Dreamgirls Revival — Page 2

"LaChanze is too old to play Deena or Lorell. She was an understudy and eventually played in the nationakl tour that became the Bway revival."

How old is LaScreamz? I saw her in TCP and she was playing a 16 year old. I'm not a fan, but I think if Anika Noni Rose can play a teenager ON FILM, LaDiva can play a young'un on the stage.

I saw the original L.A. production with Holiday and new Act Two opening.

I knew at the time I was seeing something special. You didn't need a masters degree in stagecraft to realize that the staging was original and dazzling.

Even the souvenir program was impressive. I think it cost something like $15 or $20 dollars.. which at the time was a CRAZY amount of money for a program.

It was a Dreamgirls "folder" with pockets. top quality paper, glossy and chic.

On the upper half was a thick booklet of photos stapled in. In one pocket was a series of Dreamgirls postcards and the cast and crew bio inserts. In the other pocket was a full fold-out poster for show.

I kept that thing for years.

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Quite honestly, with all this DREAMGIRLS overkill with the film, I personally can easily wait another 25 years for any type of revival.

Having seen the original Broadway production countless times (plus tons of revisits via the numerous bootleg DVDs of different productions, plus the 2002 Atlanta production with Jennifer Holliday and Ramona Keller), I have no desire to see it again 'live'.

For those of you who consider yourselves Dreamgirls-underpriviliged, spare a thought for those of us in the UK where there has never been a professional production of Dreamgirls. Something to do with the rights only being available if Michael Bennett's staging is replicated, so this puts off regional theatres whilst West End producers are still fearful that there won't be an audience for it. So the stalemate continues as it has done for twenty years...

I do like jv92's idea of a Michael Bennett retrospective as there must be loads of good stuff in the Bennett portfolio that many of us have never had the chance to see.

I think Nikki Renee Daniels would be a fabulous Lorrell or Deena.