The History of Dreamgirls
HOW "THE DIRTIEST SHOW IN TOWN" BECAME A DREAM!
Dreamgirls had its beginnings as a project for Nell Carter. Playwright Tom Eyen and composer Henry Krieger first worked together on the 1975 musical version of Eyen's play The Dirtiest Show in Town. Carter appeared in the musical, and her performance inspired Eyen and Krieger to craft a musical about Black back-up singers, which was originally called One Night Only and then given the working title of Project #9. Project #9 was workshopped for Joseph Papp; Carter was joined at this time by Sheryl Lee Ralph and Loretta Devine, who were to play her groupmates. The project was shelved after Carter departed to appear in the soap opera Ryan's Hope in 1978.
A year later, Project #9 was brought back to the table, after catching the interest of successful Broadway director/producer/choreographer Michael Bennett. Ralph and Devine returned, and Bennett had Eyen, who was to direct, begin workshopping Big Dreams, as the musical was now known. Joining the cast at this time were Ben Harney, Obba Babatunde, Cleavant Derricks, and twenty-year-old gospel singer Jennifer Holliday as Carter's replacement (after Carter accepted an offer from NBC to star in Gimme a Break). However, Holliday left the project during the workshopping phase, as she disliked the material and was upset that her character, Effie White, died at the conclusion of the first act. Eyen, Bennett, and Krieger continued to iron out the story and songs. Cheryl Gaines and Phyllis Hyman were both considered as replacements for Holliday.
After two mildly successful workshops which included actress Jenifer Lewis as Effie, Holliday returned to the project, now known as Dream Girls. However, she found Effie's role had been reduced significantly in favor of Sheryl Lee Ralph's Deena character, and Holliday eventually quit the project again. After acquiring funding from music industry mogul David Geffen and fellow co-financiers ABC Entertainment, Metromedia, and the Shubert family, Bennett called Holliday back and agreed to rewrite the show's second act and build up her character. The original Broadway production of Dreamgirls was staged at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. It starred Sheryl Lee Ralph as Deena Jones, Jennifer Holliday as Effie White, Loretta Devine as Lorrell Robinson, Ben Harney as Curtis Taylor, Jr., Cleavant Derricks as James "Thunder" Early, and Obba Babatunde as C. C. White. Dreamgirls proved to be a star-making vehicle for several of its performers, particularly Holliday, whose performance as Effie received significant praise.
Dreamgirls was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, and eventually won six: Best Book of a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Ben Harney), Best Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Holliday), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Cleavant Derricks), Best Lighting Design (Tharon Musser), and Best Choreography (Michael Bennett & Michael Peters). Holliday's recording of Effie's solo "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was the top #1 single on the Billboard in 1982. For the Dreamgirls original cast recording, the producers decided to present the complex musical sequences as individual songs, cutting approximately half of the score. The cast recording won two Grammy awards, Best Musical Album and Best Vocal Performance for Jennifer Holliday's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going".
Click above to hear a clip of "Steppin' to the Bad Side"
The Dreams and The Supremes
The basic plot of Dreamgirls is derived from the history of The Supremes, a girl-group from Detroit, Michigan, which was Motown's most successful group act during the 1960s. Effie White is a doppelgänger for Florence Ballard, original lead singer of the Supremes; the character's vocal stylings and personality are based upon Aretha Franklin and Etta James. Diana Ross, who became the central focus of the Supremes and later left the group to pursue a solo career and a brief venture into films, is here adapted into the character of Deena Jones. Supremes member Mary Wilson is represented by Lorrell Robinson. Curtis Taylor, Jr., represents Berry Gordy, Jr., the founder of Motown, who pushed the Supremes towards pop success and became romantically involved with Ross. James "Thunder" Early is depicted as a representative of soul singers such as James Brown, Little Richard, Marvin Gaye, and Jackie Wilson. C. C. White is a collective representative for The Supremes' songwriters, who included the Holland-Dozier-Holland team and Smokey Robinson. Michelle Morris is representative of Cindy Birdsong, Florence Ballard's replacement in The Supremes, which was renamed "Diana Ross & the Supremes" at the time of that line-up change.
Dreamgirls is most dissimilar from The Supremes' story in its second act, which ends with Effie finding success as a solo performer. In real life, Florence Ballard's solo career was unsuccessful and the singer sank into poverty, depression, and alcoholism, dying of cardiac arrest at the age of thirty-two in 1976, just after her career had been revived. The play also shows inspiration from the 1976 feature film Sparkle, which itself was inspired by The Supremes' story.
Michael Bennett, Henry Krieger, Tom Eyen, and the Dreamgirls producers denied and downplayed the connections between the musical's plot and the Supremes' life stories, hoping to avoid legal issues from Motown Records and Diana Ross. Mary Wilson loved Dreamgirls, and even named her first autobiography, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, after it. Diana Ross, however, was reportedly angered by the musical, and expressed her dislike of it in the media. Though the Deena character mirrors Diana Ross, Sheryl Lee Ralph stands to the fact that she was not trying to imitate Ross, but portrayed Deena in a similar yet distinct style.
