"Dreamgirls" Broadway Revival: How Long?

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:06am

How long do you think until someone puts two and two together and announces a Dreamgirls revival?

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:38am

What a terrible idea.

Dreamgirls (the show) seemd to have belonged to a certain time and place, and I don't think it would work again, for one reason, the music could never be put over by Broadway singers, even celebrities, and they'll never get pop singers to do it.

The film proves it, the music on the soundtrack is more real than any of the other recordings, someone finally listened to the OBC and said "No one would orchestrate, sing or play this music this whitely" and decided to make it real.

The soundtrack is the first time I've heard a Broadway score brought up to par for a film, realism-wise. Even Rent was a disappointment orchestrationwise, and I really enjoyed that film.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:54am

^ Uh... What?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:55am

It's been announced already. It's in the works.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:59am

It would probably be the smartest thing to do....will jennifer (holiday) be mad when she is not cast?

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:33am

"What a terrible idea.

Dreamgirls (the show) seemd to have belonged to a certain time and place, and I don't think it would work again, for one reason, the music could never be put over by Broadway singers, even celebrities, and they'll never get pop singers to do it.

The film proves it, the music on the soundtrack is more real than any of the other recordings, someone finally listened to the OBC and said "No one would orchestrate, sing or play this music this whitely" and decided to make it real.

The soundtrack is the first time I've heard a Broadway score brought up to par for a film, realism-wise. Even Rent was a disappointment orchestrationwise, and I really enjoyed that film. "

I've searched for a word for this trend for so long.. the closest I could come was "bubble-gum" but "white" is SO much better. It's so true and such an annoying trend. I don't hate keyboards but I HATE when music sounds so WHITE. And if you don't think keyboards can sound real, listen to the OOBC of LIttle SHop of Horrors

[GetHer]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:33am

Fenchurch? Are you out of your mind? Though the OBC is created for a pop album of the early 80's. the orchestrations of the orginal are 75% recreated in the movie. So they added a little organ to it-good idea, But the show was FAR from white...the movie did not IMPROVE Dreamgirls...it simply made a great movie and paid GREAT respect to the show while bringing it to a broader movie audience. RENT was awful as were the orchestrations. Furthermore..you'd want neither Bway or pop singers..you'd want BLACK singers..with soul..and they do exist in this city..and even on Bway. Just gotta dig them up. Like the original dug up unknowns.

PS-When was a revival announced? Other than the 2004 blurb about it...there's been no official plans yet from what I understand.

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:37am

GetHer--
Reread that post. You pretty much agreed with much of what he said.

What he was actually saying is that revivals often find ways to "white"-asize scores, unlike the movie of Dreamgirls. He was merely expressing concern that a revival would find a way to do this.

We all know it's possible. Little Shop, Company.. I could go on for days listing the revivals that fell victim to this trend...

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:37am

I think the only reason a revival wouldn't be great is because of Effie, plain and simple. Jennifer Hudson is getting career-defining hype from this role, and I think whoever steps into the part in an immediate revival wouldn't garner half as much attention. The whole "And I Am Telling You"-awe struck once in the 80's, and now a new generation is getting is from the movie. It just won't seem as special, I don't think, because those who hadn't heard the song before will surely have seen the movie.

[wiggum2]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 9:28am

Did I miss the announcement about the revival as well? Does anyone have a link to the article? I just saw a interview with Henry Krieger and he said it would be many years before a revival would happen

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 9:42am

Sondhead it sounds like what you're talking about is a "vanilla" sound. Meaning bland and uninteresting. White sounds like a knock at a race of people. Personally I dunno what you people are talking about. There are plenty of people on Broadway this moment who could do it. There are plenty of my own friends who have actually done the show that could do it. I mean have you looked around at Broadway lately?! Everything is pop and no one is really singing in a classical or legit style. There's plenty of black people walking around able to do it.

[beyondblessed]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 9:47am

There was a revival in Philly, early this year. It was a huge hit and there were a couple of extensions. There was even talk about the production making the move. But I believe all of that talk has settled. That was before the great wave of buzz began about this movie, which was fantastic by the way.
Dreamgirls in Philly

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 9:56am

yeah it was a nice production but I don't think it was Broadway worthy.

[morosco]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 10:25am

The producer that announced an upcoming revival (dates TBA) was Creative Battery.
DREAMGIRLS to return to Broadway in new revival?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 10:32am

"the music could never be put over by Broadway singers,"

No words.

[kenmarksnj]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 10:38am

the fact that fenchurch said that there aren't any broadway singers who can do dreamgirls...

wow... what an ass.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 11:45am

I believe the Philadelphia production was never meant to transfer to Broadway, I believe there was talk of a national tour instead. I remember someone said that the Bennett estate would not let this production of Dreamgirls transfer to Broadway.
It'd be great to get a Dreamgirls revival though, there are plenty of Broadway actors who are more than fit to sing this score.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:20pm

Sorry if the truth hurts, but I heard the concert

Lilias was too old and the rest of them sucked, it was embarassing

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:23pm

I actually heard that Philadelphia production was quite good.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:23pm

LOL you truly are foolish if you think they'd cast them LOL. The thing about these conerts is that they get All-Stars to do them. Every single cast memeber has MAJOR credits. You think Stokes would actually do the part he did on Broadway?! He had 3 lines LOL. You seem to either be very young or not at all informed on what goes on.

Yes the recording is notorious but I think there are more than 7 black actors in NYC.



Theatredude, that Rosario Dawson quote is hilarious.
Updated On: 12/26/06 at 12:23 PM

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 12:23pm

Yea, didn't you guys hear... LaChanze starts her all carb diet today so she can put on the pounds to play Effie

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:26pm

"Sondhead it sounds like what you're talking about is a "vanilla" sound. Meaning bland and uninteresting. White sounds like a knock at a race of people. Personally I dunno what you people are talking about. There are plenty of people on Broadway this moment who could do it. There are plenty of my own friends who have actually done the show that could do it."

I wasn't talking about performers. I was talking about orchestration.

As for performers, I will say one reason they stuck with Jennifer Holliday in the original (it wasn't only because she was amazing.. she was a bee-itch to work with) is because she was literally the only person they could find capable of the roll. If you watch footage from other effie's that played the original production you'll see that there really was only Jennifer Holliday and Lillias White that could handle the part. Thus, I agree with the earlier post: Nothing to worry about for most of the parts because they don't take much other than being black, being able to kind of act and having a decent voice, but Effie is going to be a bitch to cast. Who knows if even Jennifer Hudson could do that 8 shows a week.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:35pm

Who said Jennifer Holliday could do the part 8 times a week? From what I've read there were about 3 different understudies/stand-bys for the role of Effie in the original production and Holliday was many times out.

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:38pm

And talk to anybody who saw it when Holliday was out and they'll tell you how "good" they were (that is until Lilias came in as understudy)

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:39pm

Yeah time's have changed. There are plenty of people walking around more than capable of singing this material. I didn't have such an issue with the orchestrations. Besides the whole show Curtis is trying to make the group more mainstream, more pop. It seems to match to me