DREAMGIRLS - Get to your feet and cheer!

From time to time, it has been observed that Vancouver audiences are given to standard-response ovations - on their feet at the end of every show in overt displays of enthusiasm that seem duty-bound and stylized, out of proportion to the efforts being applauded. However, in the case of DREAMGIRLS, the riotous responses are many, genuine and well deserved. 

 

At its best this show takes you by the scruff and propels you, cheering, to your feet. DREAMGIRLS is guaranteed to please audiences – ardent fans and casual attendees alike. It’s also a show that makes no apologies for the brassy excess and brawny genius of America’s “Show Biz” acumen (which is beautifully showcased by this production). Flashy, dynamic choreography, gorgeous costumes, spectacular lighting and staging thrown together at a breakneck pace that never falters: Millerd is well served by his creative team.

 

But the “hook” is in its clever re-telling of the story of an early ‘girl group’: three singers who made a splash in the sixties and grew to become icons for the era even as one of their number squeezed ‘up front’ to become the featured singer, eventually to go out on her own and become one of the great pop divas of the twentieth century.

 

Any guesses about whom this might describe?                                          

 

Well, The Supremes come to mind (of course). DREAMGIRLS seems to so faithfully follow their journey that when the show opened on Broadway in 1981, Diana Ross tried to bring a legal action against the show. She called it an invasion of her  life. However, her lawsuit failed and only compounded the show’s success. Why? Because OF COURSE it’s about them but, then again, it’s NOT. After all, “artistic license” is very broadly defined and it covers a wide range of similarities and differences.  

 

DREAMGIRLS follows the story of three girls in fresh from out of town where they have just won a local talent contest. They burst onto the scene at the Apollo Theater where another contest is in progress and they are looking to notch up more wins. But there emerges a Rasputin-like character in the form of Curtis Taylor Jr. (a Barry Gordy figure) played with great slickness and aplomb by Daren Herbert.  He is smooth and relentlessly ambitious and has already set about to capture for himself all the best talent he can assemble to serve his grand vision for a new direction in entertainment. Taylor Jr. pays off the talent contest organizers to rig the result and the girls lose to a rubber-limbed Big Bopper-style rocker known as Jimmy Thunder. Whereupon Taylor Jr. then persuades the girls to back up Thunder on vocals which sets them off on a new direction, touring.

 

Inevitably, this being show-biz and all, love tangles begin to emerge and to muddy the creative waters. Lorrell Robinson (played with great charm and passion by Starr Dominique) falls for Jimmy, who is married and refuses to divorce his wife though continuing his relationship with Lorell. Deena Jones (Karen Holness), destined to be brought into the superstar spotlight, is a good-hearted trooper whose instincts are bred in loyalty to the group and her “sisters”. Holness plays her alluringly with equal parts warmth, humility and sex appeal, which transforms to a touch of grandiosity as her star rises. But when Curtis Taylor Jr. arbitrarily announces that Deena will be moving “up front”, Deena looks shocked and is genuinely embarrassed to be singled out ahead of the others. Nevertheless she is beautiful and talented and takes to the job with gusto as Taylor Jr. reveals his growing attraction to her.

 

Through all of this the de facto “Mama” of the group, Effie Melody White (Aurianna Angelique) has made a large impact on the girls’ success. But she falls in love with Curtis Taylor Jr. even as he is looking at Deena, and that spells trouble.  Soon Effie becomes the Cinderella of the group... pushed out of the limelight to the back of the line.

 

Casting a musical brings its own unique challenges. But in the case of Aurianna Angelique and her portrait of the disaffected Effie White, Millerd has gone way above and beyond. With a powerful physical presence, a charisma that rebonds off the back of the theatre, and above all, a voice that could fill BC Place, Angelique gives Effie a huge piece of the story and provides the audience with the best show-stopper (among several) of the night. When she pleads with Curtis Taylor Jr. to love her, she caresses him with vocal stylings that would make Ella Fitzgerald sigh - her anguish and her heartbreak are palpable. Unleashing a voice that is part Jennifer Hudson, part Big Mama Thornton, and all ferocious woman fighting for her man, Angelique delivers a tour-de-force ending to Act One that brought the opening night audience to its feet.

 

There are a few moments in the production when the pace slackens and plot is rolled out; the inevitable moments when the attention wanders and the senses dim. But, by and large this production is the full meal deal for impact, pace and show-biz pizzazz……go and see it and get on your feet and cheer.