#1
Posted: 6/15/05 at 4:06am
I've read a bunch of comments about this in other threads in relation to the DREAMGIRLS movie casting and felt the need to comment..... in detail.
Just to beat this dead horse one more time --
The one and ONLY reference in the entire book of DREAMGIRLS to Effie's weight is in "It's All Over" when Curtis sings that she's "getting fatter all the time."
At that moment, Effie is pregnant with Curtis' baby. No one knows, but her (and the audience doesn't find out until late in the second act in her confrontation/reconciliation scene with Deena). Her pregnancy, that she feels she cannot reveal, along with Curtis' affair with Deena, is the reason for her erratic behavior in the latter part of Act I and justifies (and adds a further tragic dimension to) the explosion of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."
Jennifer Holliday was hired for one of the early DREAMGIRLS workshops as a slightly plump 19 year old girl with a once-in-a-generation voice (that was stopping the show nightly in the Broadway revival of YOUR ARMS TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD). She turned 21 shortly before opening night of DREAMGIRLS in 1981, just a bit heavier, but during the course of the following year, all of the stress of having to deliver so much nightly in that show caused her continually miss performances (she SHOULD have had a 6-performance week like Lupone was doing blocks away in EVITA) and to gain over 100 pounds.
Holliday's imprint on the show is indelible and, in many ways, she is the definitive Effie (especially in hindsight, considering her subsequent life and career). As a result, though, people assume Effie has to be 250+ pounds, as she was at the end of her run. But, neither the book nor Bennett himself EVER envisioned the role that way (though Bennett, of course, loved her and her performance in the show). Certainly, it does seem even more tragic, if Effie's rejection at the end of Act I is partly the result of her looks and her weight gain. An overweight Effie, I suppose, does deepen the ramifications of the situation, but the show completely works without it.
But, in Bennett's vision of the show, Effie was tossed out because she was unreliable, erratic, a bitch, unprofessional, and, most crucially, was unable to adapt to the demands placed on black musicians and singers who were trying to to cross over to the white pop mainstream where the real money and power was -- vocally, temperamentally, physically. The main reason was NOT because she was "getting fatter all the time." Had she been able to be professional and show up on time for every gig and tv appearance, Curtis probably never would have fired her in the first place (remember that Flo Ballard -- the model for Effie -- stayed on with The Supremes for several years).
The fact is, if you look at the Effies that Bennett personally handpicked for the Broadway production (and he auditioned and chose each and every one himself throughout the full original Broadway run of the show and the road companies), you can tell that "weight" was the LAST criterion he was looking at as far as future Effies were concerned.
Shortly before Holliday left the Broadway cast in December of 1982, Bennett first offered the role to a young r&b/gospel singer named Julia McGirt that he'd found in an open call in Washington D.C. She was tall, thin (the Dreamgirls site with all of the pictures of former Effies has been shut down, but trust me on that one), but was a first rate actress and had the rarest of rare gifts -- a pure, powerful, pitch-perfect, perfectly-controlled, stunning FOUR-OCTAVE belt that was absolutely goose-bump-inducing.
In her final audition, she created a version of "And I Am Telling You I'm No Going" that was completely her own. Rather than in any way being some imitation Holliday's already legendary take on the song, she managed to find her own way into it, that was less about just sheer belting and melisma, but more about sublimely interpreting the lyric. Mind you, she still sang the hell out of it, only without the growls and raw-throated screams that Holliday had made famous in the song (and which had caused her to miss roughly half of all of her performances during the last six months of her NY run). But, somehow, though not as "EPIC" and "LARGER-THAN-LIFE" as Holliday's rendition, McGirt was nearly as effective and powerful. Her attention to lyrics made every word seem to emerge fresh and new and sponataneous. And towards the end of the performance when McGirt decided to jump an octave and sustain the high note for the remaining measures of the verse, the creative team went crazy (for those who know it, Lillias White's take on the song is based on McGirt's rendition -- only McGirt has more than an octave of range on White and her breath control is simply endless).
After that, Bennett decided that he wanted her to replace Holliday ......... BUT, he made the mistake of completely low-balling her too much in the negotiations. She was already making Broadway minimum in the ensemble and what he offered her was far less than all the other principals in the show were making. Also, word had gotten out that Holliday was going to be getting $20,000 a week plus limos, a hotel suite, and other fringe benefits for doing the LA run of the show. McGirt turned him down. His ego was hurt. He walked away. She stayed in the ensemble.
