Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is a British classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She sings songs in many languages including English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, Russian, Hindi, and Mandarin.

Brightman debuted as a dancer in troupes such as Hot Gossip and later released a string of disco singles. She was a musical theatre performer and partner of theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom she originated roles including Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. Her 1984 marriage to Andrew Lloyd Webber ended in 1990.

After her divorce, Brightman became a crossover artist with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson. Her style, a blend of classical vocals and pop-inspired instrumentation and arrangement, earned her further success. Brightman has received 160 Gold and Platinum awards in 34 countries and is the only artist to hold #1 spots on the Billboard Classical and Dance charts simultaneously. She has sold 26 million records worldwide thus far making her the best selling soprano of all time, and one of the biggest selling classical soloists of all time. She is said to be worth as much as £30m (about US$42m).

I. SARAH'S EARLY YEARS: 1960 - 1981

Sarah Brightman was born an entertainer. From the tender age of three, she was dancing at festivals in her hometown of Berkhamsted, a sleepy market town outside of London. By age five, she was performing up to four routines and winning them all.

It was her ballet teacher, an examiner for the Royal Academy of Ballet, who made her parents aware that Sarah was unusually gifted. As such, Sarah’s show business aspirations were regarded not as childhood fantasy, but as precocious ambition, deserving of regard and nurture.

Despite severe bouts of homesickness, she enrolled in a performing arts boarding school at age eleven and was well on the way to furthering her dreams at that pre-pubescent age.

As a child, Sarah was exposed to an eclectic assortment of music, for hers was a household where Tom Jones and Tchaikovsky got equal billing and airtime. Sarah was just as happy twirling around in the kitchen to psychedelic pop as she was executing ballet maneuvers to serious classical movements.

It is perhaps not surprising that decades later, Sarah Brightman would break musical ground by fusing seemingly incongruous genres; gliding seamlessly between pop and classical, dance and trip-hop, Gregorian chants and Eastern refrains. Even her gravitation towards Gregorian chants can be traced back to her years of singing in Berkhamsted's church choir.

Tuneful choir voice notwithstanding, the assumption by all concerned had been that Sarah would be a professional dancer. But it was not until Sarah's performance at the age of twelve at her boarding school that her singing aspirations truly took root.

Paula, her mother, recalls: I really didn’t know how good her voice was until I saw her sing at an end of term concert. She stood up on stage, with braces and all, and sang something from “Alice in Wonderland.” It was so beautiful, I felt sick. She hit such high notes that the audience was stunned. They completely fell for her. It was absolute magic, and obvious, from that moment on, that singing would be her calling.

With Sarah's obvious gift for singing, acting and dancing, it didn’t take very long for her to catch the attention of school officials. After just a year there, she was sent out to the Piccadilly Theatre to audition for I and Albert, a new John Schlesinger musical.

Sarah clinched two roles -- that of Vicky, Queen Victoria’s eldest child, and a street waif -- and was ecstatic. After all, a major role in a West End production helmed by a famous director was hardly an everyday occurrence for a twelve-year old. I and Albert effectively extinguished her interest in academics, injecting in her a voracious, lifelong craving for the stage.

In the succeeding years, the teenage Sarah spent her summers modeling and strutting around on catwalks, draped in garb that ran the gamut from cheap to chic -- Woolworth jeans one day, Dior haute couture and Vogue photo sessions the next.

At the age of sixteen, she landed a coveted spot in Pan's People. As the resident dance troupe of BBC Television’s top-rated hit-parade show, Top of the Pops, this all-girl group ruled the airwaves, attracting a rabid and devoted following. Even though BBC's new lineup meant that Pan's People would no longer grace the hit show, nothing could be more glamorous to a dancer than becoming a Pan’s Person.

Induction into the group required, however, that Sarah drop out of school, which was precisely what she did, despite pronounced parental trepidation. No one could have predicted then that this risky move would, in time, pay off so handsomely for Sarah and her legions of fans.

Before long, Sarah was spotted by choreographer Arlene Phillips (who would later go on to choreograph hits like Annie, Starlight Express and Lord of the Dance) and was invited to audition for Hot Gossip, the sultry dance troupe with a weekly slot on Thames Television’s Kenny Everett Show. Arlene was looking for new recruits with the sex appeal and risqué moves necessary to complement the show’s irreverent, no-holds barred format. So raunchy were the routines that they actually incurred the wrath of morality watchdog groups.

