"I Dreamed A Dance" from 'Next to Normal' Act 1

[musicfreak835]

If theres no dancers dancing the dance,how can the dance still be danced?

[14ocie]

Something about this song is so haunting. Alice's voice is definitely part of it. Also, how it sounds kind of like something you'd hear in an old music box, but then builds up to a creepy-nostalgic feeling. But it remains beautiful throughout.

[TheCBMAN123]

This scene was always a bit hard to take, the words alone, bring a lump to your throat.

[Oliviaisthewalrus]

I saw this show last night and this song was so unexpectedly beautiful. I couldn't help but begin to cry, and everyone in the audience was crying too. It captured the sadness and desperation of grief so brilliantly.

[Feareous]

I hadn't realized all of that until I saw the show; before I thought it was the parent's combined ignorance and negligence, now I know it was truly a medical mystery that only an autopsy could resolve. The show I saw last week in LA, with Alice Ripley, opened my eyes to many of things - this musical deserved its Pulitzer!

[AliaSparrow]

@Feareous That's what makes it more heartbreaking. The event was even out of the doctor's control. Grief becomes uncontrollable like Alice's sickness.

[horselover100]

So how come her family didnt realize that she made up a son who had died?

[TheAStro2790]

I think they did.

[wickedObsessed22]

@horselover100 she didnt make him up she actuly had a son who died at 18 months old

[misterwicked56]

This part killed me emotionally I was all teary and just..woah but it was so beautiful

[jayiijay]

It should have won the Tony for Best Musical this year, or virtually any year, this is a brilliant heart-rending show. People who post should not give away the show's "secrets", it diminishes the show for those who might see it in the future.

[vaudevillevanna]

this should have without a doubt won the Tony for best musical.

[Safuza]

This song had my mom crying. Her first child/ my older brother was still born =(

[HappyHiidee]

the lyrics are perfect for the music. its simple, all she wants is a moment with her son and its given to her in her dreams, and although she doesnt have him she will always have him in her dreams. its terribly sad :C

[tellmewhatsahappenin]

I think the lyrics are exactly what they need to be. This scene is heartbreaking :`(

[gtd3765]

Okay i'm confused is Gabe/Tviet dead or is he a figment of Diana's/Ripley's imagination?

[Feareous]

He is dead and a figment of her imagination. He was once alive, but died at 18 months old due to their (the parents') ignorance. That haunts her to a breaking point. So whenever you see him, it's her imagining him except at the end when the father comes to grips with his sons death, finally.

[jackskellingtonsora]

What were they ignorant of?

[Feareous]

Proper care of child, uncertainties and inabilities to make prompt decisions that ended up costing the child's life.

[esfira]

No, I think they did what any parent would do - in the show it talks about them going to as many doctors and specialists as possible and not knowing what the problem was until the child was already dead. He died of an intestinal blockage, but if the doctors couldn't even find the problem, it could hardly be considered the parents' faults.

[lindyjelphie]

I agree with Feareous. They sing about being young and stupid....a child raising a child and such. The implication is that if they were more alert and mature they may have saved his life. And, for whatever reason, they changed his death age to 8 mos.

[bananas379]

@Feareous but didn't they say the doctors didn't see it? They said that babies cry all the time there's no need to be worried

[Solsen581]

@Feareous I thought that at first too because they kept saying "I was a child, raising a child!" But i think that was jjust them saying how scared they were and how it has affected. See esfira's comment. thats correct (in my opinion)

[tomboy4life3]

@Feareous It wasn't their fault! the doctor's told them not to worry, that baby cry a lot and nothing was wrong with Gabe! They were just listening to the stupid doctors.

[The29thStreet]

@Feareous he was actually sick, but none of the doctors could figure out what it was.

[Boonedaba]

Are you sure it isn't 18 years?

[ipooluokalani]

it's 18 months, in Diana's mind she imagines that Gabe grew up and he's still with them.

[asouviron]

no she imagined that Gabe is 18 years old but really he's not

[backstreetsbev]

she basically made up his entire life, going to school, snorting cocaine.

[asouviron]

Yea pretty much

[devoutlyimmature]

@Feareous I'm sorry but I disagree. Yes obviously they say later "and I was a child, raising a child" so obviously they were completely overwhelmed by the situation. But tey do also say "something the doctors all missed. The ER, the clinic, each specialist. They said, 'babies cry, allergies, gas, who knows why...'"

So it's not like they sat around doing nothing, assuming it was fine.

[QTipbandit]

@devoutlyimmature Agreed, this wasn't a case of parent's negligence, if anything they could've sued the hospital and specialists for completely missing something but what happened was happened was one of those complete 1 in a mil diagnosis that happens in kids! They did what they could. That's why she's depressed (amongst her other problems) to the situation I think, she did all she was suppose to (got married and took care of her child) and it still didn't turn out right!

[ritsfata]

@Feareous He's 8 months old, according to the script.

[bbraat]

@Feareous In the end scene Dan doesn't "come to grips" with Gabe's death. The scene reveals that he was as affected as Diana was. Upon listening to the show again, during "I am the one" Gabe talks to Dan, expresses Dan's thoughts ("are you hoping for a life to live", etc). Dan spends the show ignoring him until the end he's left alone without Diana to care for. When he sees, or acknowledges Gabe, he isn't shocked to see his son. He simply says, "why didn't you leave with her?"

[tamarajoy06]

@gtd3765 he died but diana still thinks he is alive

[HermioneFanForever]

I think I'm more in love with music in this song then the lyrics. Both are so beautifully crafted

[Feareous]

Personally, I don't care to much for the lyrics of this song but the music IS exquisite

[HermioneFanForever]

I do perfer the music over the lyrics. The lyrics remind me of Sleeping Beauty for some reason.