Dreamgirls: Roz Ryan and Concert Recording Info

[ceeejaye]

Posted: 12/28/06 at 8:26pm

During the week of the roll out of Dreamgirls in NYC, Roz Ryan was in the audience. She played Effie on Broadway, can anyone tell me how was her performance as Effie?

Also, can someone tell me why the Original Broadway Cast was not used during the 20th Anniversary Concert Event?

THANKS

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 11:57am

Roz Ryan was pretty bad. Her voice steamrolled over everything she sang- too much attitude. She is probably one of the least effective Effie's I have seen.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 12:08pm

I'm sure Seth or somebody else can elaborate more about why the Original Cast wasn't used, but I don't think it was ever the intention to do the concert specifically to get a full recording of the score.

Rudetsky cast Lillias White as Effie because he saw her in the role and they are close friends. McDonald has said that Deena was always something of an unrealistic dream role for her. Heather Headley just came off a Tony win for Aida. He picked a solid cast based on who was around and available. I think plans to record the concert came later in the planning stages.

Sure it would have been really nice to have that OBC return for a full recording, but I'm sure the mechanics of getting them all together for a relatively small BCEFA benefit would have been fairly insurmountable. And plus, Jennifer Holiday is crazy.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 12:21pm

Also keep in mind that this concert took place right after 9/11. We're lucky it happened at all.