But distracting as the furor surrounding the troupe’s come-hither titillation may have been, it could not detract from the fact that Hot Gossip pioneered cutting-edge dance moves and quick edits, spawning routines and techniques that are still very much a staple in choreography today.

In the meantime, Sarah had been recording demo tracks on her own, one of which caught the attention of a producer at Hansa Ariola, a label handling disco artists like Donna Summer and Boney M. He was looking for the right voice for Jeffrey Calvert's “I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper.”

It was a track laden with every conceivable space exploration cliché in the book but was, nonetheless, perfect for appeasing the late-seventies appetite for mylar and flying saucers. Sarah was quickly signed on. (Jeffrey Calvert and Sarah would eventually form their own label, Whisper, and release two singles together, "My Boyfriend's Back" and "Not Having That").

“Starship Trooper” was released in December 1978, and became an instant hit, selling half a million copies and reaching number six on the British Hit Parade. It was exhilarating for Sarah, who had always been a chart-watcher, to observe her own meteoric rise.Sexy, radical and hip, "Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip" became a phenomenon, and the teen idols were soon endorsing clothes, shoes, hair products and the like. Royalties started pouring in and at eighteen, Sarah commenced the life of a pop star.

It was during this heady time that Sarah first met Andrew One (who is not to be confused with Andrew Two, that impossibly successful musical theatre impresario). After a quick courtship, Sarah married Andrew Graham Stewart. Seven years her senior, Andrew was the manager of Tangerine Dreams, a German psychedelic rock band signed to Virgin.

Eventually, Sarah left Hot Gossip and auditioned for a role in a new musical, one with a decidedly curious theme: Cats. It was also where she would meet Andrew Number Two...

II. SARAH'S MUSICAL THEATRE ERA: 1981-1990

Scarcely two lines into her song at the Cats audition, Sarah was stopped short and told that she had earned a personal meeting with Andrew Lloyd Webber at his home. The next day, an aide called and summoned Sarah to Andrew's flat.

The Cats audition had called for performers who regarded themselves as “unusual.” Sarah rather ostensibly fit the bill, arriving in conservative Belgravia flamboyantly attired in aquamarine and crowned in a blue mohican hairstyle. Her rendition of “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” followed by “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina,” visibly impressed Andrew who promptly arranged for a series of further auditions with Trevor Nunn.

Months lapsed, however, before Sarah finally got the news that she had been offered a role in Cats. Some year later, Gillian Lynne, the choreographer for Cats (appearing on This Is Your Life, a British celebrity-tribute show honoring Sarah) remarked:

She danced with such sensuality and determination. Nobody taught Sarah her guts. In Cats, everyone kept hurting themselves because it was difficult... and Sarah kept putting her neck out. I'd say, "Do you think you should do the Jellicle Ball... all twelve minutes of it... again?" And she'd say, "Yes, I’m not going to sit down, I’m not going to sit down." And so she'd dance, with her head cocked to one side in pain.

Sarah played Jemima and was given a small vocal solo part in the hit song, "Memory." Despite the fact that the role showcased more of her dancing prowess than her vocal abilities, Sarah recognized that her voice possessed a "star quality" that she would do well to hone. It was at this time that she started vocal lessons with reknowed coaches — Elizabeth Hawes, head of voice at the Trinity Music College in London till 1986 and subsequenty with Ellen Faul, head of voice at Julliard in New York.

After a year in Cats, Sarah left to play the title role in Charles Strauss' children's opera, Nightingale. Enticed by a rave review, Andrew went to watch her in the show one evening and was flabbergasted. It seemed inconceivable that he could have missed such vocal talent when she'd been in his show for a year. It would be an awakening that would alter more than just his perception of her. It would alter the course of their careers and lives.

______

Their relationship, which had hitherto been professional and circumscribed to cast parties and the like, blossomed rapidly into a serious romance. Both were married at the time: he to a different Sarah and she to a different Andrew. Their romance, respective divorces and high-profile marriage provided sensational fodder for the English tabloid press. Indeed, the media scrutiny of their relationship was surpassed only by the intense coverage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana at the time.

In the years that followed, Andrew produced a number of Sarah's projects, including "Him." Adapted from Hubert Parry's "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind," (Richard Stilgoe penned the lyrics), the music may have originally had spiritual origins but the curiously erotic music video, featuring Sarah, surely dispelled such notions. "Him" was released as a single but it was the video that probably created more of a stir.

