A black-owned recording company having such a hit was, at that time, revolutionary. | Outside of the U.S., Dreamgirls opened in Australia on January 18, and in the United Kingdom on February 2. [7], After preview screenings during the summer of 2006, several minutes worth of musical footage were deleted from the film due to negative audience reactions to the amount of music. Inspired by Effie's victory and realizing Curtis' true character, Deena leaves him. Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatund, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. Community actress Yvette Nicole Brown was also in the running for the role but was eventually cast as the legal secretary to Foxxs character. In one scene, Effie saunters into Curtis' office and discusses Rainbow Records' latest LP, The Great March to Freedom, a spoken word album featuring speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. But they also sang about love and crushes, mostly from the position of a patiently waiting, yearning girl. They announced that they were having a talent show. Just as it's gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play The Dreams' disco cover of the song. But Krieger has said the songs "are nowhere close to the Motown sound." "[57] Television host Oprah Winfrey saw the film during a November 15 press screening, and telephoned Hudson on the Oprah episode airing the next day, praising her performance as "a religious experience" and "a transcendent performance. What is the Dreamgirls story based on? Premiere of Dreamgirls, Weekend Box Office Results, Dec. 15 17, 2006, Press Release: Paramount Home Entertainment Presents the Critically-Acclaimed Smash Hit and Winner of Two Academy Awards: DREAMGIRLS Two-Disc Showstopper Edition, "DREAMGIRLS Director's Cut Extended Edition Coming to Blu-ray Combo Gift Set This October", "Bill Condon reveals what's exciting about Dreamgirls: Director's Extended Edition", http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13504630.2012.667603, Exclusive: Jennifer Holliday Says She Created Role in, "'Dreamgirls' snubbed for Oscars best film nomination". He eventually drops Effie, hiring his secretary Michelle Morris to replace her beginning with their 1966 New Year's Eve debut in Las Vegas as "Deena Jones & the Dreams." It's a story filled with intriguing characters, plenty of plot twists and, of course . The girl group boom began to fizzle in the late 1960s, in part because of the British Invasion. Dreamgirls eventually grossed $103 million in North America, and almost $155 million worldwide. [16] The roles of many of the characters were related more closely to their real-life inspirations, following a suggestion by Geffen. [31], Dreamgirls received eight 2007 Academy Award nominations covering six categories, the most of any film for the year, although it was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, or either of the lead acting categories. Dreamgirls - Musical. Yet before girl groups, it was easier for a song to cross over than for artists themselves to do, says Warwick. He feels Effie's plus size figure and distinctive, soulful voice will not attract white audiences, (as Deena's voice, although more basic and generic, is more marketable). Dreamgirls also garnered Screen Actors Guild Awards for Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Supporting Actor (Eddie Murphy), as well as a nomination for its ensemble cast. Release Dates The slogan for the movie's Rainbow Records ("The Sound of Tomorrow") comes right from the old Motown Records ("The Sound of Young America"). Furthermore, Dreamgirls was nominated for eleven 2007 International Press Academy Satellite Awards, and won four of the awards: Best Picture Comedy or Musical, Best Director (Bill Condon), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jennifer Hudson), and Best Sound (Mixing & Editing). Crossing Color Lines. The character of Deena Jones leaves the Dreams in 1972 to pursue a career as an actress. This was not what Martha Reeves thought of when she sang the song. | [49] Both DVD versions featured alternative and extended versions of the musical numbers from the film as extras, including the "Effie, Sing My Song" scene deleted during previews. [7] The film marks the acting debut of Hudson, a former American Idol contestant. [93][94] A later scene features Curtis and the Dreams recording in the studio, while a riot rages outside. [21] Murphy, on the other hand, accepted the role of Jimmy Early after being convinced to do so by DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg. The limited edition program guide accompanying the Dreamgirls road show release was made available for retail purchase in February. Dreamgirls was the first DreamWorks film to be issued in a high definition home entertainment format. . Who was the main character in Dreamgirls based on? 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Girl groups subject matter articulated a common teenage experience, regardless of race, even as the culture around them was slow to catch up. [40] Several musical numbers from the Broadway score were not included in the film version, in particular Lorrell's solo "Ain't No Party". Based on the Broadway musical, a trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960's. 216,688 people like this. Though Effie defiantly and desperately appeals to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams abandon her, forging ahead to stardom. [74] Some journalists registered shock,[75] while others cited a "backlash". [28] Though Barrino emerged as an early frontrunner for the part,[29] Hudson was eventually selected to play Effie, leading Barrino to telephone Hudson and jokingly complain that Hudson "stole [Barrino's] part. "[30][31][32], Hudson was required to gain twenty pounds for the role,[33] which marked her debut film performance. In the oral history Women of Motown by veteran music critic Susan Whitall, former Marvelette Katherine Anderson Schaffner talks about her group's Motown break: "We all sang in the [Inkster High] School glee club; that was one of the classes we had together. The groups, usually made up of three to five singers, often formed through glee clubs and high schools, with many having backgrounds in church gospel music. 