vocal technique could fall apart altogether. It never sounds so perfectly clean, it always sounds like it’s on the complete edge of collapse, but it also never quite gets there so you get the best of both an incredible clean vocal but one that also sounds like it’s barely holding itself together. So good!

[@disneydanny2]

they picked a REALLY GREAT Fantine for the Complete Symphonic Recording.

[@shanegordon7111]

The voice; the light and shade; the feeling and emotion...the embodiment of performance.

[@gottamatch]

And this is how you sing I Dreamed A Dream. Perfection. I am so so enjoying all of these Original Australian cast numbers, thank you thank you. Anything you've got of Debra, Marina Prior and our fantastic originals is GREATLY appreciated :)

[@chinto1984]

This deserves an Oscar, not Anne Hathaway

[@robertmwoodley1502]

It's the perfect legato singing which makes it perfect!

[@Skateoutlaw]

I too conceed; I may be partial to this cast due to my experience with the CSR. However, Debra Byrne, in my opinion captures the convincing depth of Fontine's agony greater than others before and after. It is best displayed in the slight inflections at "but he was gone" and "so different from this" contained in the CSR.

[@dazacool123]

What a star

[@EmpressSofia]

Oh, please tell us that you have the entire show! This gives me hope that there's existing footage of Philip Quast in the original Sydney production. Please?

[@HighLive]

EmpressSofia sadly not

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

Phenomenal delivery of Fantine - she becomes Fantine.

[@MyAction5000]

Love you Debra!!

[@HappyEnuff]

This Lady is an absolute heroe. Too good a soul for all the money and what goes with it.

[@Bogunbear]

I was fortunate to see Debra perform this in Sydney in 1988. She blew me away. What an amazing collection of talent was gathered together for that production.

[@donaldclapper4699]

wonderfull thanks

[@HighLive]

This was staged especially for the cameras about 9 months into the run in 1988. Along with Master Of The House on the MIDDAY SHOW with Ray Martin. Les Mis Day Special

[@theonlypinky]

I fell in love with her voice in the 1985 movie Rebel with Matt Dillon. She sang "Heroes"...and i fell in love with her ..... it's available on youtube.....you should all look it up. It's absolutely no wonder to me how she was perfect for I Dreamed A Dream

[@normgilmore7541]

Yes Debra Byrne Head and Shoulders above the others . Problem Debra you are Australian .

[@HighLive]

Not a problem for us Aussies

[@normgilmore7541]

@@HighLive No not a problem for us Aussies . but if she had a made in the US sticker on her Back she would have been o Broadway .

[@stevepotfora7461]

Not sure there is a problem with Miss Byrne being Australian. Has it been a problem for Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Margot Robbie, Heath Ledger, Chris Hemsworth, Mel Gibson, Toni Collette, Paul Hogan, Judy Davis, Simon Baker , Geoffrey Rush or Nicole Kidman ?

[@stevenkrage2412]

Lip-synched, but lovely!

[@HighLive]

No sung live in the Studio, sorry to disabuse you