Diana Ross took over lead spot from original frontwoman Florence Ballard, who unlike Effie, died in poverty at age 32. Her big song and second explosive number “I Am Changing” both elicit audience cheers and applause.Įyen’s story was loosely based on the Supremes. More fully developed here than onstage, Effie is the fierce, wounded, pulsating heart of the movie. It’s the kind of galvanizing perf that calls to mind debuts like Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl” or Bette Midler in “The Rose,” with a voice like the young Aretha.
The emotional intensity is immediately pushed several notches higher with Hudson’s raw, devastating delivery of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” The anthem of proud desperation is forever linked to Jennifer Holliday’s defining original interpretation but Hudson makes it her own, singing it on a bare stage backed by mirrors in an explicit nod to Bennett.Īn “American Idol” finalist without prior screen experience, Hudson comes fully-formed to film. Presented much as it was on stage, the complex number is cogent, dramatic and entirely unselfconscious in its pop-operatic language. (Keith Robinson) and replacement Michelle (Sharon Leal), the resulting confrontation, “It’s All Over,” is a dynamite sequence. Sung by Curtis, the three original Dreams, Effie’s songwriter brother C.C. Sidelined as lead singer and as Curtis’ lover, Effie grows increasingly resentful and temperamental, prompting her replacement in the group. This sets in motion the film’s central conflict and its most powerful emotional sparks. Going for a smoother look and sound, Curtis demotes zaftig Effie to backup, despite general acknowledgment she has the strongest pipes, and makes slimmer, more telegenic Deena the lead. He makes them over as headliners, renaming them the Dreams. Flamboyant Jimmy’s sexualized style scares the ultra-white crooner crowd but Curtis perceives a marketable commodity in the Dreamettes. Elbowing Jimmy’s veteran manager Marty (Danny Glover) aside, Curtis books the singer into an upscale Miami club. The story’s principal focus, however, is family, tracing bonds of shared experience that are cemented, broken and healed.Ĭadillac salesman Curtis aims to secure his own fame as a music producer by moving beyond R&B to conquer the pop charts.
Adopting conventions of the classic showbiz pic without cliche, it examines the casualties and compromises of fame. Condon deftly weaves this chunk of character introduction and exposition around the Dreamettes’ sizzling performance of “Move.”Įxpanding on the basic template of writer-lyricist Tom Eyen’s original book for the show, the script places the struggle of black performers against a background of racism, inequality and civil unrest. (Jamie Foxx), an upstart wheeler-dealer, notices the girls and lands them a job singing backup for established star James Thunder Early (Eddie Murphy). The dark screen is broken by quick flashes of color showing heels, skirts, hair and sashaying bodies at a 1962 Detroit talent contest.īackstage, the Dreamettes - Effie (Jennifer Hudson), Deena (Beyonce Knowles) and Lorell (Anika Noni Rose) - prepare to go on. The mix not only blends seamlessly, it provides footing in the twin camps of movie musical and performance-based music biopic.įrom the electric opening moments, the film establishes a highly energized, dynamic visual style. Condon reels the audience in before gradually embracing traditional musical presentation - first with brief, music-vid-style inserts during a montage and then with full-blown sung dialogue exchanges as the emotional stakes are raised. Here, the first few songs are performances anchored in narrative context. In “Chicago,” the numbers evolved out of the characters’ fantasies. While it lost best musical in 1982 to “Nine,” the original Broadway production of “Dreamgirls” won six Tonys, ran for 1,521 perfs and returned director-choreographer Michael Bennett to the spotlight five years after “A Chorus Line.” Fittingly, Condon has dedicated the film to Bennett (who died of AIDS complications in 1987) and has echoed his original staging in savvy ways.Īs he showed in his “Chicago” screenplay, Condon’s love of the movie musical is backed by an awareness of how tricky it is to make the genre work for film audiences no longer accustomed to characters spontaneously bursting into song.
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