Dream Girls

Book and lyrics by Tom Eyen; Music by Henry Krieger Savoy Theatre, London Reviewed by Jarlath O’Connell

hy has it taken this show 35 years black soul singers, an X-Factor anthem bine sold gold entertainment with a Wto transfer from Broadway? It’s a to affirmation, which is odd consider- deft exploration of the cultural assimi- mystery, but it has arrived and is sen- ing it’s a song of debasement. Director lation going on in the music business sational. Glee star Amber Riley does Casey Nicholaw has the good taste at the time. The business was also not just star in it she owns it, and elic- though not to milk it and it emerges riven with payola scandals. Tom Eyen’s its not one but two standing ovations organically, almost creeping up on great book also sensitively maps the mid-show. Whilst ovating is de rigeur us. Riley proves a true artist though destructive impact of show business on Broadway, London audiences have in that she communicates everything life on both marriages and friendships. always been more reticent, but Riley through the song. Her sheer talent In a wonderful fusing of art and life appears to have changed that. lifts what could otherwise have been two opposing visions for black music, Dreamgirls is the story of a black merely a collection of sassy poses. R&B vs pop/disco, fight it out in the female singing trio that rises from the The group start out as backing show’s hit number ‘One Night Only’. ghetto to national fame during the singers for James Brown-like charac- Angered by CC and Effie’s refusal to ‘60s. Like The Supremes, to whom ter Jimmy Early. Adam J Bernard plays back down Curtis seeks to destroy they share more than a passing resem- Jimmy as if his somebody was after them by rushing out a dance version blance, The Dreams have their share of him with a gun. This firecracker of of the song to do battle with Effie’s obstacles to overcome. By the end of charisma whelps, drops into the splits more traditional take. Act 1 their hard driving manager Cur- with effortless ease and has a razor The show, in constant motion, has tis (a dashing Joe Aaron Reid) informs sharp wit. It is a star making perfor- no naturalistic settings yet Tim Hatley’s Effie (Riley), who is both his lover and mance. Early is of course “too black” designs and Hugh Vanstone’s lighting the group’s best singer, that she is for the supper clubs of Miami Beach are pivotal to its success. Gregg Barnes’ through. He’s concluded they need to and Curtis’ attempts to get him to tone costumes too, revel in the journey from depart the ghetto of R&B for the sunlit, down prove more than he can bear. 50’s primness to early 70s Day-Glo. We white and far more lucrative uplands Another victim is the group’s song- get every possible permutation also of pop. Effie doesn’t fit the bill, she’s big writer CC White (Tyrone Huntley). In a on the ‘glitter slash’ curtain, reaching in stature and in voice, so he promotes wittily staged sequence we see one of its apotheosis with a blue-tinted dia- instead the pretty and svelte Deena (a his hits get Pat Boone-ified for the TV manté example, in the shape of an solid Liisi LaFontaine). audience. arch. You might as well have arrived at Effie’s response is the operatic ‘And It’s testament to the brilliance of the Pearly Gates. I’m Telling You I’m Not Going’. This song Michael Bennett’s original conception This is a show that will require re- has attained a calling-card status for of the piece that he was able to com- visiting.  The American