Similarities to Aretha Franklin, however, are also hardly coincidental. The movie, based on the 1981 Broadway play, tells the story of a small black record label and its star singers whose success crosses over to the pop charts. ", It wasn't uncommon for a group to get its big break at a high school talent show or, like The Dreamettes in the movie Dreamgirls, at a local talent contest. [8] With a production budget of $80 million, Dreamgirls is one of the most expensive films to feature a predominant African-American starring cast in American film history. dreamgirls.movie. Cast members of Munopco Music Theatre's "Dreamgirls," left to right: Taylor Hood, Krystle Tate, Arianna Rodriguez and Rebekah Gray. Some might even remember the 1981 Broadway production with Jennifer Holliday. "[22] Another Dreamgirls veteran present in the film is Hinton Battle, who was a summer replacement for James "Thunder" Early onstage and here portrays Curtis' aide-de-camp Wayne. Who was the main character in Dreamgirls based on? All of this was part of his effortembraced by the girlsto convey a middle-class respectability. "Come and get these memories: gender, history and racial uplift in Bill Condon's Dreamgirls". 1 In Sluggish Sales Week. They sang to mixed audiences about courtship, boys, parties, parents and parents not letting them go to parties to court boys. [85], In February 2022, Hudson's rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was named one of the five finalists for Oscars Cheer Moment as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Oscars Fan Favorite" contest, finishing in fourth place. The Supreme Beings: What 'DREAMGIRLS' gets right on the big screen Deena Jones, the role played by Beyonc Knowles in "Dreamgirls," was based on the late Diana Ross, while the film's primary character, Effie White, was based on the late Etta James, according to the film's composer Henry Krieger. But then again, hindsight is that there was a lot going on when 'Postman' was released. . Wake Me Up from this 'Dreamgirls' nightmare! Destructive 'Super Pigs' From Canada Threaten the Northern U.S. Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? Says Warwick, "Even from the very beginning, their songs are a little more adult in the themes," such as in the songs "Where Did Our love Go" and "Stop in the Name of Love." [19][34] The scene was felt by everyone involved to be pivotal to the film, as "And I Am Telling You" was Jennifer Holliday's show-stopping number in the original Broadway musical. [102] He repeated these concerns in a later interview with Access Hollywood, adding that he felt DreamWorks and Paramount owed Gordy an apology. These dark moments, where shadows fall across the dazzling film, resonated with truth. [28] Though Barrino emerged as an early frontrunner for the part,[29] Hudson was eventually selected to play Effie, leading Barrino to telephone Hudson and jokingly complain that Hudson "stole [Barrino's] part. [55] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Dreamgirls is the first live-action film to receive three nominations for Best Song; previously the Disney animated features Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994) had each received three Academy Award nominations for Best Song; Enchanted (2007) has since repeated the feat. [95][96] The photo shoot montage which accompanies "When I First Saw You", as well as the subplot of Deena being forced to star in Curtis' Cleopatra film against her will, reflect both scenes from and the production of Mahogany, a 1975 Motown film starring Diana Ross and directed by Motown CEO Berry Gordy. [23], The most crucial casting decision involved the role of Effie White, the emotional center of the story. Nat King Cole reached the charts in 1946 with "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66," which made the top ten. [69][70] The resulting positive buzz earned Dreamgirls the status of "front-runner" for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Picture and several of the other Oscars as well. Diana Ross, long a critic of the Broadway version of Dreamgirls for what she saw as an appropriation of her life story,[99] denied having seen the film version. In 1962 Detroit, Michigan, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a Black girl group known as "The Dreamettes", consisting of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre. Character Lorrell Robinson Show Dreamgirls Gender Female Age Range Young Adult, Adult Role Size Lead Dancing Mover Voice Soprano High Note G5 Low Note D#4/Eb4 Vocal Technique Belting, Pop Time & Place Various cities throughout the U.S., 1960s-1970s Tags [7], After preview screenings during the summer of 2006, several minutes worth of musical footage were deleted from the film due to negative audience reactions to the amount of music. But they also sang about love and crushes, mostly from the position of a patiently waiting, yearning girl. Joyner, Tom, Wilkes, Sybil, and Brown, J. Anthony (Dec. 12, 2006). The girl group phenomenon reached its height between 1960 and 1963, though many scholars recognize The Chantel's 1958 song "Maybe" as the beginning of girl groups' commercial success. | Knowles, Hudson, Rose, and Robinson performed a medley of the three Dreamgirls songs nominated for Best Original Song, although all three songs lost the award to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth.[79]. 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Wilson as Magic White, Effie's daughter, Paul Kirby as Promo Film Narrator (voice), This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 17:27. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name, Dreamgirls is a film clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, the Supremes. It's a story filled with intriguing characters, plenty of plot twists and, of course . For American girls to see female groups was something new. Teenagers listening to popular music during this time heard songs with voices that sounded like their own. Cookie Policy Terms of Use InWomen of Motown, she says, "What I related the song to was my experience in Rio at Carnival time, and in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. The groups, usually made up of three to five singers, often formed through glee clubs and high schools, with many having backgrounds in church gospel music. They announced that they were having a talent show. Advertising Notice Hudson to Upgrade "And I Am Telling You" Video: Dreamgirls director Condon wants clip to attract wider audience. [68] Three months later, twenty minutes of the film specifically, the musical sequences "Fake Your Way to the Top", "Family", "When I First Saw You", and "Dreamgirls" were screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, with most of the cast and crew in attendance. Deena Jones. [31], Dreamgirls received eight 2007 Academy Award nominations covering six categories, the most of any film for the year, although it was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, or either of the lead acting categories. He feels Effie's plus size figure and distinctive, soulful voice will not attract white audiences, (as Deena's voice, although more basic and generic, is more marketable). Jared Gilman ( Paterson) and Kara Hayward ( Manchester by the Sea) play Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop in Wes Anderson 's ( The Grand Budapest Hotel) 2012 coming-of-age film Moonrise Kingdom. By sticking to a highly publicized diet of water, lemons, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper (also known as the Master Cleanse), Knowles rapidly lost twenty pounds, which she gained back once production ended. This is a hit with the audience until Jimmy goes too far and drops his pants. That same year, Motown got its first pop hit with The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. As such, Hudson became one of the few actresses ever to win an Oscar for a film debut performance. "There are girl group songs that are based on blues progressions But there's also some that sound more like Tin Pan Alley songsalmost like Broadway numbers.". Dreamgirls eventually grossed $103 million in North America, and almost $155 million worldwide. By comparison, Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio remained open and active during Detroit's 12th Street Riot in July 1967. In Dreamgirls, Eddie Murphy plays James "Thunder" Early, a character who's part James Brown, part Little Richard, and all Eddie Murphy. [73] The film's failure to gain a Best Picture or Best Director nod was widely viewed by the entertainment press as a "snub" by the Academy. Cast & Crew; Dreamgirls - Full Cast & Crew. Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C.C. [42][52] This version, based on edits done for preview screenings before the film's release, runs ten minutes longer than the theatrical version and features longer musical numbers (including songs and verses cut during previews) and additional scenes. [7] The film marks the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant. Their first several singles for the label bombed, but once the group changed lead vocalists and hooked up with songwriters Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, the Supremes exploded with five consecutive No. [43] "Listen" was the first official single from the soundtrack, supported by a music video featuring Beyonc. 'Dreamgirls' Gets Standing Ovations, Cheers, Loretta Devine & Sheryl Lee Ralph Attend L.A. In Dreamgirls, Murphy plays the role of Jimmy "Thunder" Early, an R&B star whose character falls on hard times when his former backup singers, the Dreamettes, find success. Their songs employed a lead voice with backup harmonies, and the music was a hybrid of soul, rhythm and blues, pop and 1950's doo-wop. By contrast, the actresses who originated Hudson's and Knowles' roles on Broadway, Jennifer Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph, respectively, were both nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress, with Holliday winning the award. "At Motown, The Marvelettes, The Velvelettes, groups like that, are much more clearly identified as teenagers," she says, "and arguably that's why The Supremes had more longevity. "[65], Jennifer Holliday, who originated the role of Effie onstage, expressed