No matter what you’ve been doing these last two months, you’re no doubt eager to get this whole quarantine thing over with. It’s been integral to saving lives (especially those of vulnerable populations), but humans are social animals and we can only Netflix and chill for so long.

We are no longer chill.

But the virus doesn’t care. (And anyone who has been spared from getting sick should feel lucky.)

The day before quarantine rules were set in their town, Kristin Goodwin Sutton and her 16-year-old son Nick Sutton were out for a drive. And it seems Nick had an idea of just how bad things were going to get because he came up with the perfect parody song for a car karaoke session.

It appears that this is quite the tradition in the Sutton family and occasionally even involves costumes!

Nick has quite the voice and is involved in musical theater. (We’re thinking he might have borrowed a costume from Cabaret, perhaps?)

We love it!

We have no guesses about this one though. (But you can find more videos of family talent on the Sutton Shenanigans YouTube page.)

But the viral video they released in March involves Nick singing a song from the musical Les Misérables. Technically, “I Dreamed A Dream,” is sung by the destitute Fantine, forced to give up her daughter to a wealthy couple while she works to feed and clothe the little girl and give her a better life.

After she’s fired from her legitimate job for resisting the advances of her boss, Fantine is driven to prostitution and this song is her reflecting on her past life – before her partner left her – and all the dreams she had for her future that will never come to pass because she’s dying. (Sorry for ruining the ending, but you’ve had since 1862 to read the book.)

Not cheery stuff. But there’s a reason the title of the classic book-turned-musical translates to “The Miserable.”

We might not be destitute single moms selling our hair for cash like Fantine, but we’re all in a pretty reflective mood lately. And many of us can’t help but fondly remember all the good times that were interrupted by the novel coronavirus. Even the mediocre times are making us misty-eyed!

Heck, some of us are begging to go back to school and work!

For his part, Nick is missing hanging out with his friends (and we shudder to think of being a teenager locked up for months with our own parents!).

He begins:

I dreamed a dream
In time gone by

When hope was high
Business was booming
I dreamed that we could go outside
Without the threat of Covid looming

We’re with ya, Nick!

But wait, it gets even more creative – this is just setting up the real misery.

We’d walk around so unafraid
Go out to eat for our enjoyment
We’d work at jobs and then get paid
But soon we’d file for unemployment

Ouch. The economic mayhem isn’t any easier to swallow in musical form.

We’re guessing they’ll be no summer job for Nick this year.

We’ll let you hear the rest of the clever lyrics for yourself (and they are also in the YouTube caption), but the emotional ending goes a little something like this:

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this isolation
And briefings from the CDC
Corona killed the dream I dreamed….

Ok, now we’re sad. And yet we’re still blown away by Nick’s wonderful voice.

The lyrics just hit a little too close to home (other than CDC briefings – but it was reasonable to think at the time that our biggest health organization would have led the public health effort).

Since the clever video was uploaded on March 26 of this year, it’s received over a million views on YouTube and shared widely across platforms.

On Facebook, Kristin Goodwin Sutton shared a message of thanks for everyone who watched the now-viral (no pun intended) video. She reminded us all that while social media can be “a pretty dark place,” music can be a productive way to “get us through” hard times.

Be sure to scroll down below for the video of the teen with the stellar voice.

We certainly hope to see Nick on Broadway one day – when it’s open again.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: Sutton Shenanigans via YouTube, Kristin Goodwin Sutton via Facebook