Musical: “Dreamgirls”
Company: The Muny
Venue: The Muny in St. Louis' Forest Park
Dates: Through July 3
Tickets: $16.75 to $135, plus 1,450 free seats; contact MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or metrotix.com
Story: The Dreamettes, a trio of young, Black, female singers from Chicago enter a talent competition in 1968 at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. They don’t win the competition, but they catch the eye of a car salesman named Curtis Taylor Jr. He wants out of the automobile dealer business and sees potential in The Dreamettes and what they might accomplish on the pop music scene.
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Taylor clashes with Marty, an old-line manager of the legendary rhythm and blues singer, James (Jimmy) “Thunder” Early, who has long dominated the R&B charts, and who also has romantically conquered every woman in his entourage, leaving him without a backup group for his impending national tour.
Taylor corners Marty and strikes a deal for “his” clients, The Dreamettes, to accompany Jimmy around the country. Effie White, lead singer for The Dreamettes, flatly refuses, demanding that she be the focal point of any of The Dreamettes’ performances, but Curtis convinces her and her enthusiastic sister singers, Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, to become backup performers.
Eventually, Curtis convinces DJs to play some of The Dreamettes’ songs, many written by Effie’s brother, C.C. White. C.C. bristles at how Curtis changes his tempos to make the songs more appealing to a crossover, or white, audience, but Curtis’ idea works, and The Dreamettes are on their way to stardom.
All is idyllic for a while, as Curtis serenades Effie while also plotting to make the sleek, slender Deena the lead singer in the trio. Effie objects and becomes difficult to work with, whether through illness, as she states, or through intransigence, as Curtis suspects.
Either way, Deena is put in the spotlight. Lorrell, who is hopelessly in love with the married Jimmy, dutifully follows suit. And Effie is replaced by the attractive Michelle Morris. Effie is given an opportunity to return to the stage through the dogged efforts of Marty, who lost Jimmy to Curtis’ guile and promises of a new and even better career.
Can Marty bring Effie back to a viable show business career? Will Curtis, now married to Deena, accede to her wishes to have a more diversified professional portfolio including a starring role in an upcoming film? Can Jimmy resurrect his own career? It’s now 1975, and much has happened in seven short years in the lives of the "Dreamgirls."
Highlights: Dazzling choreography and powerful singing voices propel The Muny’s vivacious, new rendition of “Dreamgirls,” the acclaimed 1982 musical about the rise of a superstar “girl group” which garnered 13 Tony Award nominations and won six.
Other info: The Muny previously performed “Dreamgirls” in 2012, which artistic director and executive producer Mike Isaacson writes in his program notes was his first year at the helm of The Muny. “It starred one of the [Broadway original] show’s Tony Award winners, Jennifer Holliday,” notes Mike, “and while new to The Muny stage, it was in many ways a reconstitution… Twelve years later, our theater is transformed – and so is the world. This is the famous ‘Dreamgirls’ – but with heightened style and deepened insight.”
Two of the players in this current rendition – Robby Clater as Jimmy’s producer Wayne, and his sister, Natalie Kaye Clater as Michelle – appeared in The Muny’s 2012 version as well. This production is directed by Robert Clater, who has worked with Michael Bennett, director of the original 1982 Broadway show, and is father to the younger Claters who appear in the cast.
Director Clater takes advantage of The Muny’s sprawling stage to incorporate the production’s rich technical aspects, which include a wondrous video design created by Elaine J. McCarthy that is especially invigorating on the First Act number, “Steppin’ to the Bad Side,” with a series of stylishly dressed dancers in black appearing on a green background. The lively sound design created by John Shivers and David Patridge further supplements the overall appearance.
Costume designer Leon Dobkowski presents a sensational array of lavish and luxurious outfits for The Dreamettes as well as the gaudy attire favored by Jimmy “Thunder” Early, with complementary contributions by wig designer Kelley Jordan. Scenic designer Edward E. Haynes Jr. utilizes several large, movable sections, which serve as a TV stage and other settings, all richly illuminated with Rob Denton’s spectacular lighting.
The choreography designed by Lesia Kay is magnificent in its own right, featuring a cadre of The Muny’s finest dancers in a variety of numbers which showcase the steady ascendance of The Dreamettes to the top of the pop music world. Music director and conductor Anne Shuttlesworth elicits a strong reading of Henry Krieger’s score by The Muny’s orchestra, which bolster the book and lyrics by Tom Eyen.
The creators of “Dreamgirls” have long said that the trio of female singers pays tribute to a number of groups such as The Shirelles, The Chiffons, and Martha and the Vandellas, but they most resemble The Supremes.
The latter performers were the biggest of Motown’s female groups and was first known as The Primettes. The original trio consisted of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, but the latter eventually was replaced by Cindy Birdsong. Deena Jones’ career progression in “Dreamgirls” more conveniently coincides with that of Ross, who later received top billing in the trio.
There are strong performances aplenty in this new Muny version of “Dreamgirls,” propelled by the extraordinary voice of Tiffany Mann as Effie, who brings down the house on the Act One blockbuster, “(And I’m Telling You) I’m Not Going.”
There’s superb work as well by Aisha Jackson as Deena, Courtnee Carter as Lorrelle, Charl Brown as Curtis, Aramie Payton as C.C. White, accomplished local veteran performer Ron Himes (founder and producing director of The Black Rep) as Marty, the aforementioned Natalie Kaye Clater as Michelle, and Robby Clater as Wayne.
Not to be upstaged by anyone is Nick Rashad Burroughs as the charismatic Jimmy “Thunder” Early, a James Brown surrogate complete with Brown’s legendary, booming voice and explosive moves on the dance floor while belting out rhythm-and-blues and soul hits.
This new version of “Dreamgirls” includes plenty of references, in McCarthy’s video design as well as Eyen’s book, to the politically charged and culturally changing times in which Black musical artists fought to get their tunes included in the “American Bandstand” types of shows preferred by white audiences.
“Dreamgirls” is a stylish telling of a trend-setting era in American popular music, with 21st century additions to embellish one of Broadway’s biggest hits of the 1980s for a story about the ‘60s and ‘70s that helped shape the culture of the times.