"Dreamgirls" Broadway Revival: How Long?

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.

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

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"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--
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...

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

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

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

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

wow... what an ass.

Sorry if the truth hurts, but I heard the concert

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

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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

"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.

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)