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| Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 09:50 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| It opened today in 1987 and played only 177 performances. The original production was a big hit, and this was essentially that production returning from tour. In my mind at least Lillias White was a worthy successor to Jennifer Holliday, delivering what was needed from the pivotal role. I didn't see the production but I base that assessment on clips and her work in the complete concert recording. What was the pulse at the time? Had it simply played out its NYC demand in the original production? Or was this an example of how brining back a copy sometimes pales next to the original and people are just not interested anymore? |
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| re: Michael Bennett passed away three days after this revival opened ... | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 09:32 am EDT 06/29/20 | |
| In reply to: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - EvFoDr 09:50 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| This stripped down version had been created to make some dollars in split weeks and so forth on the road. While it claimed to be the Michael Bennett Broadway production, Frank Rich pointed out in the Times review that Bennett had been ill and not working for over a year - and that there was no chance that anything approaching Bennett's stunning original production would fit on the small, shallow stage of the Ambassador. He does point out that after getting over the fact that most of Robin Wagner's physical production had been jettisoned for this 'toy-scale version", "one is knocked out all over again by what is still the most exciting staging of a Broadway musical in this decade." It didnt need that dancing set after all! The review is a love letter to Michael Bennett. "The libretto by Tom Eyen is as thematically contemporary as FENCES." The review is a rave, especially for Bennett whom Rich calls "one of the most brilliant showmen the Broadway musical has ever known." The revival opened on June 28, 1987. Mr Bennett died on July 2. I imagine that the state of his health as something of an open secret in the world of Broadway, and the review reads partly as a summation of what Bennett gave to our theatre. | |
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| It wasn't--177 p is a darned good run . . . | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 04:54 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - EvFoDr 09:50 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| . . . for any return engagement (not really a revival) of any Broadway production that has closed to tour and then returned to Broadway, still in the same production. Since they didn't have to go to the expenses of producing, casting, designing, and costuming the show all over again, I expect the return engagement made money. This is another example of how you can't guess whether a production was financially successful or not just by looking at the number of performances. |
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| Lillias White was brilliant | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 12:43 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 12:42 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - EvFoDr 09:50 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Jennifer Holliday was great, though I didn't appreciate some fans in the audience whooping and hollering long before she had finished "And I Am Telling You" bringing attention to themselves. Perhaps Holliday was so hyped it was hard to live up to it consistently. She was absolutely incredible on the Tonys, though. I remember being more impressed by her 2nd act number "I Am Changing" in the theater because the hooters and hollerers had somehow diminished the first act for me, though she was very committed no doubt. As for the revival, White wasn't that well-known then, and without all the Holliday hype, she just blew me away. White brought a mixture of strength and poignancy and professionalism to the role. Plus, Michael Bennett's incredible, cinematic staging was a wonder to behold again. | |
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| re: Lillias White was brilliant | |
| Last Edit: pecansforall 01:12 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| Posted by: pecansforall 01:10 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Lillias White was brilliant - PlayWiz 12:42 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Michael Bennett's incredible, cinematic staging was a wonder to behold again. Agreed, although I missed the towers gracefully gliding around the stage on their own by way of automation. Bob Avian said that it looked like the actors were pushing refrigerators around the stage. Which reminds me, people often refer to the towers and bridges in the original production as "computerized" but I don't think computers were used for scenery automation at that time. The stagehands manually controlled the winches that mechanically moved the towers and bridges. Of that original production I think Robin Wagner said something to the effect of if one of the stagehands was out sick and a replacement stagehand was controlling the movement you could tell because everything wasn't perfectly synchronized. Robin Wagner's set was brilliant. Many critics said that the revival without the automated towers allowed the plot to be clearer because they claimed the original towers were distracting. I disagree. |
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| re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 10:40 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:29 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - EvFoDr 09:50 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Too soon? Maybe. Subjective: Lillias White was spectacular, deeply moving; at the time, I thought her Effie was definitive, since she's the better actor. She managed to make stopping the show part of a larger conception for the character, to my thinking. In a way, the size of the number, emotionally speaking, seemed to come from a more organic place*. I felt the same with Hudson in the film (despite editing that made sure the number had stand-alone gravitas), and I'm a huge fan of Holliday. We would have no Effie without her, and her stamp allowed others to continue to work on the character. White took the roof off, but the pain felt -- for lack of a better description -- more human scaled, of a piece with the storytelling's broader purpose. I will be shouted down, but if memory serves, some of the reviews said similar things. *the revelations in the number seemed to sneak up on White, to come to her in real time. The now beloved recitative that precedes the number proper had more exploration, facts weighed before the big revelation. Curtis was supposed to "...love me." Before the pain, White's Effie was trying to figure this mess out in front of us. Holliday seemed to announce epiphanies; White discovered them. |
