I honestly believe that she took everything that Whoopi did with the role, threw it completely out the window, and instead made an offensive stereotype of a ghetto Black girl who has to pretend to be a nun. There was nothing "ghetto" about Whoopi's Deloris. As has already been stated, you cannot compare Whoopi's performance and Patina's performance since they are TWO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS. The film's Deloris and the stage musical's Deloris are two different characters from different backgrounds, from different places, and from different time periods. The only thing they have in common is that they share the same plot.
In addition, Patina did not make Deloris "ghetto." The writers did. You would have known this if, you know, you would have SEEN THE SHOW.
You're entitled to whatever opinion you have of Patina's performances from whatever clips you have seen. And you're entitled to be discouraged from seeing the show based on those performances if that is how you feel. But it's foolish for you to expect the musical to be the movie. It's not. It's an adaptation based on the film. It doesn't try to be the film. And it doesn't promote itself as being identical to the film.
I suggest you go see the show. It's a lot of fun. Maybe you'll like it in a different way than you enjoyed the film.
And one final note while I'm on the soapbox: there is absolutely nothing in the script of DREAMGIRLS that states that the character of Effie is fat or "big" UNTIL the middle of the show where Curtis says "you're getting fatter all the time." Productions of DREAMGIRLS (both on Broadway and off) have cast actresses who were skinny or "not big." The originator of the role, Jennifer Hudson, was a bigger person and her performance became legendary. Thus, that role became iconic as a being played by someone who is "big." But it is not a role requirement. Based on type (ignoring the talent argument), Patina Miller could surely play Effie.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle