RENTBOY sees Dreamgirls (Atl, GA)

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 12:47pm

Last night I went to see "Dreamgirls" at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, GA. I got nosebleed seats, but they actually weren't that bad. The theater is HUGE, but gorgeous, but I didn't feel too far away from the stage.

First off, I've never been to a show like this before. The audience would yell at the stage, clap randomly, stand-up and throw things at the stage, it was an amazing experience. I could just feel the love in the room for the performers on stage.

We all know the show so there's no need to explain it, but this show was based on the original B'way staging, so the sets and lighting were minimal at best, but still worked well.

All the performers were pretty good in their roles. My only concern was the fact that none of them seemed to ennunciate so the people in the upper balcony couldn't understand half the words that were being said. If I didn't know the story going in, then I would have been totally lost.

Jennifer Holliday - She sounded SO GOOD, but that's to be expected. I honestly was a little let down by her "...And I am Telling You" because it didn't seem as "big" as I was expecting. She did some awesome vocal tricks, and the ending was actually right this time. She sat down on the chair as the scrim came in with the Dreams singing. She stopped the show a couple times in Act 1 with her singing and people would just throw out standing ovations here and there. And after reading her interview in the playbill that was handed out, I was a little pissed by her. She seemes very fully of herself and a hard person to get along with. To quote her, the main reason she did this production was "to get people to forget the movie." I mean, ya, you did the first production, but it's not the end-all of productions. Her acting wasn't all that great. And she really didn't command the stage like I thought she would. During her big Act 1 closer, she basically just wandered around the stage - I realize she was going for "unstable" but it just came off as if she didn't know what she was doing. Also, I don't feel like a lot of the type of singing she did fit into the show. She seemed to be showing off for the sake of showing off which sort of got on my nerves.

I thought Brandi Chavonnne Massey was the stand-out. Her voice was perfect and her acting was great. You could see her arc as she grew from naive little girl to diva r&b star. She actually sang and acted the role and I felt like she was getting overhsadowed by Holliday - even though Holliday was only playing to the crowd rather than actually playing her character. I loved every one of her scenes and her rendition of "Ain't No Party."

The rest of the cast was strong - the ensemble was great and had a few faces I recognzied. Adam Fleming (Wicked/Bare/Hairspray) is in the ensemble, I guess - according to his bio - he's from GA so it was a "homecoming" type thing. Also, Mevlin Bell, III was in the ensemble. He played Angel on the last RENT tour. And although I thought he was bad as Angel he was fine in this part.

If you have any other questions please ask. I thought it was a great night out at the theater and I was suprised to see the theater so packed.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 12:53pm

What did they throw at the stage?

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 12:58pm

i was wondering that to?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 12:59pm

Drano,..to unclog Jennifer's 'throat groggles' in the song.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 1:18pm

I was thinking bras/panties. Too bad Tom Jones didn't write DREAMGIRLS 'cause then it would be funny.

[Pippin]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 1:23pm

doughnuts.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 1:30pm

I'm wondering how long Jennifer can continue to play the role. She isn't getting any younger, and this isn't the opera world, where a 50-year-old can play a 19-year-old.

Updated On: 7/20/07 at 01:30 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 1:35pm

adam?!?

[silversurfer2]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 3:10pm

I was thinking the same thing when I heard about this production....Holiday is just TOO OLD to be playing this role...that is the main reason she wasn't even considered for the film...I was lucky enough to see her in the original production here in New york...she was amazing, it was a broadway history performance, but that was over 20 yrs ago. Effie starts out a teenager and the time span is about 10 years in the play. Ms Holiday needs to let go...and move on.
Maybe they were throwing DVD's of the film....
Updated On: 7/20/07 at 03:10 PM

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 3:17pm

Updated On: 7/20/07 at 03:17 PM

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 3:17pm

maybe they were throwing DVDs of the film...

^^^ now *that* made my day!!!