Sarah's next major undertaking was a live performance of Andrew's Song and Dance, taped for video release in 1984. Although she had not been in its original West End cast, executives at RCA/Columbia, who commissioned the video for the US market, wanted Sarah to star in it. Taken by her appearance on The Merv Griffin Show, they were convinced that she was just right for American audiences.

The material did not show off Sarah's three-plus octave range and effortless high-D, but her performance garnered rave reviews anyway. Daily Telegraph's John Barber wrote, “This could be a new 'star' — not a word I use lightly.” His assessment proved prophetic as the project resulted not only in a home video but an LP, a single ("Unexpected Song"), BBC and American television broadcasts... and indeed, a star.

Scarcely a year later, Sarah's crystalline recording of "Pie Jesu" rocketed up the charts, selling 25,000 copies on the first day of release and peaking at number 3; no mean feat for a song in Latin. With classical music permeating the Lloyd Webber household (Sarah was in heavy operatic training at the time), Andrew was move to write the Requiem Mass as a tribute to young victims of war. Its Manhattan premiere, starring Placido Domingo and Sarah Brightman, was filmed by both PBS and the BBC for later broadcast. The LP eventually became UK's top selling classical album of the year and earned Sarah a Grammy nomination as "Best New Classical Artist."

Sarah continued to perform the Requiem in other parts of the US, even as she played the role of Valencienne in The Merry Widow for the New Sadler's Wells Opera in London. This entailed not only physically shuttling from one continent to the other, but vocally shuttling between soprano (in Merry Widow) and soprano de colorutura (in Requiem). Demanding as this was, it was but a warmup for Sarah as her soprano voice would, a year later, take the spotlight in a musical that, to this day, remains a global phenomenon.

______

Back in 1984, Sarah had been offered the role of Christine in a small East London play of Phantom of the Opera. Sarah eventually turned it down, but not before she had consulted with Andrew, who quickly became obsessed with the idea. It seemed the perfect vehicle for his next musical. At last he could write an entire show for his wife and muse, one that would finally and fully exploit her stunning vocal range.

David Caddick, Phantom's conducter, was in later years, quoted as saying:

What is amazing about Sarah is that she has two voices, really. She can produce a pop, contemporary sound, but she can also blossom out into a light soprano. The soprano part of her voice can go up to an E natural above high C. She doesn’t sing it full out, but it is there. Of course, she has to dance while she is singing some of the time, so it’s all the more extraordinary.

Phantom of the Opera opened at the Majesty's Theatre on Oct 9, 1986, to unprecedented crowds and acclaim. The fact that the show had already spawned three Top Ten hit singles even before opening night did not hurt. The title track featured Sarah with Steve Harley and "All I Ask of You" with Cliff Richard. The third hit featured Michael Crawford on "Music of the Night." The show was a runaway success on the West End and for six months, Sarah performed the role of Christine to considerable critical acclaim. This included extended periods when she performed all eight shows a week, instead of the usual, more humane, six.

A year later, Sarah reprised her role on Broadway. It was, however, a move which would prove contentious, as the American Actor's Equity union stood firm on their policy of hiring only Americans for the roles. Sparks flew over the Atlantic as Andrew fumed at the prospect that the inspiration of his masterpiece would not be allowed to star in it. It was not until he issued an ultimatum (no Sarah means no Phantom on Broadway) that the deadlock was broken; Sarah would be allowed to perform if Andrew agreed to cast an American actor in his next London production. In the end, it was a compromise that more than paid off. Phantom chalked up a staggering $17 million in advance sales prior to opening night on Jan 28, 1988, and generated a public and media frenzy that is unmatched since.

In the brief hiatus between the two Phantom productions, Sarah completed a series of projects. The first was a studio recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. She also released "Doretta's Dream" (the theme from Room With A View), followed by The Trees They Grow So High, a collection of folksongs arranged by Benjamin Britten.

Almost as soon as she left the Broadway production of Phantom (American Actor's Equity had limited her stint to six months), she embarked on a whirlwind global tour of The Music of Andrew Llyod Webber. Playing to sold-out crowds, the tour started in England in the fall of 1988 and eventually spanned the breadth of Canada and the US through the fall of 1989. Having spent a considerable time originating the role of Christine in Phantom, Sarah relished the opportunity to play herself again (to the extent possible, considering that this was a retrospective of Andrew's greatest hits). At the very least, singing numbers from a variety of shows — including Evita, Song and Dance, Cats and of course, Phantom — was mildly liberating. Her performances were greeted with much accolade, both from the public and press.

