Top Ten ‘Glee’ Performances
#4 – ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ – Rachel and Ms. Corcoran
In one of those casting coups that simply had to happen, Idina Menzel was brought on to play Rachel’s long lost mother.
When I first saw the promos for Glee, I was surprised that the woman from Wicked was playing a high school student. Wasn’t she too old?
Then I realized Lea Michele wasn’t Idina Menzel. But their looks, and singing talent, pretty much made it inevitable right off the bat that they’d have to play mother and daughter.
Rachel was raised by two gay dads (a fact she repeats to the principal every time she happens upon an injustice she feels might warrant a lawsuit) and longs to meet her biological mother. No doubt she inherited her love of show tunes from her dads, but her ability to belt them out… that was all mom.
As it turns out, her mom is the coach of McKinley High’s rival glee club, Vocal Adrenaline. And through a series of events I won’t bother describing, she manages to get a taped message to Rachel of her singing today’s song, ‘I Dreamed a Dream.’
Rachel listens, then sings along, and we cut to the two actresses performing on stage together. This is the third clip I’ve chosen from Joss Whedon’s ‘Dream On’ episode, and he again does a beautiful job staging the performance.
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he’ll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
Meet Me In Montauk 
How amazing it must have been for Lea Michele to get the opportunity to sing duets with both Elphaba and Galinda 😉 during the same season. I can’t say that either of those duets were among my favorite performances of the season, but I was quite impressed with Michele for more than holding her own against such veteran Broadway performers.
This is a lovely song and another great use of subjective realism (though not quite as effective as “Safety Dance”) by Whedon, but I would choose the mother/daughter duet of “Poker Face” every time over this imagined duet.
I went back and forth between the two, but I found this one a little more poignant for showing Rachel’s initial discovery of her mom, and for being more imaginatively staged. Loved both performances, though, and I wish they’d had more chances to sing together.
Someone really needs to do a genetic test on these two–they really may be biologically related:)
Beautiful song, beautiful moment.
Again, I haven’t seen this episode, but I do love this scene. It is amazing how they could be mother and daughter in looks and sound. Love this song and they do a beautiful job.
I do love the scene and the song, but I have to say I am 100% with Amy in that I would take their rendition of “Poker Face” over this song any day. I knew this was going to be your third song from this episode, but I would probably swap it with “Safety Dance” in my order of the clips.
In any case, it was a beautiful moment and really did showcase the amazing talent of these two women. One of the things I appreciate most about this show is how they find just the right songs to fit each performer’s “wheel house.” They take the songs, the characters, and the show to the next level. Love it!