[crushgroove]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 5:31pm

Did Adam play the singer who rips off Cadillac Car? if not, who did he play?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/20/07 at 5:33pm

Bring Adam back to NYC.. NOW!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/21/07 at 1:54pm

Yeah, Adam played "David" - and I was trying to find him in the various ensemble numbers but he and one of the other guys looked exactly a like, but he sounded good on his version of "Cadillac Car."

And they were throwing like random things like tissues or empty cups, it was def. an experience, but there was so much love in the room, it was great.

My favorite moment though was when I was standing in the concession line during the first little bit of the show (I needed something to drink cause I hadn't eaten or anything in like 4 hours) and the lady beside me is watching the monitor that shows what's going on on stage, and she's on the phone, and she says "Yeah, I'm at this play, and I...oh...oh, wait...is this?...is this Dreamgirls" and the concsession guy says "yes" and she starts freaking out. I mean who doesn't know what show they're going to see?

[DAME]

Posted: 7/21/07 at 5:30pm

I can't believe she is still doing it. Will she ever move on? Her career has always been marred by bad choices.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/21/07 at 11:45pm

She seemed to just be going through the motions and "show-off" her vocals. It was very lackluster, but people ate it up.

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 7/22/07 at 2:07am

Does anyone know if Jennifer has been comming out the stage door and signing stuff?

[The Boy From Ohio]

Posted: 7/22/07 at 12:18pm

Rentboy. What did you think of the audience? I saw the show w/Holliday last time it was done at the Fox(5-6 years ago). I sat towards the back also and couldn't enjoy the show because I could not hear the performers. I think the audience thought it was sing along with Jennifer Dreamgirls. During the two big songs I couldn't hear her at all because of clapping, singing, standing, and dancing...it was nuts. It was good to see an audience so into a show, but it was to much for me. I paid to see Her not the audience.

[bobert5353]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 12:43am

I was at this performance as well and then saw it again tonight.

The audience was completely wild! People were shouting things out and screaming and shouting...etc. Jennifer was amazing to see but she is 25 years too old to play the role. She messed up a lot of choreography and just kinda blew it off, obviously just going through the motions of the show. Brandi was def. the stand out, everyone else was fabulous. Most of the ensemble got their equity card just for this show, so a lot of young talent.

If you have any other specific questions I can answer them as well. I am very happy with both of the performances that I saw and I was very lucky to be able to go backstage and to go to the cast party.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 2:34am

Lucky. I would love to go backstage, I bet that theater has a gorgeous backstage.

The Boy From Ohio, I didn't find it as hindering as you did, but I guess I'm use to it. It didn't really effect me, but I did feel really disconnected from the show. The sound was a bit off and I didn't really understand anything that was being said.

[bobert5353]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 4:10pm

Yeah I agree, the sound is not very good at the very back of the theater, which is why I moved up to the front mezz. And last night I moved to 4th row ORCH on the limited view side next next to the speaker, which was amazing.

When I saw Rent from the 2nd to last row of the whole theater I could not understand anything that they were saying but I already knew all of the words so it wasn't that bad. But other around me were clueless.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 4:27pm

The theater is always about a special magical agreement between audience and performer. We'll go many interesting places to hold up our end, happily, as in Mary Martin playing the ageless boy, Peter Pan. Age and gender (HAIRSPRAY) are only factor in castings. Audiences love to bend rules.

But audiences must be respected, too, and sometimes, we don't appreciate being lectured to by casting decisions. This is one of those instances. Even without the nasty comment ("..to forget the film..."), Ms. Holliday's participation amounts to a finger-waving at those who'd consider DREAMGIRLS viable without her. Her grip on this young role at age 50 would be sad were it not for her arrogant supposition that she alone has the artistic balls to play it until she tires of it. I'm glad she's found another happy set of revelers in Atlanta to anoint her waxworks. But surely even she now knows it's time to move on.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 4:29pm

Throwing tissues and cups?! What's up with that? Is that a good thing?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 4:48pm

It's a good thing Dottie, not a bad thing.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/23/07 at 4:54pm

How was Miss En Vogue as Deena?