Undaunted by the stress of the touring concert production, Sarah managed to perform Requiem in the Soviet Union, participate in a Save the Children charity show, release a single and record two solo albums during this period... all in between shows.

The single released was the emotive "Anything But Lonely" from Andrew's new musical, Aspects of Love. Due to the reciprocal agreement with the American Actor's Equity, Sarah could not be cast in the original London production of Aspects, but did later take on the role of Rose on Broadway.

"Anything But Lonely" was followed a month later by the release of a solo album, The Songs That Got Away, an anthology of fifteen songs that were forgotten despite their pedigree — they had either flopped or been dropped from shows written by the likes of Irvin Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Noel Coward, and yes, even indomitable Andrew. Sarah had performed "Half A Moment" from Andrew's short-lived musical Jeeves at the Barbican some years backs and had been stunned by the rapturous reaction from the audience. Surely, she surmised, there must be other failed musicals with winning songs. Thus began a project of gargantuan proportions, involving exhaustive research and the help of composers from both sides of the Atlantic. The resulting list of a hundred songs was eventually winnowed down to the fifteen that were recorded.

In real life, sadly, it was not the songs that got away, but the marriage. The unrelenting recording sessions and touring schedule, coupled with prolonged absences from Andrew had taken an irreparable toll on their marriage. By the summer of 1990, the official announcement came that it was over. Incredibly, their personal turmoil did not unseat the deep professional regard they obviously had for each other. Scarcely one month after the final divorce proceedings, Sarah was working with Andrew again, this time playing the lead in Aspects on Broadway.

Her work in Aspects notwithstanding, Sarah steeled herself and set forth to find her own footing. Perhaps the most poignant declaration of independence came in the form of her second solo album from this period, an eclectic but personal collection of folk-rock songs that she had hand-picked. It was a departure from musical theatre and indeed, a departure from Andrew himself. More tellingly, the album bore a most prescient title: As I Came of Age...

III. SARAH'S SOLO CAREER: 1990 - present

Time To Say Goodbye, Single by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman

Her stage career curtailed, Brightman pursued solo recording in Los Angeles. In 1992, she sang the song for the Olympic Games, "Amigos Para Siempre" with José Carreras, written by Lloyd Webber. She was inspired to go solo by the German band Enigma and requested to work with one of its members. Her request was answered and in 1991 Brightman traveled to Germany to meet her producer, Frank Peterson. Their first release was Dive (1993), a water-themed pop album that featured "Captain Nemo", a cover of a song by the Swedish electronica band Dive.

Fly (1995), a pop rock album and her second collaboration with Peterson, propelled Brightman to fame in Europe with the hit "A Question of Honour". The song, introduced at the World Boxing Championship match between Germany's Henry Maske and Graciano Rocchigiani, combined electronic dance music, rock elements, classical strings, and excerpts from the aria "Ebben? ... Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally.

"Time to Say Goodbye" ("Con te partirò") was the second Brightman song debuted for Maske, this time at his retirement match. This duet with tenor Andrea Bocelli sold more than 3 million copies in Germany alone, became Germany's best-selling single, and was successful in numerous other countries; the album eventually sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Due to the song's success, a 1996 re-issue of Fly featured "Time to Say Goodbye" as the first track.

Timeless (released in 1997, with the title Time to Say Goodbye in the United States) contained "Time to Say Goodbye" and other classical-inspired tracks such as "Just Show Me How to Love You", a duet with José Cura (originally sung by Dario Baldambembo with the title "Tu Cosa Fai Stasera?"), a cover of the Queen hit "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Tu Quieres Volver", (originally recorded by the Gipsy Kings).

Brightman's mainstream exposure in the United States also began around this time, starting with an appearance on Bocelli's December 1997 PBS television special, duetting "Time to Say Goodbye"; later, in March 1998, her own PBS special, Sarah Brightman in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, marked the point when she crossed from Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart to the Billboard 200 chart, with Time to Say Goodbye. Despite this, however, attempts to market songs from the album to U.S. Top 40 and heritage radio formats were mostly unsuccessful. In 1999, she appeared on the album I Won't Forget You by Princessa, another artist with whom Peterson had worked.

Later albums included Eden (1998) (the title track of which was a cover of a song by Belgian band Hooverphonic), and La Luna (2000). These albums, unlike Time to Say Goodbye, incorporated more pop music elements. Reviews were mixed - LAUNCHcast deemed Eden "deliriously sappy", while Allmusic called Eden "a winning combination" and La Luna "a solid, stirring collection".

