Dreamgirls West End

Interesting that there is ZERO buzz on West End Board about Dreamgirls. It starts previews in 4 days. Anyone hear anything?

It's not uncommon for a show to receive a lot of buzz in anticipation of it's first preview and then it's opening. It's a classic show making it's West End debut.

I haven't seen or read much in the way of anything aside from some interviews with Amber Riley and her appearance on "The Graham Norton Show".

broadwayguy91 said: "Go to theatreboard.co.uk if you want to discuss West End stuff, the community there is much more active.



"thanks broadwayguy91! There are 39 pages on Dreamgirls alone!

Be interested to see if this has hope of transferring to Broadway.

Anyone attend first previews last night...thoughts?

I just checked the UK board...dead. Not just about Dreamgirls but all posts in general.

What's up with that!?

The set is very simple in 2016 standards with little to no tricks or spectacle. In fact, anything could have been staged during the period in which the show is set. The design is actually quite similar to the original Bennett production, mainly utilizing skeletal structures with big lighting fixtures attached to them. Choreogrpahy very good, though it needs to get tighter.

Vocally, the show is stupendous and has the best power belting in London. Three standing ovations, one for And I Am Telling You, I Am Changing, and Listen. The book is identical to the recent 2009 US tour, though luckily the staging is completely different. Listen sounds great as a duet, and it has some lyric changes from the US tour as well, and includes each others names in the song. There's dialogue between Curtis and (Hank?) woven into the ballad version of One Night Only (just like the 2009 tour) and then segues into the dance version. A quick lyric change to "that man wants to marry me, that man wants to marry me" and is now "my life is new life is about to begin" sung by Michelle. The title song is somewhat reminiscent to the Bennet version, though they wear fitted dresses, they have a feathers as well (what do you call them? I'm sure there's a name for this..). The costume change in the middle of I Am Changing is quite slick and less obvious than the original version. Got its own round of applause. In the vey last moments of Hard to Say Goodbye My Love (after Effie sings her bit), there's a little silent montage of the key moments of the show. We first see the Dreamettes doing their "Move" number, then Jimmy doing his thing, and then Dreamgirls by the Dreams. I liked the idea of the original Dreamettes doing Move but by the end with the four different tableaus the stage got way too crowded and messy. I think it would have worked better with only the three as young girls starting their careers.

Okay, so maybe creative team taking notes not groundbreaking as news, but Sonia Friedman was drunk off her ass and in act two sat in the box and was being rowdy and cheering the audience on. She had her head on the palm of her hands on top of the rail and was staring at the audience regularly. She seems like a person I'd love to cackle with. I said hi to Casey Nicholai and thanked him and told him it's fabulous.

Liisi LaFontaine as Deena is okay, maybe slightly boring and vanilla, but she can sing just fine. Unlike the film, they didn't try to make her into a Diana Ross lookalike and none of her mannerisms is Ross-like. Ibionabo Jack steals the non-Efffy moments and kills it with her humor. Accent spot on. Lily Frazer as Michelle was horrible and could barely get any sound out. Shame, because she has one of my favorite moments, "now watch your mouth watch your mouth miss Effie White.."

I think there's a new song woven into I'm Somebody as an Act II opener, and the Vogue sequence is now gone. Amber Riley is a beast and totally kills it. She's cute, funny and her voice is outstanding. I think she mucked up some of the passages in I Am Telling You, but need to double check. It certainly isn't obvious if you don't know the song word by word.

So yes, fabulous show. Needs to be tightened during the previews, but it's beautifully sung and really well executed. Seeing it on Wednesday to check out the alternate Effie.

Updated On: 11/20/16 at 05:56 AM

Really interesting to read your take on the show @sparepart973 , especially as you have seen other productions of the show. I sadly have to agree with your comments about Lily Frazer. I was fairly surprised as she was great as Nina in 'In the Heights' but then was fairly underwhelming in the part? I'm thinking that it may just be nerves and she'll grow in confidence as the show goes on. Will be keen to know your views on the alternate Effie too!

I summarise my main thoughts in my blog ( https://healthywholemealbread.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/first-thoughts-on-dreamgirls-savoy-theatre/ , but overall I think that it's a great production in terms of the vocal performances, choreography, set and lights. But felt a little bit empty afterwards and not particularly moved by any of the characters' stories, compared to the way I did with the film. Not having seeing any other productions, I'm not sure if that's a product of the direction or just inherently with the stage version.

And also thanks broadwayguy91, for sharing the website, I live in London and had no idea that there was a live forum of theatre discussion like these boards, ha

Busylizzie328, you should get one of the secret biuttons to wear to shows to meet up with other board denizens.

Sparepart973 thanks for the second review, and I can't believe you met Henry Krieger! From interviews he seems like a lovely guy.

Also ggersten, I can't tell if you're being serious about the button thing or not =/

There is a button you can buy on theatreboard.com! So I am serious!

Besides the sass and the belting - givens for a Dreamgirls show - how is the actual production? Is the direction good? Did he make any interesting choices?

RippedMan said: "Besides the sass and the belting - givens for a Dreamgirls show - how is the actual production? Is the direction good? Did he make any interesting choices?



"

I've only seen footage of the original Bennett production, and this version doesn't veer too far away from it. As I've said before, it has a similar look with the skeletal "towers" with lighting fixtures on them. The costume changes in Heavy, Heavy, the onstage/backstage quarrels during that number, the costume change in I Am Changing, the table being pulled deep into the stage during And I Am Telling You as it's about to end while the new Dreamettes take center stage..all more or less identical to the original.

It's a great production. In a way, it's quite nondescript as well because there aren't too many frills in terms of sets. The focus is pretty much on the acting, singing and sometimes the dancing.