Is Dreamgirls Still Coming in this season?
#2
Posted: 7/1/26 at 8:02am
There were rumors of setbacks and moving to spring 2027 or a future season but I don’t know where it stands now.
Given that Sonia Friedman has the biggest musical of her career, Paddington, opening this season and there are already some other major revivals coming up, I would not be surprised if they delay to 27-28.
#4
Posted: 7/1/26 at 9:35am
The official website has since removed any references to opening in the Fall of 2026. I’m actually a little bit shocked by this, but also I wouldn’t be surprised if there were financial issues, but also a desire to not compete against EVITA (which is all but a guaranteed blockbuster) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (which is going to be a crowd favorite for the older LCT patronage)
Not to mention Paddington and Warriors also being the new musicals that will be fighting for the lion’s share of the oxygen as well.
At last rumored understanding, they had a cast assembled already:
Aisha Jackson - Deena
Kayla Davion - Lorrell
Tiffany Mann - Effie (Arica Jackson as the standby/matinee Effie)
John Clay III - CC
Joshua Boone - Curtis
J. Harrison Ghee - Thunder
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Updated On: 7/1/26 at 09:35 AM
#5
Posted: 7/1/26 at 12:40pm
Time to get a more interesting Deena then.
#6
Posted: 7/1/26 at 12:43pm
Apparently Aisha, Tiffany, and Joshua were all being replaced for the next workshop.
#7
Posted: 7/1/26 at 1:02pm
Tiffany would be a phenomenal Effie and it would be a star-making moment for her that's long overdue, so that's disappointing, but workshop casts don't always continue with the show when it's primetime.
I'll believe that a Dreamgirls revival is actually happening on first preview and the curtain is up. This show has been discussed coming back for nearly a decade and has been delayed time and time again.
#8
Posted: 7/1/26 at 1:33pm
getatme said: "Apparently Aisha, Tiffany, and Joshua were all being replaced for the next workshop."
Tiffany deserves a role worthy of her that isn’t just a two week gig belting the house down in Encores! shows. I was rooting for her
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#9
Posted: 7/1/26 at 3:02pm
OhHiii said: "Tiffany would be a phenomenal Effie and it would be a star-making moment for her that's long overdue,so that's disappointing, but workshop casts don't always continue with the show when it's primetime."
I hate to say this, because she's insanely talented and could sing the heck out of this role, but realistically, she would have been a great Effie...15 years ago. The character(s) are supposed to age from approximately 16 to 26 throughout the course of the show. By the time this actually happens next year, Mann will be 39 or more likely 40. That's just a bit too much of a stretch.....
#10
Posted: 7/1/26 at 3:03pm
This production feels totally doomed.
#11
Posted: 7/1/26 at 3:09pm
The fact that a Dreamgirls revival can't seem to actually come together is one of the weirder Broadway mysteries.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 7/1/26 at 03:09 PM
#12
Posted: 7/1/26 at 3:31pm
Broadway61004 said: "I hate to say this, because she's insanely talented and could sing the heck out of this role, but realistically, she would have been a great Effie...15 years ago. The character(s) are supposed to age from approximately 16 to 26 throughout the course of the show. By the time this actually happens next year, Mann will be 39 or more likely 40. That's just a bit too much of a stretch....."
Tiffany absolutely can and has performed much younger. What are you talking about.
#13
Posted: 7/1/26 at 3:34pm
OhHiii said: "Tiffany absolutely can and has performed much younger. What are you talking about."
That a 40-year-old shouldn't be playing a 16-year-old on Broadway. Not sure what's hard to comprehend about that notion.
#14
Posted: 7/1/26 at 5:14pm
Broadway61004 said: "OhHiii said: "Tiffany absolutely can and has performed much younger. What are you talking about."
That a 40-year-old shouldn't be playing a 16-year-old on Broadway. Not sure what's hard to comprehend about that notion."
The various casts of Grease would like a word.
Also, you realize the time period of Dreamgirls spans many years, correct?
#15
Posted: 7/1/26 at 5:23pm
Matt Rogers said: "The various casts of Grease would like a word.
Also, you realize the time period of Dreamgirls spans many years, correct?"
Even in the "old people" revival (the jokingly coined descriptor of that 1994 revival) of Grease, the oldest principal cast member was 33. And yes, I'm aware it spans roughly a decade--hence I said 16-26.
For context, Jennifer Holliday was 22 and Jennifer Hudson was 24. So no, suggesting a 40 year old would be too old for the role is not insane.
#16
Posted: 7/1/26 at 7:33pm
Kad said: "The fact that a Dreamgirls revival can't seem to actually come together is one of the weirder Broadway mysteries."
Right? The movie was a huge hit, so I would’ve thought there would have been a revival much sooner.
