The Man I Used to Be (From the Count of Monte Cristo)

I've seen a thousand wonders

I've lived a hundred lifetimes

But not until this moment

Have miracles seemed real

As fleeting as a shadow

The time goes by unnoticed

The hate that drove me forward

Is gone, and I am face to face with

The man I used to be

Dreams I dared to dream

When love was all, the innocence of youth

Like memories of truth return to learn forgiveness

The man I used to be cannot be outrun

Albert still lives, whatever else I've done

Forever in his eyes, she'll see

The man who I used to be

And all the years will melt away

The nights will be much softer now, for

All the pain is gone

Hope is what moves on

I will be there, as near as her next prayer

As merciful as sweet redemption

Once blind, now I see

Once a slave, I'm free

Give me a star, to home would guide my heart

To resurrect a part of me

The man that I used to be

[FRANK W.:] Thomas Borchert

You know, as a composer you write these things

And I write them at home, and I sing them

And it's kind of funny, 'cause I sing terrible

And, you know, you dream of always having that perfect moment

When you have the great singer, wearing the right thing, in the perfect lightning

With a beautiful orchestra and a great maestro conducting it, and

Today—tonight is kind of like a dream come true, it's just wonderful

They say in New York, in the Theatre World, that

In the spring of 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a small little book called

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde"

And that, a week later, myself and Leslie Bricusse started working on the show

It seemed that it took a long time to get to Broadway

But it's alive and well, and in fact, in the next couple of years, you'll see it revived on Broadway

When Leslie and I were working on the show, a bunch of extraordinary things happened to us

And probably the most was, uh—before there was a TV show, 'American Idol'

Used to be called 'Star Search'

And in '88-'89, which was a year of so many things that happened, which I'll tell you about later

This amazing girl from a small town in Minnesota, whose family is from here

She kept there winning every week, so I got to see her on TV all the time and

It was hard not to fall in love with her then

Anyway, Leslie and I heard her, and we decided to create the role of Lucy in "Jekyll & Hyde" for her

I know this is a special night for her, her family is here, and it's the first time

So many of her family will get to see her perform

So from "Jekyll & Hyde", the song is 'Bring on the Men'

Linda Eder