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| Lillias White/Jennifer Holliday | |
| Posted by: Shutterbug 01:15 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - Delvino 10:29 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Agree that White is a gifted singer/actor, and I never miss an opportunity to see her perform. Her Effie was full of the nuance and subtlety that only White can deliver, but that doesn’t make her the definitive Effie in my opinion. Holliday was, and will always be, the definitive Effie. When Holliday reaches down, deep down into her chest - no, her guts - to deliver some of the big notes in And I’m Telling You.. her (and the character’s) emotional pain pours out in a torrent of raw feeling. I’ve never felt anything like it as an audience member - no matter who I’ve heard sing it since. Not White and not Hudson. I had the feeling that Holliday WAS Effie and knew Effie’s pain intimately through lived experience. Of course there was the off stage drama of Holliday getting fired by Bennett and then re-hired, which may have added another layer to an already gut-wrenching performance. Difficult to say if that off-stage experience contributed to the intensity that Holliday delivered. I saw Holliday perform the song live at an AIDS benefit in the early 90’s. She spoke about her complicated relationship with Bennett and then sang the song in his memory. It was devastating. I remember being in tears. (side note: the headliner at that benefit concert was Whitney Houston who was in magnificent voice. It was a night I’ll never forget). Holliday may not be a subtle actor, but for me she will always be the only Effie. |
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| re: Lillias White/Jennifer Holliday | |
| Posted by: Snowysdad 05:09 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Lillias White/Jennifer Holliday - Shutterbug 01:15 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| I was living in Boston when the DreamGirls was coming in, pre Broadway. Even with Michael Bennett with A Chorus Line behind him the subject matter didn't pull me in, I'm not a rock fan. The show opened to raves and it was on everybody's lips. Even my parents who had stopped going to the theater saw it and raved, told me I had to see it. I was able to score a perfect mid orchestra seat for the final Saturday night performance from a ticket agency at a reasonable price. It was a total work of art, everything about the production was as great as Broadway can get. Jennifer Holiday literally blew the roof off The Shubert Theater, in retrospect the greatest performance I have ever seen. The only thing that kept that from being obvious to me is that everyone around her was equally on the same level, just not with that powerhouse first act closer, one of the greatest songs ever for a Broadway musical. I have and admire the concert CD, the cast is uniformly terrific and Lilias White is able to stand up to memories of Jennifer Holiday, but not better that performance, at least in my mind. I have a feeling that the part of Effie Melody White is so fantastic that many people will be great between now and forever and there is no point arguing who is greater than who, just whether you liked the particular performance or not, just like Rose in Gypsy. | |
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| re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Posted by: vladimir 11:38 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - Delvino 10:29 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| What an extraordinary analysis Delvino. Thanks for writing that. | |
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| re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Posted by: champagnesalesman 11:13 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - Delvino 10:29 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| wasn't it never meant to be an open ended run but just a stop on a long tour? Michael Bennett died soon after it opened and then I think it was seen as a tribute. It is odd that Broadway hasn't seen a production since then, especially with the successful movie version.There was the tour that played the Apollo and the concert with Audra and Lillias. Wasn't the recent London production headed to Broadway? Perhaps next year for its 40th anniverary? |
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| re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Posted by: kess0078 11:41 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - champagnesalesman 11:13 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| That London production was rumored for Broadway, then casting notices went out for a US tour instead, but that never even materialized. Amber Riley isn’t attached any more, and from what I’ve heard, they have struggled to find an Effie. | |
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| re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 08:44 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - kess0078 11:41 am EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Amber Riley was supposed to be terrific as Effie and she got great notices, but she had trouble doing 8 performances a week and she missed a lot of performances. I have no idea why and don't recall if any reason was given publicly for Riley's attendance issues. When it was announced that the production was transferring to New York with Riley, I was curious if the producers and/or Riley had solved whatever the issues were and Riley had committed to do all performances. It seemed like bad business to mount a production built on a star leading lady who'd already demonstrated problems with attendance. Perhaps that's why it seems to not be happening now. |
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| re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? | |
| Posted by: bway1430 02:49 am EDT 06/30/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why was the 1987 revival of DREAMGIRLS such a bust? - JereNYC 08:44 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| She apparently did have legitimate health issues but truth be told, Effie is an epic sing so a 6 show a week arrangement with an alternate scheduled for remaing 2 performances is understandable. DREAMGIRLS London eventually pulled a BILLY ELLIOT where they cast 3 Effies but you didn't know which one you would get until you arrived at the theatre. Not a bad move unless one is a star attraction (and they didn't start doing that until Amber left). It would be a shame not to see Ms Riley do the role on Broadway. She was sensational. The production was also quite stellar though I did find some of the costume design uneven and the staging of the final number a bit silly and over-done. I hope it eventually gets mounted. |
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