| 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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