He then offered the role to Vanessa Townsell (another big girl with a big-ish voice -- not a Holliday voice, but a second-rate facsimile). She readily accepted the lowball salary offer and took over the role when Holliday left. But, within weeks her voice began to fail her. She started missing performances regularly like Holliday had almost immediately. Bennett elevated McGirt to the main Effie understudy and McGirt basically started to trade performances with her -- Townsell eventually would miss about every other performance in a given week.
After several months of this, Bennett finally broke down and offered McGirt the role at a salary that was comparable to the other principals. Once Townsell's contract officially expired, McGirt was Effie for the next year and rarely missed a performance (she had vocal cords of steel).
That's right -- a THIN Effie was Bennett's number one choice for the role after Holliday left the show. And a couple of others he chose were, if not slender, hardly overweight (one might describe them as carrying "a few extra pounds" -- Lillias was fairly compact, as was Sheila Ellis and Brenda Pressley). Sharon Brown (who headed one of the later national tours as Effie) had a very pretty "look" that might have been appropriate for Deena or Lorrell; and Arnetia Walker was actually terrific in all three roles (she was the only one who ever did all three).
Honestly, Holliday was perhaps (by the end) the "biggest" Effie, physically, of them all (along with, I guess, Roz Ryan and Townsell) during the original run -- and she didn't start out that way, but became that over the course of many months (much to Bennett's chagrin -- once Holliday left the Broadway production, he revamped the Dreamette's Act I choreography, when he realized McGirt and others could handle more complicated steps for "Move" etc...).
Anyway, I have no idea who Bill Condon is going to choose to be his Effie for the film version. I really hope it's some extraordinarily gifted young girl who can really act and has a powerhouse, showstopping instrument (and with all of the incredible, undiscovered talent out there -- I hope it's a complete unknown). Her "size" should frankly be the very last consideration in casting -- it was for Michael Bennett who created the show.
The success of "Dreamgirls -- The Movie" completely hinges on the casting of he role of Effie. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Condon makes the right decision.
Just to beat this dead horse one more time --
The one and ONLY reference in the entire book of DREAMGIRLS to Effie's weight is in "It's All Over" when Curtis sings that she's "getting fatter all the time."
At that moment, Effie is pregnant with Curtis' baby. No one knows, but her (and the audience doesn't find out until late in the second act in her confrontation/reconciliation scene with Deena). Her pregnancy, that she feels she cannot reveal, along with Curtis' affair with Deena, is the reason for her erratic behavior in the latter part of Act I and justifies (and adds a further tragic dimension to) the explosion of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."
Jennifer Holliday was hired for one of the early DREAMGIRLS workshops as a slightly plump 19 year old girl with a once-in-a-generation voice (that was stopping the show nightly in the Broadway revival of YOUR ARMS TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD). She turned 21 shortly before opening night of DREAMGIRLS in 1981, just a bit heavier, but during the course of the following year, all of the stress of having to deliver so much nightly in that show caused her continually miss performances (she SHOULD have had a 6-performance week like Lupone was doing blocks away in EVITA) and to gain over 100 pounds.
Holliday's imprint on the show is indelible and, in many ways, she is the definitive Effie (especially in hindsight, considering her subsequent life and career). As a result, though, people assume Effie has to be 250+ pounds, as she was at the end of her run. But, neither the book nor Bennett himself EVER envisioned the role that way (though Bennett, of course, loved her and her performance in the show). Certainly, it does seem even more tragic, if Effie's rejection at the end of Act I is partly the result of her looks and her weight gain. An overweight Effie, I suppose, does deepen the ramifications of the situation, but the show completely works without it.
But, in Bennett's vision of the show, Effie was tossed out because she was unreliable, erratic, a bitch, unprofessional, and, most crucially, was unable to adapt to the demands placed on black musicians and singers who were trying to to cross over to the white pop mainstream where the real money and power was -- vocally, temperamentally, physically. The main reason was NOT because she was "getting fatter all the time." Had she been able to be professional and show up on time for every gig and tv appearance, Curtis probably never would have fired her in the first place (remember that Flo Ballard -- the model for Effie -- stayed on with The Supremes for several years).
