"Dreamgirls" Broadway Revival: How Long?- Page 2

[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

[GetHer]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:40pm

Hudson is no good on stage. Although she sang her face off in the Whorehouse concert..she was cardboard. Bill Condon was able to nail her against a wall and get everything out of her on film, but we don't need another poorly acted Effie who just sings (like Holiday.) We want an Effie that has emotion..that takes us on a journey without big hand gestures. That was what did work in Philly. The show was SO under-directed that the actors had only their own emotions to work from. Between their raw emotion and singing the hell out of the score, the Philly leads (at least the 3 girls) won the audience over full throttle.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:43pm

LOL Really?! The philadelphia production was good granted but they certainly weren't Broadway performances. The girl playing Effie was no more an actress than Jennifer Holliday was. Jennifer was big and the other girl did nothing. It was a good regional production.
Updated On: 12/26/06 at 01:43 PM

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:44pm

"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"

Such as who?

He doesn't want to make it pop by 2006 standards. Listen to pop in the 60's and 70's and listen to the Wedding Singer cast recording or the Company revival. It's a little bit different. And I'm not talking genre of music. I'm talking about the "sound". How devoid of "real" it is. So over-produced

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:51pm

What are you talking about? I'm talking about Dreamgirls not The wedding singer or Company (which is funny you think it isn't real because it's totally acoustic). What does devoid of "real" mean? I don't get what your saying.

BTW just because there aren't names walking around to play Effie does not mean there aren't any people around to play her. There are plenty of Capathia Jenkins' walking around who aren't discovered yet. You could go to any number of churches and hear people singing this kind of thing...and there are some who have actually have theatre degrees.

[paphillyguy]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 1:58pm

Jazzy,

Did you actually see the Philly production or just making your opinion from the reports you read.

I found Nova in the Philly production to be amazing. She definately could sing the role and her acting was better then some broadway performances I have seen.

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:02pm

Sorry I forget that Company is back on Broadway.
I'm talking about the 1995 Roundabout revival. So sorry.

Some random chick in a church doesnt act and also doesn't audition for Broadway shows, so if you're so sure Effie's are so easy to find, then name me just one.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:05pm

What theare would it fit in?

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:16pm

Dreamgirls? Any theatre. Any revival would almost certainly follow Bennett's original staging which has no size requirements other than not being in Circle in the Square.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:19pm

You may not know who they are but personally there's a girl named Q who I think could do it. I wouldn't mind seeing Capathia sing it either. In regards to your comment about random girls in church...that's generally what Jennifer was. She had one broadway show under her belt and that was for a role that was generally a big black girl. Nova who was in the Philly production was just that. That's what Effie generally is. Jennifer Hudson didn't have tons of acting credits (although she loved broadway). Just because you don't know any doesn't mean there aren't any around. Didn't they say they auditioned something like 700 people for the role of Effie. Hudson got it, but I'm sure there are some of those who could do it.

PAPhillyguy I did see the Prince production. She didn't act much when I saw her which makes me think 1 of 2 things. Either she got major notes and made an unbelievable improvement or The extent of your broadway viewing is Mamma Mia! So I guess she pulled it out after she opened but from what I saw and others, she's not an actress but a great singer. I could have listened to her all day.

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:24pm

Jazzy -- But Jennifer Holliday had aspirations to be on Broadway and went and auditioned. The producers did not go peruse Houston area Gospel churches. How many Effie's are out there that can act and have aspirations to be on Broadway, enough to go through a difficult audition process.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm sure there are people out there who could do it--but you and I both know that nothing short of a BRILLIANT re-role-defining performance would be enough to keep a revival of Dreamgirls afloat after the legend of Jennifer Holliday and now Hudson's fine performance.

[paphillyguy]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:25pm

Jazzy,

No need to get sippy. I have probably seen many more things on and off broadway then you have. But that is not the point.

I saw it a few weeks before it closed so maybe she did grown in her acting.

While I did not think she was the best actress ever, I did find her to be good.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:28pm

Renee Elise Goldsberry as Deena. Come on everyone, we can make this happen.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:31pm

calm down paphillyguy it's a joke.

[parislover87]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:34pm

Jennifer could do 8 shows a week... though I know a lot of people on this board don't have any respect for Idol, she proved herself with her LIVE singing first... She has to be able to survive 8 shows a week better than the likes of Idina

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 2:39pm

Sondhead-
You seem to forget that Holliday, towards the end of her run was out more times than she was in. Her replacement followed suit, and then Julia McGirt (a thin girl), took over, and blew everyone away, and in some ways was better than Holliday. (Margo wrote a nice article on it somewhere on the board). Clearly, she handled the role very well, and in fact Lillas' "AITYING" was BASED on McGirt's.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 3:54pm

The Broadway revival has already been announced? Who told you people this? Aunt Martha?

For your limited information, NO Dreamgirls revival for Broadway has been announced. I spoke with two NYC producers today who said they have heard nothing about any revival being confirmed.

And I love how people throw around the term "white" when describing the Dreamgirls music. If it were in reverse, there would certainly be a BWW riot.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 4:12pm

Before this thread gets hijacked by the ignorant children who need to learn about the business (*Sondhead raises hand*), allow me to educate you on some of the finer points of theater that seem to be missing in your abundant 16 years of life experience.

Holiday was a great singer. Holiday was a horrible actress. I have no idea where this suddden "love" for her comes from. In fact, it was the Wall Street Journal who called Holiday a supurb singer but "a wooden actress". She is known for her voice. Period.

The thought that this show can't be revived because there's no one to play the part/parts is absurd and plain stupid. I guess we should never do Shakespear. There are more qualified performers in NYC now than there were in 1982.

This issue about the lack of contemporary sound in Dreamgirls is stupid. Hello....this is theater. This is not "Solid Gold". Do you want to hear a Brittany Spears concert for two hours? No one has ever made a true pop musical and no one ever will. This includes "Hair" and the always pop acclaimed "Rent". Those shows (no matter how much the teenys love to cry different) are traditional musical theater. Throwing in an electric guitar solo or some synth does not suddenly make it Moby time.

Class dismissed. Except for the idiots. Class will always be in session.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 4:15pm

It's Holliday, Mr. Educator. Oh, and not that you care, but since you're so busy criticizing everyone else's ignorance, it's Britney.

I'll let the other misspellings go - there are too many and I don't have time to teach the "teacher" right now.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 4:18pm

Thanks you for crawling out from your hole to educate us. I'm so glad someone here knows how to spell Brittney's name. Make sure you check the threads for your other favorite artists: Hillary, Avril, the Cheeta Girls and Hannah Montana.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 4:22pm

Nice defense.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 4:23pm

Wow. A Moby reference. How hip. For the early-'90s.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 5:47pm

I believe BWW's MargoChanning posted on the "Does Effie have to be 'Heavy'?" thread some in-depth comments about Julia McGirt saying that she was just as good or better than Holliday herself, I believe Lillias White was McGirt's understudy and based her performance of Effie on McGirt except for some notes that White simply did not have the range to hit. I do not see where all this "no actors can sing the score today" issue is coming from.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 5:49pm

if it does come back the imperial{ original home }, or al. H, theatre would be nice for it.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 12/26/06 at 6:33pm

The term white is fine, and if it were reverse it woudld be racism, but as it is, it is not, and don't even pretend it is.

In a culture where white dominance still reigns, there is no such thing as reverse racism in this instance, so get over it.