Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls (1981), a musical by Tom Eyen (book, lyrics), Henry Krieger (music). [ Imperial Theatre, 1,522 perf.] The Dreams are an African‐American singing group who have emerged from the ghetto to scale the heights of success in the 1960s. However, just as they appear to reach the pinnacle, their manager, Curtis Taylor Jr. (Ben Harney), decides to dump one of the trio, Effie (Jennifer Holliday). Although he is her lover as well as her manager, Curtis has decided that the overweight Effie lacks the class to push the group to the top and keep it there. Besides, he has a new girl. But Effie goes on to achieve a personal success alone. Notable songs: And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going; When I First Saw You; I Am Changing. The real talent behind this show's success was co‐producer‐director‐choreographer Michael Bennett, who took a solid, although by now traditional, book about sordid backstage manipulations and a score that effectively re‐created the black musical styles of the 1960s and turned it all into a dazzling piece of entertainment. Added strengths were the superb performances of Holliday and a physical production that Elliot Norton of the Boston Herald American described as “a vivid moving pageant of lights in perpendicular towers and horizontal bridges, lights visible and invisible, that move about the stage to frame the actors and keep the action moving.”

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