The fact is, if you look at the Effies that Bennett personally handpicked for the Broadway production (and he auditioned and chose each and every one himself throughout the full original Broadway run of the show and the road companies), you can tell that "weight" was the LAST criterion he was looking at as far as future Effies were concerned.
Shortly before Holliday left the Broadway cast in December of 1982, Bennett first offered the role to a young r&b/gospel singer named Julia McGirt that he'd found in an open call in Washington D.C. She was tall, thin (the Dreamgirls site with all of the pictures of former Effies has been shut down, but trust me on that one), but was a first rate actress and had the rarest of rare gifts -- a pure, powerful, pitch-perfect, perfectly-controlled, stunning FOUR-OCTAVE belt that was absolutely goose-bump-inducing.
In her final audition, she created a version of "And I Am Telling You I'm No Going" that was completely her own. Rather than in any way being some imitation Holliday's already legendary take on the song, she managed to find her own way into it, that was less about just sheer belting and melisma, but more about sublimely interpreting the lyric. Mind you, she still sang the hell out of it, only without the growls and raw-throated screams that Holliday had made famous in the song (and which had caused her to miss roughly half of all of her performances during the last six months of her NY run). But, somehow, though not as "EPIC" and "LARGER-THAN-LIFE" as Holliday's rendition, McGirt was nearly as effective and powerful. Her attention to lyrics made every word seem to emerge fresh and new and sponataneous. And towards the end of the performance when McGirt decided to jump an octave and sustain the high note for the remaining measures of the verse, the creative team went crazy (for those who know it, Lillias White's take on the song is based on McGirt's rendition -- only McGirt has more than an octave of range on White and her breath control is simply endless).
After that, Bennett decided that he wanted her to replace Holliday ......... BUT, he made the mistake of completely low-balling her too much in the negotiations. She was already making Broadway minimum in the ensemble and what he offered her was far less than all the other principals in the show were making. Also, word had gotten out that Holliday was going to be getting $20,000 a week plus limos, a hotel suite, and other fringe benefits for doing the LA run of the show. McGirt turned him down. His ego was hurt. He walked away. She stayed in the ensemble.
He then offered the role to Vanessa Townsell (another big girl with a big-ish voice -- not a Holliday voice, but a second-rate facsimile). She readily accepted the lowball salary offer and took over the role when Holliday left. But, within weeks her voice began to fail her. She started missing performances regularly like Holliday had almost immediately. Bennett elevated McGirt to the main Effie understudy and McGirt basically started to trade performances with her -- Townsell eventually would miss about every other performance in a given week.
After several months of this, Bennett finally broke down and offered McGirt the role at a salary that was comparable to the other principals. Once Townsell's contract officially expired, McGirt was Effie for the next year and rarely missed a performance (she had vocal cords of steel).
That's right -- a THIN Effie was Bennett's number one choice for the role after Holliday left the show. And a couple of others he chose were, if not slender, hardly overweight (one might describe them as carrying "a few extra pounds" -- Lillias was fairly compact, as was Sheila Ellis and Brenda Pressley). Sharon Brown (who headed one of the later national tours as Effie) had a very pretty "look" that might have been appropriate for Deena or Lorrell; and Arnetia Walker was actually terrific in all three roles (she was the only one who ever did all three).
Honestly, Holliday was perhaps (by the end) the "biggest" Effie, physically, of them all (along with, I guess, Roz Ryan and Townsell) during the original run -- and she didn't start out that way, but became that over the course of many months (much to Bennett's chagrin -- once Holliday left the Broadway production, he revamped the Dreamette's Act I choreography, when he realized McGirt and others could handle more complicated steps for "Move" etc...).
Anyway, I have no idea who Bill Condon is going to choose to be his Effie for the film version. I really hope it's some extraordinarily gifted young girl who can really act and has a powerhouse, showstopping instrument (and with all of the incredible, undiscovered talent out there -- I hope it's a complete unknown). Her "size" should frankly be the very last consideration in casting -- it was for Michael Bennett who created the show.
The success of "Dreamgirls -- The Movie" completely hinges on the casting of he role of Effie. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Condon makes the right decision.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 6/15/05 at 04:06 AM
