One Night Only - The Dreamgirls Love Thread — Page 2

Her attitude gets worse, but she is also gaining weight and missing rehearsals because she's pregnant and trying to hide it.

Do you think Effie knows she's pregnant at the end of act one? Not that there's one right answer, but I always assumed she wasn't yet aware she was pregnant then.

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That's what I always thought, too. She could be deflecting when she says she's not feeling well, but I always figured she really wasn't feeling well by that point, and didn't know why.

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I see what you're saying, Margo, and I certainly agree that any actress playing Effie could use that to her advantage, but it still doesn't jibe with me that she knows at that point. Also, for as unglued as she comes in the final minutes of act one, I'm surprised she wouldn't let it slip out that she was carrying his child. She's pretty much given up all her dignity at the point; I can't believe she wouldn't try to use the fact that she was pregnant to keep him if she was already armed with that knowledge.

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Not to mention, she's wearing what looks like a pink maternity top in that last scene which is a not so subtle hint to the audience from Bennett and the costume designer of her present condition. Everything happens so quickly in that final scene (Michelle Morris walks in about 30 seconds after Effie does and then all hell breaks loose) that in the midst of the arguing and screaming, no one thinks to ask her about wearing that top, but it was always clear to me that she knew she was pregnant and in fact might have been planning on telling everyone shortly, but in the face of all of that anger and rejection, found that she just couldn't.

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Well, no.

Before people here get in an uproar from your honest (but very naive) question...

It's no different than watching "1776" performed by an all female cast.

Race is a major theme in "Dreamgirls." You can't ignore that. You should chose another show.

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John Garcia saw a rough cut of the film and posted his review


here.

Check out the Official Website. IT'S GONE LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm rather disappointed what they did with "I Miss You Old Friend".

Casting this show mixed race undermines one the main themes of the entire show -- the struggle to crossover to the mainstream (white) pop charts. Black artists tried in vain for years to get played on white radio and to appear on national television and it was Berry Gordy and Motown that created a formula of presenting attractive (usually light-skinned) fashionable-looking black groups with a smooth, nonthreatening, but still soulful sound that resulted in it finding nationwide appeal with audiences of all races.

White singers didn't have to crossover -- they were already part of the mainstream by virtue of their race and skin color, so they didn't have to struggle to overcome the racist policies of the music industry of the time. DREAMGIRLS captures and dramatizes this conflict throughout the first act where the Dreams, in Supremes-like fashion, not only break through in terms of their own personal success, but manage to break down longstanding barriers of segregation that had always limited black artists in the past and so their triumph took on even greater social implications. To cast the show with white or latino actors in the lead roles destroys the very essence of what this story is about and undermines its meaning and its impact.

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Updated On: 10/21/06 at 04:08 PM

Wow, Margo, can I marvel at your intellegence for a few minutes?

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