I Dreamed A Dream Ending

[Tag]

Posted: 4/2/21 at 4:38pm

I fell down a "I Dreamed a Dream" Youtube hole, and have noticed that some clips have the harp ending, and some have a horn (clarinet/trumpet) ending.  Was the original production reorchestrated at a certain point? I vaguely remember this happening?  It appears the harp ending was the original ending.  Was the harp cut from the pit at some point?

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 4/2/21 at 5:38pm

It was re-orchestrated in 2010 for the 25th anniversary tours and before that it was re-orchestrated in 2004 when it moved from the Palace Theatre to the Queen's Theatre (now Sondheim), which has a considerably smaller pit. Actually this time it wasn't really re-orchestrated, they simply cut a lot of musicians. Harpists always pay the highest price and they're the first to be cut - I think The Phantom of the Opera is the only show that still has a harp in the pit (at least in London). I think they just started using the scaled-down version for tours and the first Broadway revival.

In 2004 Cameron Mackintosh said ""The main thing is that the show has been re-scored for the smaller orchestra with the new keyboard systems — a quantum leap forward in technology. So the majority of the players are now front-line soloists, the rank-and-file element has gone. So the show is articulated as if by 40 soloists. You can hear things that you’ve never heard before outside of the concert hall". This is a bit generous tbh and the reduction of the strings in particular was very noticeable and definitely not an improvement.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 4/3/21 at 5:30pm

The 2006 Broadway revival had a smaller orchestra than the original production and new orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke that included switching the harp for clarinet/winds. To my knowledge, those orchestrations were unique to that production, but it's possible they were used in London before/after.

Updated On: 4/3/21 at 05:30 PM

[Lot666]

Posted: 4/5/21 at 9:12am

imeldasturn said: "I think The Phantom of the Opera is the only show that still has a harp in the pit (at least in London)."

As of November 2019 (not long before the shutdown), Phantom Broadway still had a harp in the pit. I'm sure that musician will be eliminated by Cameron Mackintosh in London (and New York as well, if he gets his hands on the Broadway production).

Updated On: 4/5/21 at 09:12 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 4/5/21 at 10:25am

I prefer the Aretha Franklin ending where she yells “what the hell is going on around here” at the end.

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 4/5/21 at 11:50am

My God, that Aretha Franklin ending gets me laughing every time, lol.

But seriously, a harp is one of the easiest things to emulate on a keyboard. I'm not familiar with a clarinet/trumpet ending, but if anyone did that it was surely a choice, not a necessity. A real harp would be one of the first things to go if you're being forced to scale down the orchestra, but I subbed on the recent national tour and played the harp part (on the keyboard) at the end, solo.