Starlight Hits a Home Run with 'Dreamgirls'
In another Kansas City summer notably devoid of power hitting, Starlight hits a grand slam this week with the national tour of Dreamgirls, opening Tuesday at the outdoor theater in Swope Park. Hats off (or at least ball caps) to Starlight Exec Producer Denton Yockey for snagging this terrific touring production of a Broadway hit that still stands up in the batters box, twenty years after its Broadway opening.
And I am Telling You...'Dreamgirls' is a Must See!
If you have not seen Dreamgirls on stage or at the movies you will need to turn in your gay card immediately. Even if you have not seen the stage or movie version you know the music. Whether you are a Gleek or have been to even just one drag show, you have heard the act one finale "And I am telling you, I’m not going." I remember watching Kofi drop to her knees and roll around on the floor Patti Labelle style to this emotionally charged anthem.
'Dreamgirls' Is Flashy and Fast-Paced, Filled With Everything You Look for in a Big Musical
Peel away the music and Dreamgirls' story is little more than a dramatized VH1 Behind the Music episode – the tumultuous rise of a singing group complete with bickering divas. But throw in the songs, and the musical serves up everything we look for in the genre: larger-than-life characters, booming songs to swell our emotions, and the spectacle of dazzling choreographed dance. If these things are what we use to measure the success of a musical, than the production of Dreamgirls currently on stage at the Music Hall at Fair Park succeeds by all counts.
Review: 'Dreamgirls' Will Make You Feel All Right
If Mozart had written an opera about a girl group’s tumultuous rise to fame, Dreamgirls would be it. Not only is the story told primarily through song, with very little spoken dialogue, but the vocal athleticism required of its cast is more akin to opera than a musical.
Theater review: 'Dreamgirls' at Music Hall at Fair Park
This review will not waste precious paragraphs explaining the plot of this musical. If you have never seen this Soul/R&B/Pop musical, or you have never heard the original Broadway cast recording, or you have not even seen the dazzling, fantastic motion picture, well, then you deserve to be sent to Guantanamo Bay and serve at least a 20-year sentence for not knowing this.
Big voices and eye-popping technology make touring show a hit
Critic's Pick
Dreams can lead to aspirations achieved or to high hopes crushed. They can be the source of creative genius or can motivate evil deeds. They can result in love or, when broken, be the source of despair.
Every one of those results is at play in the 1981 musical Dreamgirls, loosely based on the rise of The Supremes in the 1960s. A superb touring version of this show is onstage now at the Aronoff Center.
'Dreamgirls' sings its way into your heart
Critic's Pick
Moya Angela brought down the house – and earned a spontaneous standing ovation – late in the first act of nationally touring Dreamgirls on opening night Wednesday at the Aronoff Center. When was the last time we saw that?
'Dreamgirls' brings its magic to O.C.
Dreamgirls is memorable for two reasons.
The 1981 musical about the hopes, joys and tragedies of a Supremes-like singing group was the high point of choreographer-director Michael Bennett's art.
And it's been a superb showcase for talent.
Theater review: 'Dreamgirls' at the Ahmanson Theatre
Powerhouse singing is hardly in short supply in the bluntly entertaining touring production of Dreamgirls, Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger's groundbreaking 1981 musical loosely based on the career of the "Supremes," which opened Tuesday at the Ahmanson Theatre.
'Dreamgirls'
The very pleasant surprise of the, current national touring production of Dreamgirls is how well the original book by Tom Eyen and score by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Eyen have held up. When this roman a clef about the creation of America's first assimilated black girl group preemed on Broadway in 1981, the general consensus was that Michael Bennett's staging and choreography, together with Tharon Musser's innovative lighting and a breakthrough perf by Jennifer Holliday, saved the enterprise. Twenty-five years later, in a pared-down production that features director Robert Longbottom's much less impressive choreography, "Dreamgirls" reveals itself to be what Eyen and Krieger's tuner always has been: top-drawer Broadway.
LA Review: 'Dreamgirls'
When this 1981 musical premiered, the original director-choreographer (Michael Bennett) and the creators (librettist-lyricist Tom Eyen and composer Henry Krieger) steadfastly denied suggestions that the narrative is a thinly disguised portrait of the rise of the sensational 1960s doo-wop group the Supremes. Yet the Tony-winning show is widely regarded as a supreme entertainment. It remains highly evocative of the rhythm-and-blues craze of the '60s, when landmark performers such as the Shirelles and James Brown ruled the roost. Director-choreographer Robert Longbottom's touring revival is a knockout, cast to perfection and blessed with a stellar visual style and musical splendor.
Big voice, big heart: A showstopping singer gives new 'Dreamgirls' plenty of soul
Nearly 30 years after the Broadway original and four years after Bill Condon's movie version, a revamped Dreamgirls is back onstage where it belongs. The tour, which opened at Harlem's Apollo Theater in November, plays the Colonial Theatre through Feb. 14 – and I am telling you, you're going.
'Dreamgirls' dazzles on all fronts, so catch it while it lasts
The musical Dreamgirls pulsates with excitement from its starting cowbell downbeat to its melisma-scaled sung finale. The 1981 Broadway smash by composer Henry Kreiger and librettist Tom Eyen rarely gets revived professionally, so make a beeline to Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre now while this glittering new tour of Dreamgirls is in town.
Set between 1962 and 1975, Dreamgirls explores the successes, setbacks and compromises that African-American singers faced as they became increasingly integrated into mainstream American pop culture.
Grand revival of 'Dreamgirls' lights up the stage
The talent-saturated, lavishly high-tech-envisioned national tour of Dreamgirls, which set the Cadillac Palace Theatre on fire Wednesday, is a searing reminder (if you needed one) of just how grandly imagined and monumentally demanding this 1981 Broadway musical by Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger can be.
Cadillac Palace revival of 'Dreamgirls' delivers
A restless, edgy and frequently thrilling fusion of projections, movement and vocal pyrotechnics, Robert Longbottom's eye-popping, all-new, post-Hollywood production of Dreamgirls reinvents this 28-year-old title for an "American Idol" generation.
Stage Review: 'Dreamgirls'
Critic's Pick
Any new production of Dreamgirls has two hurdles from the outset: the duo of beloved previous productions of the show, the original 1981 Broadway outing and Bill Condon's 2006 movie. Both dazzled their way into the memory of viewers, and both produced stars in the she-shall-overcome role of Effie White (Jennifer Holliday on Broadway and Jennifer Hudson in the movie). Even though it's not as dreamy as its predecessors, a new national touring production (which kicks off with a three-week engagement at Harlem, N.Y.'s Apollo Theater) does not tarnish the show's legacy. And the role of Effie has again produced a new star in the thunderous Moya Angela.
