Susan Boyle Inspires on Britains Got Talent 2009

An unassuming 47 year old Susan Boyle wowed the judges with her performance in the auditions for the latest season of Britains Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables.

Boyle, an unemployed woman who's "nearly 48," talked about her cat, and joked around with the judges, noting that she had "never been kissed." She revealed her dreams of being a singer and compared herself to beloved British musical theater star Elaine Paige.

The entire audience prepared for the worst as she began her song, but, once she starting singing the crowd and judges were transported by her emotional and theatrical take on the number!

The Britains Got Talent's first season was won by a cell phone salesman who sang opera songs, Paul Potts. Potts was also physically unassuming at first blush on the show. It appears Susan Boyle has struck a very similar cord at the start of this season as well. To watch the performance, click here.

On October 8, 1985 Les Misérables opened at the Barbican Theatre, London and musical theatre history was made. It then moved to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985. On March 12, 1987, the American version opened at the Broadway Theatre.

Since then, Les Misérables by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer has travelled the globe and won many major awards throughout the world, including eight Tony awards, including Best Musical. Les Misérables has touched the heart of its international audience as few shows in history have ever done.

This power derives both from the enormous strength of the theatrical adaptation (produced by Cameron Mackintosh, directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird) and from the timeless reality of the titanic novel upon which the show is based, Victor Hugo's classic, Les Misérables.

More than 130 years later, "huge sores" still litter the world, and Hugo's words still describe the undying message of his novel.