Is anyone able to comment on what is/was planned for the look of the revival? Planned to incorporate the movie songs?I would love to see a revival that at least pays homage to Michael Bennetts original staging.
#17
Posted: 7/1/26 at 8:06pm
If Aisha's not continuing I'd love to see Loren Lott in this, either as Deena or Lorrell.
#18
Posted: 7/1/26 at 8:12pm
Kad said: "The fact that a Dreamgirls revival can't seem to actually come together is one of the weirder Broadway mysteries."
It doesn't surprise me. DREAMGIRLS is a very, very specific show that was sort of built on lightning in a bottle; the OBC had six of maybe the most unique talents Broadway has ever known that have all become iconic in their own right - and it was built around their strengths, as well as Michael Bennett's strengths with cinematic direction and choreography. It's also become so iconic, that similarly to FUNNY GIRL, until you have the right people at the right moment, I don't think it'll come together - at least not in the way those that would buy tickets would want it to.
It's a shame they couldn't make the Amber Riley London production happen on Broadway. It's my instinct that it's the closet we'll get to it for a while.
But who knows! Maybe this production will surprise us all.
Updated On: 7/1/26 at 08:12 PM
#19
Posted: 7/1/26 at 8:43pm
I think I agree. To me it feels very “why now?” Does someone have an interesting perspective on the property? Is there a Cynthia in Color Purple star marking turn happening? If not then why?
#20
Posted: 7/1/26 at 8:50pm
The various casts of Grease would like a word.
GREASE was written as a satire and from its original 1971 Chicago production to its 1972 Off-Broadway and later Broadway productions, it has always been cast with older adults playing teenagers. That not only is the conceit of the satire concept but it was an intentional choice. They carried this older actors playing teenagers for the 1978 film adaptation but the satire tone didn’t cross over as intended. Due to this, 99% of the film’s memory is the unrealistic casting of older actors playing high schoolers as no one is/was familiar with the satire aspects of GREASE as originally written.
#21
Posted: 7/1/26 at 9:43pm
quizking101 said: "The official website has since removed any references to opening in the Fall of 2026. I’m actually a little bit shocked by this, but also I wouldn’t be surprised if there were financial issues, but also a desire to not compete against EVITA (which is all but a guaranteed blockbuster) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (which is going to be a crowd favorite for the older LCT patronage)
Not to mention Paddington and Warriors also being the new musicals that will be fighting for the lion’s share of the oxygen as well.
At last rumored understanding, they had a cast assembled already:
Aisha Jackson - Deena
Kayla Davion - Lorrell
Tiffany Mann- Effie(Arica Jackson as the standby/matinee Effie)
John Clay III - CC
Joshua Boone - Curtis
J. Harrison Ghee - Thunder"
I guess they will wait for Jasmine Amy Rogers next season after SoM to play Deena.
Nobody in the workshop is exciting casting other than Tiffany Mann as Effie.
"Anything you do, let it it come from you--then it will be new."
Sunday in the Park with George
#22
Posted: 7/2/26 at 3:02am
The financiers types want a new director too. More experience. I'm not sure this will happen anytime soon.
#23
Posted: 7/2/26 at 9:36am
Would love for Keke Palmer to play Deena.
#24
Posted: 7/2/26 at 9:50am
theblackumbrella said: "Would love for Keke Palmer to play Deena."
Not happening
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
#25
Posted: 7/2/26 at 11:10am
BrodyFosse123 said: "The various casts of Grease would like a word.
GREASE was written as a satire and from its original 1971 Chicago production to its 1972 Off-Broadway and later Broadway productions, it has always been cast with older adults playing teenagers. That not only is the conceit of the satire concept but it was an intentional choice. They carried this older actors playing teenagers for the 1978 film adaptation but the satire tone didn’t cross over as intended. Due to this, 99% of the film’s memory is the unrealistic casting of older actors playing high schoolers as no one is/was familiar with the satire aspects of GREASE as originally written."
Not only agree, but want to add that Patricia Birch says the show doesn't work with actual teenagers--and she's right. It isn't a "teen show"--for all the adoration teens have had for it, even from the start. It's a jaded look back, snarky and spikey, but not actually mean-spirited. It's about adults looking back on their teenage years--a fact made more explicit in the stage show with the opening scene of the square adults from Rydell attending their twenty year high school reunion. I don't think that spirit is entirely missing from the film, but it is unquestionably much diluted.
Back to Dreamgirls, I just kinda don't get people wanting a revival, unless it is a recreation of the Bennet original, which itself probably wouldn't go over so well. The book is pretty bad, the lyrics aren't great, the characterizations are fairly shallow. Bennet made a classic out of hit-or-miss material and a great collection of performers and designers. I don't think a revival will show off the work to very good advantage, and will mostly appeal to those of us on the older side with a nostalgia for that first production and its original cast recording.
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