18 no. But there are things -- much more important than specific details of time or place -- that the film gets very right, such as record label boss Taylor's cold indifference to the act he now realizes is washed up or Early's heroin overdose death. [57][58] David Rooney of Variety reported that the film featured "tremendously exciting musical sequences" and that "after The Phantom of the Opera, Rent and The Producers botched the transfer from stage to screen, Dreamgirls gets it right. Coker, Cheo Hodari (2007). "Dreamgirls" is the fictionalized story of the creation of The Supremes and the rise of Berry Gordy and Motown. Laurie, Timothy. DreamWorks hoped to encourage amateur productions of Dreamgirls, and familiarize a wider audience with the play. She died broke, at age 32, in 1976. By 1973, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother living in Detroit with her daughter Magic. Everywhere they went on tour that summer, there were riots. "I was just overcome every week by this, these incredible visions, they were just such beautiful girls in these beautiful gowns, singing the music that I was listening to all week on the radio. The book was released on October 31, 2006. Delivery time is estimated using our proprietary method which is based on the buyer's proximity to the item location, the shipping service selected, the . "The most surprised was Motown. Teenagers listening to popular music during this time heard songs with voices that sounded like their own. The real story of the 1960s girl groups, however, changed American music forever. [5], DreamWorks Home Entertainment released Dreamgirls to home video on May 1, 2007[49] in DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray formats. However, after casting was completed, the film was budgeted at $73 million and Warner backed out of the production. "Come and get these memories: gender, history and racial uplift in Bill Condon's Dreamgirls". [86][87], To give the story more exposure for the upcoming film release, DreamWorks and the licenser of the original play, The Tams-Witmark Music Library, announced that they would pay the licensing fees for all non-professional stage performances of Dreamgirls for the calendar year of 2006. [37], Beyonc Knowles elected to lose weight to give the mature Deena Jones of the 1970s a different look than the younger version of the character. Presenting himself as their new manager, he recruits them as backup singers for Chitlin' Circuit R&B star Jimmy "Thunder" Early. Both the Blu-ray and HD DVD versions were issued in two-disc formats. They watched performers on stage who were their age. . "If you think about the Little Rock Nine in Arkansas in 1967," she says, "of nine black teenagers chosen to integrate the schools, six of them were girls. Foxx took on the role, which was based. Gordy did work on the Ford assembly line in his early days (the Gordy figure in the movie, Curtis Taylor Jr., played by Jamie Foxx, runs a car dealership), and he worked his way up in the music business starting as a songwriter for Jackie Wilson. Gaye was not only Motown's chief solo male vocal star, he was married to Gordy's sister. Schumacher planned to have Lauryn Hill[18] portray Deena and Kelly Price play Effie. [13], While much of the stage musical's story remains intact, a number of significant changes were made. Cast & Crew; Dreamgirls - Full Cast & Crew. [citation needed] A scrapbook, entitled Dreamgirls: The Movie Musical, was released on March 27, 2007. How many of these performances do you remember? [45] The film's Los Angeles premiere was held on December 11 at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills. [23], The most crucial casting decision involved the role of Effie White, the emotional center of the story. [61] Ed Gonzales of Slant magazine found the entire picture too glossy, and declared that "the film doesn't care to articulate the emotions that haunt its characters". and Effie's sung reunion "Effie, Sing My Song", which was replaced with an alternative spoken version.[15][42]. "There are girl group songs that are based on blues progressions But there's also some that sound more like Tin Pan Alley songsalmost like Broadway numbers.". [7] "Listen", with additional music by Scott Cutler and Beyonc, and lyrics by Anne Preven, is presented as a defining moment for Deena's character late in the film. The Effie White character from the Broadway play (and film) "Dreamgirls" is loosely based on Ballard. Curtis Taylor, Jr. represents Motown Founder Berry Gordy. Like the rest of the cast, Eddie does all his own singing in the film, but even he admits that the pop albums he put out in the '80s weren't a good example of what he could do. [98] There is also a solo album, Just In Time, recorded by Deena Jones shown in the film, the album cover for which is based on Dionne Warwick's 1970 album, Very Dionne. And it wasn't only menRuth Brown's "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean" was number one on the R&B charts in 1953, and number 23 on the pop charts. "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was the Dreamgirls soundtrack's second single. [92], The Dreamgirls novelization was written by African-American novelist Denene Millner, and adapts the film's official script in chapter form, along with fourteen pages of photographs from the film. Another Dreams LP seen in the film, Meet the Dreams, is represented by an album cover derived from the