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Susan Boyle chases her dream to Costa Mesa

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Five years ago, Susan Boyle took to the microphone on the TV show “Britain’s Got Talent” and regaled the crowd with a soulful — and, judging from many on-camera reactions, startling — rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream,” the lament of an ill-fated prostitute from the musical “Les Miserables.”

Last week, the 53-year-old singer started her first American tour on the West Coast. And she’s covered a lot of ground, literally and figuratively, between Scotland and California.

Among the highlights: setting the record for the largest global CD preorder in the history of Amazon, after her “Talent” performance made her an overnight Internet sensation. Two Grammy nominations. Playing for the pope. Having her life turned into a stage musical — called, of all things, “I Dreamed a Dream.”

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“It’s been a very busy five years,” Boyle said by phone a month or so before the start of her tour, which began Wednesday in San Diego.

The 21-date, coast-to-coast tour is scheduled to last through Nov. 6, with the first five dates in California. After stops in Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Sacramento, Boyle will head back south to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Thursday.

Given the short duration of Boyle’s career to date, the term “longtime fan” may not yet apply. But if it does, Segerstrom President Terry Dwyer counts himself a devotee of Boyle’s mellifluous voice, which has now graced six albums and netted her an acting role in last year’s holiday movie “The Christmas Candle.”

“I remember following her particularly during the period when she first came on the scene, because it was such an overwhelming amount of worldwide publicity — because, you know, it’s that spectacular talent that suddenly gets discovered,” Dwyer said. “It’s a great story.”

Apparently, it’s a great show too — even with technical limitations. The Mirror, reviewing Boyle’s tour opener in San Diego, noted that she had come down with a sore throat but “still went on to belt out 28 tracks note perfect.”

As her tour begins, Boyle has a new album to support: “Hope,” which is scheduled for release this fall and contains covers of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” among others. It’s a safe bet that the “Les Miserables” tune, which she closed with in San Diego, will make its way into the Segerstrom set list as well.

In fact, since Boyle’s “Britain’s Got Talent” appearance, that song has brought good fortune to at least one other performer: Anne Hathaway, who performed it in the 2012 film version of “Les Miserables,” copped a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Boyle counted herself among those impressed.

“Oh, she’s a marvelous singer — a marvelous actress as well,” she said. “She really delivered it very well.”

How about a guest appearance, then?

“If she wants to sing a duet with me, I’m open,” Boyle said. “Any time.”

If You Go

Who: Susan Boyle

Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Cost: Starts at $57.25

Information: (714) 556-2787 or https://www.scfta.org

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