Everybody knows “Dreamgirls” is the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes, but in this post-“Behind the Music” world, it could be about so many artists. The story of a photogenic group member getting pushed to the forefront while more or equally talented members get edged out is a timeworn story. Think New Edition, Destiny’s Child, N’Sync, or any number of pop groups of the last 30 years.
And, like a reinvented pop star, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical is back, and in Philadelphia June 22-27 at Kimmel’s Academy of Music.
When the musical, about the rise of a 1960s girl group, debuted in 1981, it was a runaway success and a star-making vehicle, especially for Jennifer Holliday, who played Effie White, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, who played Deena.
After several attempts, starting in the late ’80s, at making a film adaptation of the musical dating back to the late 1980s, “Dreamgirls” finally hit the big screen in 2006 and was met with rave reviews, especially for Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé and Eddie Murphy, who played Effie, Deena and James “Thunder” Early, respectively.
The new stageshow features singer and actress Syesha Mercado as Deena. Born in 1987, Mercado said her familiarity with “Dreamgirls” goes beyond the movie.
“I had heard stories about ‘Dreamgirls’ when I was younger because my mom had auditioned for the original production when it was on Broadway. She told me her stories about the audition process. She almost made it. I found her libretto in the closet and I remember asking her, ‘What is this music?’ She was telling me it was ‘Dreamgirls.’ I was in elementary school. Throughout high school, I did a lot of the music from the production. The first time I ever saw ‘Dreamgirls’ was the movie.”
Robert Longbottom, the show’s openly gay director, said the film version is the main point of reference for most of his cast.
“With the exception of one person, I don’t think anyone in our cast could have seen the original cast on Broadway,” he said. “Milton Craig Nealy, who plays Marty, Jimmy Early’s manager, was in the original. He was a swing dancer and worked his way up through the chorus and understudied many of the leading parts. But most definitely the point of reference was the movie.”
Longbottom added he was fortunate enough to be exposed to “Dreamgirls” before it opened to the public.
“I had a roommate in 1980 who was in the original production. So I was getting daily reports about how rehearsals were going. I was lucky enough to see the show in previews a couple of times before it opened and it was just remarkable. I hadn’t seen Barbara Streisand ever on stage, so I imagine that seeing Jennifer Holliday was that watershed moment in my life.”
And, as much as he professes to love the movie, Longbottom said there’s no substitution for the original musical.
“I think anything on stage that grabs you like that would have more of an impact. But the movie was terrific and opened up the story in ways you couldn’t do on stage. I think that the time between the show opening on Broadway and Bill Condon’s movie was a healthy amount of time, because so much changed in the culture so far as the fame machine of making stars. It only helped tell the story with the predominance of close-ups, ‘American Idol’ and our fascination of watching underdogs take that trip.”
That trip is a familiar one for Mercado, who was the second runner-up on the seventh season of “American Idol.” She said her experiences on the televised reality competition helped her relate to the character of Deena.
“I’ve always imagined that type of world and what it would be like. I’ve always heard stories. But I think I can relate to it a little better having gone through it. ‘American Idol’ did help me to relate to the story more.”
The role of Deena — which made a star of Sheryl Lee Ralph in the early 1980s — was played by superstar Beyoncé in the 2006 film. Mercado admitted to feeling intimidated about stepping into a role with such a high level of expectations.
“At first it was a little scary because Beyoncé and Sheryl Lee Ralph were so amazing in the role and they put their stamp on the parts that they played. But once rehearsals started and I understood my character, it just became less intimidating. I tried to focus on just being in the moment every night. It became natural and the intimidation factor went by the wayside.”
What might this role mean for her career? Mercado said she’s keeping her current success in perspective.
“‘American Idol’ has definitely opened up doors. It’s given me exposure. When I went back home for top three, I realized how much of an impact I had made on my community back home. When I left the show, so many people were asking me to do shows. But at the same time, just because you go on ‘American Idol,’ it doesn’t mean that something is going to be handed to you. You still have to work extremely hard to get whatever you want in life. Now, I’m still working very hard on everything that I want to accomplish in life.”
Whether the audience hails from the era depicted in “Dreamgirls” or is of the “American Idol” generation, it won’t matter, said Mercado: The show transcends the times.
“People can still relate to a lot of the topics it deals with. You don’t necessarily have to be in the music industry in order to relate to the struggles that these characters go through. There are moments in the show where it is like a concert. It’s designed to be a live performance. There’s audience interaction. It’s a show within a show.”
Given the movie’s success, it’s not surprising that this incarnation of “Dreamgirls” contains elements of the film. In fact, one of the hit songs written specifically for the film has been incorporated into the production.
“We did put the song ‘Listen’ in,” Longbottom said. “Originally, it was Beyoncé’s song and the creators and I always felt that the second act was lacking a second-act 11 o’clock number. The reunion and forgiveness number between Deena and Effie was never really there. I suggested to our composer, what about the idea of this being a duet that they sing together, both from their own point of view?”
Longbottom said he enjoyed the challenge of using moving panels and LED lights to update the look of the production while still paying homage to original director Michael Bennett’s staging.
“It had such an effect on me as a young man when I saw it,” he said. “It’s been a dream to be handling this material and have to come up with something new. It’s daunting. These are very big shoes to step into. Michael Bennett’s sensibility is all over this show. He helped create it and put it together. That’s nothing you want to even attempt to try to remove because it’s part of what made it great. If it works at all today, it’s because of the input of the original creators.”
Like Mercado, Longbottom believes the show transcends any generation gaps in the audience, calling it “one of the definitive backstage musicals of my generation.”
“I think the reason the show is popular is because it transcends the African-American, Motown and veiled Supremes experiences and is really about a universal condition, about forgiving, the importance of family and the friends you make when you are a young person,” he said. “You don’t tend to make those long-lasting friends as you get older. There’s something important about maintaining and fixing those relationships. It’s a profound musical in that sense.”
Longbottom also explained the enduring appeal of “Dreamgirls” to gay audiences, especially when it comes to the character of Effie White.
“There is no question that she is the voice and the one that should be recognized,” he said. “But as things go in this society, they wanted something that could pass. That’s something a lot of gay men, especially in the early 1960s and 1970s, had to contend with. How do I strike this balance of wanting to be true to myself as a gay man and also find my way in a straight world, especially if that straight world happened to be show business? At that time, there was no choice but for you to subvert yourself. Effie tries to do it. She tries to become that backup girl and is whitewashed, if you will. Curtis Taylor, Jr. takes an eraser to the group and tries to shave off the hard edges that people might find too black or R&B and make it more palatable for a white FM audience.”
Longbottom noted another, less esoteric reason gay audiences have a lot of love for “Dreamgirls.”
“If you like costumes, hair and a sense of fashion history, there’s nothing else like it,” he said. “There’s 19 costume, wig and shoe changes for these girls and, because the show moves so quickly, the wardrobe tells the story of what decade we’re in where the girls are. It delivers a show-business punch in a glamorous way.”
“Dreamgirls” runs June 22-27 at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call (215) 893-1999 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (215) 893-1999 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (215) 893-1999 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].