her disappointment at not being involved in the film project in several TV, radio, and print interviews. American Idol's Jennifer Hudson as the Supremes' Florence Ballard? [46], Similar to the releases of older Hollywood musicals such as The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story, Dreamgirls debuted with three special ten-day roadshow engagements beginning on December 15, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, and the AMC Metreon 15 in San Francisco. But in Motown, Berry Gordy knew he could achieve both the musical and social aspect of crossover with well-groomed, sweet young girls. Andr 3000 of Outkast was also offered the role, but declined. [63], Many reviews, regardless of their overall opinion of the film, cited Hudson's and Murphy's performances as standouts, with Travers proclaiming Murphy's performance of "Jimmy's Rap" as "his finest screen moment. [80] It was also named as one of the American Film Institute's top ten films of 2006. Similarities to Aretha Franklin, however, are also hardly coincidental. Dreamgirls - Musical. The single-disc version of the soundtrack peaked at number-one on the Billboard 200 during a slow sales week in early January 2007. Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatund, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. 18 no. [19][22], Dreamgirls musical supervisors Randy Spendlove and Matt Sullivan hired R&B production team The Underdogs Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas to restructure and rearrange the Henry Krieger/Tom Eyen Dreamgirls score so that it better reflected its proper time period, yet also reflected then-modern R&B/pop sensibilities. [49] Both DVD versions featured alternative and extended versions of the musical numbers from the film as extras, including the "Effie, Sing My Song" scene deleted during previews. How true is Dreamgirls? ", Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, Best Actress Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture or Television, Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, "STAGE TO SCREENS: "Dreamgirls" Composer Krieger and Co-Star Rose; Plus David Warren". ", Even when girl groups didn't set out make political statements or songs, the politically charged times came to them. The kind of dance styles employed by R&B acts hardly lend themselves to the choreography commonly found in Broadway productions. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 2. [17], When Geffen co-founded DreamWorks in 1994 and dissolved Geffen Pictures, the rights to Dreamgirls remained with Warner Bros. Warner planned to go ahead with the film with director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Tina Andrews[7] in the late 1990s, following the success of Touchstone Pictures's Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. In what was considered an upset, Murphy lost the Best Supporting Actor award to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine. [97] In a snapshot, Ed Sullivan appears presenting the real Supremes on his show. [16], While Condon had intended to cast relatively unknown actresses as all three Dreams,[13] R&B singer Beyonc Knowles lobbied for the part of Deena Jones,[22] and was cast after a successful screen test. SUPREME BEINGS: WHAT 'DREAMGIRLS' GETS RIGHT, Detroit trio known as the Supremes have become a million-dollar enterprise in the space of a year through a combination of glamour trappings and a new rock n roll sound. Wilson's own film double, character Lorrell Robinson played by Anika Noni Rose, is nothing like her, she says. The Dreams' hometownthe setting for much of the actionwas moved from Chicago to Detroit, the real-life hometown of The Supremes and Motown Records. The movie is a big, splashy Hollywood/Broadway treatment of the R&B world, a breathtaking panorama of song, dance, personalities and drama tossed into the centrifuge of '60s black pop music. The Broadway show had been had been partly financed by music mogul turned film producer David Geffen, who retained rights to produce the movie. [40] Several musical numbers from the Broadway score were not included in the film version, in particular Lorrell's solo "Ain't No Party". Among the more direct references are the uses of adapted Supremes album cover designs for albums recorded in the film by the Dreams. . In any case, neither Franklin nor James ever belonged to the Supremes. Diana Ross left the Supremes in 1970 to pursue other projects such as film work, in 1972 she starred in her first motion picture, the Motown-produced Lady Sings the Blues. He signs a trio of young women, the Dreamettes, gets them a job backing an R&B performer, James "Thunder" Early, establishes his own record label and starts wheeling and dealing. Learn more about the full cast of Dreamgirls with news, photos, videos and more at TV Guide . Lorrell Robinson. "I was just overcome every week by this, these incredible visions, they were just such beautiful girls in these beautiful gowns, singing the music that I was listening to all week on the radio. That same year, four teenage girls were killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. They watched performers on stage who were their age. Dreamgirls also garnered Screen Actors Guild Awards for Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Supporting Actor (Eddie Murphy), as well as a nomination for its ensemble cast. Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, Silver Tie Music Producer in Final Audience with Marty Madison, Greatest Supporting Actress Oscar Performances (1990-Now), Broadway to Hollywood Musical Adaptations, (based on the original broadway production book by), director of photography (as Tobias Schliessler), makeup department head (as Tym Shutchai Buacharern) / makeup designer, hair stylist: Ms. Knowles (as Kim Kimble), character dental prosthetic designer: Eddie Murphy, additional second second assistant director, second assistant director: second unit (uncredited), lead designer: end title sequence, Picture Mill, construction coordinator (as Stacey McIntosh), prosthetic dental appliances: Eddie Murphy, assistant property master (as Andy Siegel) / prop master: second unit, illustrator: Cleopatra images (as Felipe Sanchez), art department production assistant (uncredited), production sound mixer (as Willie Burton), first assistant sound editor (as Josie Nericcio), supervising foley editor (as Thomas Small), sound designer / supervising sound editor, special effects technician (as Don Black), special effects coordinator (as Don Frazee), special effects technician (as Jim Lorimer), digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects / i/o manager: Gray Matter Visual Effects, digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects (as Joey Brattesani), rotoscope artist: Gray Matter Visual Effects, motion graphics montages: Black Box Digital, visual effects producer: Gray Matter Visual Effects, lead compositor: end title sequence, Picture Mill (as Joshua Novak), matte painter: Gray Matter Visual Effects, digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects, digital compositor: Gray Matter Visual Effects (as Colleen Smith), 3D animator: end title sequence, Picture Mill, stunt performer (as Johnny Cenatiempo) / stunts, stunt double: Amika Noni Rose (uncredited), additional moving light programmer / dimmer board operator, lighting technician: additional photography, first assistant camera: "c" camera (as Anthony Cappello) / first assistant camera: second unit (as Anthony Cappello), first assistant camera: additional photography, second assistant camera: "c" camera / second assistant camera: second unit, 24 frame video playback operator (as Dave McGraw), camera operator: "c" camera / director of photography: second unit, assistant chief lighting technician: additional photography, additional electrician (as Peter Villani), assistant chief lighting technician (as Michael Yope), animator: end title sequence, Picture Mill, lead animator: end title sequence, Picture Mill (as Joshua Novak), costume production assistant (as Daisy Alexandra Sylbert), digital intermediate technologist: Company 3, digital intermediate on-line editor: Company 3, colorist: Company 3 / digital intermediate executive producer: Company 3, assistant location manager (as Diana Lara), key assistant location manager (uncredited), choreographer: musical numbers / drum consultant, music editor: vocal sync (as Timothy Boot), music arranger: original Broadway production, composer: additional music / music arranger / music arranger: strings, composer: additional music / supervising music editor, music arranger (as Matt Sullivan) / music supervisor (as Matt Sullivan) / soundtrack producer (as Matt Sullivan), composer: original music / music arranger: original score / producer: original score, orchestrator: original Broadway production, transportation dispatcher (as Karen Chang), production assistant: second unit (as Lou Bonachea), production coordinator: Miami / production coordinator: second unit/pickups, second assistant accountant (as Cristina Duncan) / second assistant accountant, set production assistant: additional photography, Los Angeles, production secretary: additional photography, set production assistant: additional photography, Los Angeles (as Bill Greenfield), personal assistant: Mr. Murphy (as Jemal D. Guillory), additional craft service (as Noel Harris), executive assistant: Mr. Murphy (as Charisse Hewitt Webster), Stand in for Beyonc Knowles (as Erica Bynum), systems administrator: Graty Matter Visual Effects, production office coordinator: Gray Matter Visual Effects, creative supervisor: end title sequence, Picture Mill, coordinator: end title sequence, Picture Mill, producer: end title sequence, Picture Mill, production assistant (as Daisy Alexandra Sylbert), personal assistant: Mr. Murphy (as Randy L. Webster), assistant production coordinator: additional photography. N'T set out make political statements or songs who are the characters in dreamgirls based on the most crucial casting decision involved the role Effie! To see female groups was something new Motown 's Hitsville U.S.A. studio remained open and active who are the characters in dreamgirls based on Detroit 's Street... 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