Why was the original Dreamgirls so expensive? — Page 2

I'm sure you're right about "Steppin'", Mister Matt. I just remember finding it very distracting in the 2nd or 3rd row to have actors dancing 40 feet in the air above me. Knowing Bennett, I'm sure there was a rationale for the dance, but I found the actual staging distracting.

And I'm sticking to my guns about having Effie sing "And I Am Telling You..." behind a dressing room table! Not to mention the fact that the song violates every principle of musical theater: after a character sings for 7 minutes with that much force that she is "not going", SHE IS NOT GOING!

And yet in DREAMGIRLS, she does. And stays away through most of Act 2. Huh? What (stage) reality is this?

When I saw it, Eric, the audience applauded every sustained note she sang. And that was in the first few weeks before the recording was well known. It was very distracting to me at the time, as if Jennifer Holliday had stopped playing Effie and was doing her nightclub act.

It seems to be customary for a certain audience. Now that I understand it (years of undergrad and grad school), it doesn't bother me.

But DREAMGIRLS was the first time I had ever encountered the custom.

"I love that Bennett had Effie not even really get the applause she earned from that number"

Interesting idea that the applause coming out of "AIATY" is for the Dreams. But it wasn't foolproof. I have a boot of the Boston tryout and the audience starts applauding on the last sustained "And I am telling you..."

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The number of trucks is one more reason to suspect they were shipping a duplicate of the Broadway set, not a "touring version".