Eden reached #65 on the Billboard 200 charts (certified Gold for selling over 500,000 copies), and La Luna peaked at #17. In addition, both albums reached #1 on Billboard's Classical Crossover charts. At the end of 2001, Billboard magazine noted Brightman as one of four classical crossover artists from the UK (the others being Charlotte Church, Russell Watson, and bond) with albums on both the Classical Crossover and Billboard 200 charts, a phenomenon which, it said, contributed to a resurgence of UK music in the U.S. after "a historic low" in 1999.

In 2001, Brightman released Classics, an album of operatic arias and other classical pieces including a solo version of "Time to Say Goodbye". Its reviews were somewhat better than its predecessors: Entertainment Weekly, although calling Brightman a "stronger song stylist than a singer", gave the album a grade of B-.

In 2001, Brightman released "The secret" on SASH!'s fifth studio album S4!Sash!. This song was re-released in 2007 as "The secret 2007 (Unreleased)" on SASH!'s sixth album 10th Anniversary.

Her 2003 album Harem represented another departure: a Middle Eastern-themed album influenced by dance music. On Harem, Brightman collaborated with artists such as Ofra Haza and Iraqi singer Kazem al-Saher. Nigel Kennedy contributed violin tracks to the songs "Free" and "The War is Over", and Jaz Coleman contributed arrangements.

The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 charts (with sales tracked by Nielsen SoundScan figuring at approximately 333,000, or about one-third the total sales of La Luna), #1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart, and yielded a #1 dance/club single with the remix of the title track. Some time later, another single from the album (the ballad "Free", cowritten with Sophie B. Hawkins) became a second Top-10 hit on this chart. Nevertheless, radio airplay for the album's singles, at least in the U.S., was almost nonexistent.

The albums Eden, La Luna, and Harem were accompanied by live tours which incorporated the theatricality of her stage origins. Brightman acknowledged this in an interview, saying, "They're incredibly complicated...[but also] natural. I know what works, what doesn't work, all the old tricks." In both 2000 and 2001, Brightman was among the top 10 most popular British performers in the U.S., with concert sales grossing $7.2 million from 34 shows in 2000 and over $5 million from 21 shows in 2001.

Most recently, the Harem tour grossed over $60 million and sold over 700,000 tickets, $15 million and 225,000 sales of which came from the North American leg, although with ticket prices raised 30% from previous tours, average sales per venue were up 65%. In North America, Harem tour promoters Clear Channel Entertainment (now Live Nation) took the unusual step of advertising to theatre subscribers, in an effort to reach fans of Brightman's Broadway performances, and also sold VIP tickets, at $750 each, that included on-stage seating during the concert and a backstage pass.

Tour reviews were mixed: one critic from the New York Times called the La Luna tour "not so much divine but post-human" and "unintentionally disturbing: a beautiful argument of emptiness." In contrast, a reviewer from the Boston Globe deemed the Harem tour "unique, compelling" and "charmingly effective."

Television specials on PBS were produced for nearly every Brightman album in the U.S.; a director of marketing has credited these as her number-one source of exposure in the country. Indeed, her concert for Eden was among PBS's most grossing pledge events.

Sarah Brightman performing "The Journey Home" at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2007.

Brightman released a DVD collection of her music videos on 3 October 2006 under the title of Diva: The Video Collection. Diva: The Singles Collection is the accompanying CD, released on the same date. The album marked the first time Brightman has released a greatest hits album in the United States; it reached #1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart. (Classics, from 2001, featured seven new recordings in addition to the previously-released material, and her other reflective offering, The Best of 1990-2000, was a European-only release.)

Brightman was one of the artists featured on the January 2007 series of the prime time BBC One show Just the Two of Us, partnered with English cricketer Mark Butcher. The pair finished the competition in third place.

Subsequent appearances include the Concert For Diana in July 2007, where she sang "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera with Josh Groban, Around 15 million people from across the UK watched Concert for Diana at home, and it was broadcast to over 500 million homes in 140 countries; the 7 July 2007 Chinese leg of Live Earth in Shanghai, where she performed four songs ("Nessun Dorma", "La Luna", "Nella Fantasia" and "Time to Say Goodbye") and debuted her single "Running" at the 2007 IAAF Championships in Osaka, Japan on 25 August. She also participated at the 2007 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where she performed "The Journey Home" on the Jolly Polly Pirate Ship. She recorded a duet with Anne Murray singing "Snowbird" on Murray's 2007 album Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends.

