"I Could Have Danced All Night" is a song from the musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

, with music written by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Alan Jay Lerner

Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...

, published in 1956

1956 in music

-Events:*January 26 – Buddy Holly's first recording sessions for Decca Records take place in Nashville, Tennessee*Roy Orbison signs with Sun Records*January 27 – Elvis Presley's single "Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was the One" is released...

. The song is sung by the musical's heroine, Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Sophie Caird , better known by her stage name Eliza Doolittle, is an English singer–songwriter from London, who signed to the Parlophone record label in October 2008. Her debut self-titled album, Eliza Doolittle was released on 12 July 2010, where it debuted at number 3 in the UK...

, expressing her exhilaration and excitement after an impromptu dance with her tutor Henry Higgins.

It was first performed by Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews

Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

 in the original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production of My Fair Lady. In the 1964 film adaptation of the musical

My Fair Lady (film)

My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, of the same name, based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ballroom scene and the ending were taken from the previous film adaptation , rather than from...

, the song was sung by Marni Nixon

Marni Nixon

Marni Nixon is an American soprano and playback singer for featured actresses in movie musicals. She has also spent much of her career performing in concerts with major symphony orchestras around the world and in operas and musicals throughout the United States.-Biography:Born Margaret Nixon...

, dubbing the singing voice of Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...

, who played Eliza Doolittle.

Hit versions of the song were recorded by Sylvia Syms

Sylvia Syms (singer)

Sylvia Syms was an American jazz singer.She was born Sylvia Blagman in Brooklyn, New York, United States. As a child, she had polio. As a teenager, she went to jazz-oriented nightclubs on New York's 52nd Street, and received informal training from Billie Holiday...

, Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...

, Angélica María

Angélica María

Angélica María Hartman Ortiz is an Mexican-American actress and a Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter. She is a legendary entertainer and is known as La Novia de Mexico .-Early life:...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Rosemary Clooney

Rosemary Clooney

Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...

 and Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...

. It was featured in The Birdcage

The Birdcage

The Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski. The script was written by Elaine May...

sung by Nathan Lane

Nathan Lane

Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...

, Hank Azaria

Hank Azaria

Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...

, Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman

Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...

, Robin Williams

Robin Williams

Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

 and Dianne Wiest

Dianne Wiest

Dianne Wiest is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.-Early life:...

. Many actresses have also sung the song in the stage version of the musical including Martine McCutcheon

Martine McCutcheon

Martine McCutcheon is an English singer, television personality and Laurence Olivier Award-winning actress. McCutcheon had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan in the early 1990s; however, it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in BBC's EastEnders that made her a household name in the UK...

, Laura Michelle Kelly

Laura Michelle Kelly

Laura Michelle Kelly is an English actress and singer who achieved critical acclaim in the role of Mary Poppins in the musical of the same name.-Musical theatre:...

, Amy Nuttall

Amy Nuttall

Amy Nuttall is an English actress and singer most notable for playing the role of Chloe Atkinson in the long-running ITV soap opera Emmerdale from 2000 until 2005.-Early life:...

 and Lisa O'Hare

Lisa O'Hare

Lisa O'Hare began her career as an English stage actress who has played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and the title character of Mary Poppins on the West End and UK stage...

.

Andy Williams

Andy Williams

Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...

 covered the song on his 1964 album The Great Songs from My Fair Lady and Other Broadway Hits. Petula Clark

Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

 recorded a version for her 1968

1968 in music

-Events:*January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.*January 6 – Gibson Guitar Corporation patents its Gibson Flying V electric guitar design....

 album The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener

The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener (album)

The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener is the ninth album released by Petula Clark in the United States. It entered the Billboard 200 on February 17, 1968 and remained on the charts for 23 weeks, peaking at #93. It fared better in the United Kingdom, where it reached #37...

.

The song was performed by Jane Powell

Jane Powell

Jane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...

 in the 1959 NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 television special Sunday Showcase "Give My Regards to Broadway", for which a kinescope

Kinescope

Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...

 recording still exists. The song was performed by Jayma Mays

Jayma Mays

Jayma Suzette Mays is an American television and film actress, and singer. Mays' most prominent roles include that of Emma Pillsbury on the American television series Glee, recurring appearances on Ugly Betty and on Heroes as characters named Charlie.- Life and career :Mays was born Jamia Suzette...

 on the FOX television show Glee

Glee (TV series)

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

on the episode "Mash-Up

Mash-Up (Glee)

"Mash-Up" is the eighth episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on October 21, 2009. It was written by series co-creator Ian Brennan and directed by Elodie Keene...

".

I Could Have Danced All Night was performed by young British soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 Hollie Steel

Hollie Steel

Hollie Steel is a singer and performer from Huncoat, Lancashire, England. At the age of ten she was one of ten finalists on the third series of the ITV reality show Britain's Got Talent....

 during her audition on Britain's Got Talent

Britain's Got Talent (series 3)

The 2009 series of Britain's Got Talent was the third series of the programme. It began airing on ITV on 11 April. The 2009 panel of judges consisted of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan...

. She later recorded the song on her debut album.