Go now. Get your tickets! McCarter’s “Dreamgirls” is pure delight! You’re back now? Read on!
Dreamgirls first debuted in December 1981 and was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning 6. While originally envisioned as a vehicle for Nell Carter, whose career took off. This means the original cast gave three other actors’ careers a chance and this production carries on that tradition.
This show is all about change, in it’s many facets. Whether it’s “I Am Changing”, the huge hit close to the top of the second act, to the characters, it’s all there. The first time I saw Dreamgirls, it seemed to be about relationships – this time, with a bit more life behind me, it’s about change. And relationships.
Curtis wants change, but always HIS way. Jimmy accepts change to further his career but that change makes him less true to his soul. Effie wants one kind of change, while another kind sneaks up from behind. She’s the core of the Dream(ettes) success, yet while her voice is marketable, her package is not. Dina accepts change and lead of the Dreams, then her differences grow apart from those around her. Lorrell falls in love with Jimmy, believing her love will change him into what she needs. You know how that works out.
Playing now through March 24, it’s a good thing you just got your tickets – this show is phenomenal. Hopefully you will be blessed with an interactive audience! Whether you already know the story and the iconic songs or you are brand new to the tale, here is so much to love in McCarter’s Dreamgirls!
Lili-Anne Brown’s direction, Arnel Sancianco’s dramatic and sophisticated set are a jewel box for Samantha Jones’ costumes and Earon Chew Nealey’s hair and wig design. Christie Chiles Twillie’s musical direction and Breon Arzell’s choreography are made in heaven and the cast! Oh the cast!
Saint Aubyn’s James Thunder Early is dyed-in-the-wool star material and there is no doubt that he will always end sunny side up. Early’s manager Marty (Robert Cornelius) does his best to keep this star on the rails and it’s a full time job. Aubyn is electrifying as Early and while the little boy is usually what’s on the surface, the man inside makes rare and wonderful appearances. Evan Tyrone Martin’s Curtis is so absolutely certain he’s right and the magic is you can see the crumbling as he and his world dissolve around him. Jos N. Banks’ CC is a man who understands that as much as a man thinks he knows, there’s always more to learn. CC’s growth is palpable. And The Dreams, oh, The Dreams!
Michelle Morris, in Shantel Cribbs’ hands, shows the excitement of the opportunity Michelle has to fulfill her dreams while understanding that chance is crushing someone else. Keirsten Hodgens’ Lorrell Robinson grows up before our eyes from the ingenue unable to look James Thunder Early in the eye to the woman who wraps him in spirals around her little finger. Ta-Tynisa Wilson’s Deena Jones is sharp, sophisticated and a student of the world probably from birth. She is doing battle on so many fronts as she embraces her changing dreams. Trejah Bostic’s Effie is brilliant. Effie steps into the Apollo initially tentative, then remembers who-she-is and grabs that brass ring. Facing the cruelly looks-ist times, that have not really changed all that much in the past 45 years, Effie has success, come-uppance, a slough of despond and then comes back sparkling and swinging all at once and we have no choice but to rise on her tide. After all, a rising tide raises all ships and in the end, it’s the sisterhood that keeps us together.
Get your tickets now before the Dream ends March 24! Visit the box office at www.McCarter.org.