Dreamgirls question

[tazber]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 3:47pm

This has probably been asked and answered before in a longer thread so forgive me for not sifting through them all to find out.

I just replaced my vocal selections and I got the one with the original Bway artwork as opposed to the movie edition (I used to have this but lost it in a flood). I got this edition b/c I wanted "Ain't No Party".

Anyway, the bway vocal book now contains "Heavy" and "I Want You, Baby" which were not in my previous edition. The copyright is 1980/1981 for those songs.

I thought they were written specifically for the movie, but clearly I was wrong. So my question is were these 2 songs ever in the original Bway show? Or were just trunk songs brought back for the movie and then re-inserted to the stage version for the tour.

Just curious.

Thanks you guys!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 3:51pm

No, they were always in the show, just not on the album. "Heavy" is my personal favorite song/scene in the show, but it was completely botched in the film.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 3:52pm

They were both in the original Broadway production.

I Want You Baby is the same on stage and in the movie.

Heavy onstage is an extended musical sequence, but for the movie they only used the main part of the song, cut some and the rest became just dialogue. You can hear the stage version on the 2001 concert recording. Updated On: 8/17/10 at 03:52 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 3:57pm

The BC/EFA concert by Rudetsky is the complete Bway score which has both of those numbers...and I agree, the "Heavy" sequence is thrilling. Lillias is a stunner.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 4:05pm

Thanks you guys. I just ordered the concert cd!

I had no idea how much of the score was left off the truncated OBCR.
And to be honest I didn't care for the soundtrack. So excited to hear the whole show!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 4:36pm

taz, there are some problems with the concert, namely the voices are pretty roughed up...most notably Lillias' and Heather's. The concert was less than a week after 9/11, and the original Michelle, LaChanze, lost her husband that day and was replaced by Tamara Tunie. I believe that the sensational Billy Porter had to rerecord some of his tracks.

To me it adds even more depth to one of my favorite scores and Lillias' "One Night Only" and "I Am Changing" are glorious.

Just know these things going in.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 4:58pm

I didn't realize that LaChanze was originally supposed to be Michelle.

I'm gonna disagree with doodle's choice of the word sensational in relation to Billy Porter, at least where this show is concerned, but it's the most complete recording there is and it's worth having.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 5:15pm

I was reading some of the reviews on amazon and they all agree with what you guys say.

I don't think that any other recordings could replace what's on the OBCR for me. What they did record for the original LP is pretty great.
But there is so much that isn't on that album I'll be glad just to hear it and get a better sense of the show.

It's kind of like Follies in that way. The OBCR of Follies is still the best recording of those songs, imo. But I have several other recordings for the additional material.

I've never had the oppurtunity to Dreamgirls live and the tour isn't coming here.

Updated On: 8/17/10 at 05:15 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 5:20pm

i think that CD is worth it for Lillias White's rendition of I Am Changing.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 5:50pm

I mostly like her performance, save for two ill-chosen "woo"s near the end of the first act.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/17/10 at 6:19pm

I like it because it's (almost) the whole show! As a Midwestern College student i knew what Dreamgirls was about but wasn't able to appreciate the intricacies of the plot from that truncated version.

Add to that the fact that I didn't have a record player at school and had to make due with a Maxell home-recorded tape that cut out during "Hard to say Good-bye" that I listened to SO MUCH that I STILL am surprised when it keeps going on the CD....