On 29 January 2008, Brightman released her first album in five years: Symphony, influenced by gothic music. The Song "Symphony" is a cover of "Symphonie" by the German band Silbermond. "Fleurs du Mal" was the second single of the album and it represented a huge success, it also experienced a big radio airplay.

Featured on the album are artists Fernando Lima, Andrea Bocelli, and KISS vocalist Paul Stanley, who duets with Brightman on "I Will Be With You", the album version of the theme song to the 10th Pocket Monsters motion picture, Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai (Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai). To accompany Symphony, Brightman embarked on a tour in Autumn 2008. On 16 January 2008 she also appeared in concert at Vienna’s Stephansdom Cathedral performing songs from her new album. Special guests that sang duets with Sarah include Italian tenor Alessandro Safina, Argentinean countertenor Fernando Lima, and British singer Chris Thompson. Brightman made several appearances on television in the United States to promote Symphony, including Fashion on Ice on NBC on 12 January, The View on 30 January, Martha on 31 January and Fox and Friends on the Fox News Channel. She performed two songs, "Pie Jesu" and "There You'll Be", at the United States Memorial Day concert on 25 May 2008 held on the west lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.. Brightman stars as Blind Mag in the rock musical film Repo! The Genetic Opera which was released on 7 November, 2008 - her first film role. Brightman was cast in the film at the last minute after the original actress who was cast for the role was dropped from the project.

On 8 August 2008 Brightman and Chinese singer Liu Huan jointly sang You and Me in both Mandarin and English at the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. On 4 November, 2008, Brightman released her first holiday album, entitled A Winter Symphony.

In 2008 Sarah Brightman sang "Silent Night" for the Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas parade, airing on ABC Christmas Morning.

ITV television show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway has featured Brightman's "Time To Say Goodbye" as part of their Ant Vs. Dec: The Teams Section. The song has been played in the 2008 and 2009 series when a team member is eliminated.

Stage credits

Musicals

• I and Albert (as Vicky and street waif), 1973 Picadilly Theatre, London
• Cats (as Jemima), 1981 New London Theatre
• The Pirates of Penzance (as Kate), 1982
• Masquerade (as Tara Treetops), 1982
• Nightingale (as Nightingale), 1982 Buxton Festival and the Lyric, Hammersmith
• Song and Dance (as Emma) , Palace Theatre in London on 28 April 1984

• Requiem (as Herself), 1985 New York and London
• The Merry Widow (as Valencienne), 1985
• The Phantom of the Opera (as Christine Daaé), 1986 Her Majesty's Theatre London, 1988 Broadway
• Aspects of Love (as Rose Vibert), 1990
• Repo!The Genetic Opera(as Blind Mag), 2008 lionsgate productions

Plays

• Trelawny of the Wells (as Rose Trelawney), 1992
• Relative Values (as Miranda), 1993 Chichester Festival and Savoy Theatre
• Dangerous Obsession (as Sally Driscoll), 1994 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
• The Innocents (as Miss Giddens), 1995 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
• Repo!The Genetic Opera(movie) (as Blind Mag), 2008

Filmography

• Granpa, 1989 animated children's film - singing Make Believe over the end credits
• Zeit Der Erkenntnis, (Herself...Sarah Brightman), 2000 feature film
• Repo! The Genetic Opera (as Blind Mag), 2008 feature film

Selected discography

Main article: Sarah Brightman discography

Cast recordings

• Cats (1981)
• Nightingale - Original London Cast (1983)
• Song and Dance - Sarah Brightman & Wayne Sleep (1984. Re-released 2007)
• Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem - Domingo, Brightman, ECO, Maazel (1985)
• The Phantom of the Opera - Original London Cast (1986)
• Carousel - Studio Cast (1987)
• Repo! The Genetic Opera! (2008)

Selected albums

• Dive (1993)
• Fly (1995)
• Time to Say Goodbye (1997)
• Eden (1998)
• La Luna (2000)
• Classics (2001)
• Harem (2003)
• The Harem World Tour: Live from Las Vegas (2004)
• Diva: The Singles Collection (2006)
• Classics: The Best Of Sarah Brightman (2006)
• Symphony (2008)
• A Winter Symphony (2008)

Tours

• "One Night In Eden" 1999
• "La Luna World Tour" 2000–2001
• "Harem World Tour" 2004
• "Symphony World Tour" 2008–2009

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

External links

• Official website
• Sarah Brightman at IMDb
• Sarah Brightman at the Internet Broadway Database

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