designs for the Supremes LPs Meet The Supremes, More Hits by The Supremes and The Supremes A' Go-Go. Offstage, Effie falls in love with Curtis while the married Jimmy does likewise with Lorrell. [4] Upon its release, the film garnered positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised Condon's direction, the soundtrack, costume design, production design, and performances of the cast (in particular of Hudson and Murphy). "Dreamgirls" draws its story from the relationship between the Supremes and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr., although the end result is pure fiction, cinema and musical theater. In the 1980s and 1990s, several attempts were made to produce a film adaptation of Dreamgirls, a Broadway musical loosely based upon the story of The Supremes and Motown Records, which won six Tony Awards in 1982. It was a time for people to forget who they are and just get with each other to be happy and loving and dance and rejoice. For instance, "Please Mr. Postman" is in some ways a classic girl group song, with a girl waiting for a letter from a boy. Knowles, Hudson, Rose, and Robinson performed a medley of the three Dreamgirls songs nominated for Best Original Song, although all three songs lost the award to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth.[79]. [16] That same year, Geffen, who ran his Warner Bros.-associated Geffen Pictures film production company at the time, began talks with Broadway lyricist and producer Howard Ashman to adapt it as a star vehicle for Whitney Houston, who was to portray Deena. American Idol's Jennifer Hudson as the Supremes' Florence Ballard? [22] The filmmakers insisted on casting a relative unknown in the role, paralleling the casting of then-21-year-old Jennifer Holliday in that role for the original Broadway production. Dreamgirls is the first live-action film to receive three nominations for Best Song; previously the Disney animated features Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994) had each received three Academy Award nominations for Best Song; Enchanted (2007) has since repeated the feat. The Motown sound was characterized by a straight-forward, grounded beat (bass and drums) and melodic hook. After Warner's Frankie Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love failed at the box office, the studio shut down development on Dreamgirls. [22] A total of 783 singing actresses auditioned for the role of Effie White, among them American Idol alumnae Fantasia Barrino and Jennifer Hudson, former Disney star Raven-Symon, and Broadway stars Capathia Jenkins and Patina Miller. | How true is Dreamgirls? David Geffen, the stage musical's co-financier, retained the film rights to Dreamgirls and turned down many offers to adapt the story for the screen. It was about the whole performancehow they moved, the clothes they wore, how big their hair was. [72], In addition, Dreamgirls was the first film in Academy Award history to receive the highest number of nominations for the year, yet not be nominated for Best Picture. So the emblem of the teenage girl is being imbued with a lot of political significance. Cast members of Munopco Music Theatre's "Dreamgirls," left to right: Taylor Hood, Krystle Tate, Arianna Rodriguez and Rebekah Gray. Dreamgirls is a fictional work, adapted from a 1981 successful Broadway musical inspired by the real-life story and success of The Supremes. [17], When Geffen co-founded DreamWorks in 1994 and dissolved Geffen Pictures, the rights to Dreamgirls remained with Warner Bros. Warner planned to go ahead with the film with director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Tina Andrews[7] in the late 1990s, following the success of Touchstone Pictures's Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. [103] On February 23, a week before the Oscars ceremony, DreamWorks and Paramount issued an apology to Gordy and the other Motown alumni. With three Golden Globe awards and eight Academy Award nominations, Dreamgirls has renewed interest in the girl groups of the 1960s as well as Motown Records, the Detroit-based company that became one of the most influential labels of the time. | In Dreamgirls, Murphy plays the role of Jimmy "Thunder" Early, an R&B star whose character falls on hard times when his former backup singers, the Dreamettes, find success. Curtis pitches a film about Cleopatra to star Deena, whom he has also married. Ballard, the group's original lead vocalist, had a rough, grainy and more conventional rhythm and blues voice, as opposed to the light, lithesome sound of Ross' vocals. "It's sort of the female corollary to doo-wop at the beginning," says Jacqueline Warwick, author of the new book Girl Groups, Girl Culture: Popular Music and Identityin the 1960's and professor of music at Dalhousie University. "Dreamgirls' Best Picture snub and Oscar night thud", 'Dreamgirls' banked on Best Picture, and Lost, "Nominees & Winners for the 79th Academy Awards", "The 38th NAACP Image Awards Takes Place With Superstar Entertainer LL Cool J As Host", National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "Screen Actors Guild Honors Outstanding Film and Television Performances in 13 Categories at the 13th Annual SAG Awards", "Official press release for International Press Academy Satellite Awards Nominations", "Beyonc, Jennifer Hudson Top BET Awards", "Zack Snyder's Justice League Tops 'Oscars Cheer Moment' List", "The 79th Academy Awards (2007) Nominees and Winners", "Dreamgirls (2006) Nominees and Winners", "The 12th Critics' Choice Awards Winners and Nominees", "One stage of film's marketing is on stage", Gordy Album Discography, Part 1 (19621981), "Diana Ross Talks About 'Dreamgirls,' Secrets to Staying Power", "Mary Wilson on the New Film, 'Dreamgirls', "Does 'Dreamgirls' Offer Lowdown on Motown?
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