Belting voices reign supreme in 'Dreamgirls'
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Chester Gregory, Syesha Mercado, Moya Angela and Adrienne Warren bring down the house in "Dreamgirls." -
Moya Angela plays Effie in "Dreamgirls." -
Adrienne Warren, left, is Lorrell, Syesha Mercado is Deena and Moya Angela is Effie in the national tour of "Dreamgirls."
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The sound of music emanating from Heinz Hall this week comes courtesy of the cast of "Dreamgirls," belting for all the volume their big voices can muster.
The touring company is packed with fresh, young talent, particularly in Moya Angela as full-figured diva Effie White and Chester Gregory as the James Brown-inspired Jimmy Early. They bring down the house time and again ... and again.
A good portion of the first act belongs to the guys, as sharp-tongued car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. (Chaz Lamar Shepherd) pushes his way into the lives of three talented teen friends and wreaks havoc to realize his own dreams of ruling the record industry.
Curtis decides a big girl like Effie, even with her big voice, can't lead him to the heights he wants to achieve, and he imposes his will to have model-thin Deena Jones (think Diana Ross) take the lead of the Dreams (think Supremes).
Gregory's Early, all blustery bravado, big hair and R&B magic, is the veteran performer who is charmed by Curtis along with the naive girls, the effervescent Lorrell (Adrienne Warren), pretty Deena ("American Idol" alumna Syesha Mercado) and the brassy Effie.
Where: Heinz Hall, Downtown.
When: Tonight 7:30; Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun. 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Tickets: $22-$66. 412-392-4900.
As they allow Curtis to manipulate them toward his vision of crossover stardom in the mostly white realm of pop music, they begin to lose themselves and each other.
Director and co-choreographer Robert Longbottom's most successful number in the first act follows Curtis' mission from payola to payoff. The street-smart "Steppin' to the Bad Side" takes advantage of the floor-to-ceiling backdrop screens as dancers with briefcase props are reflected for a Busby Berkeley effect that drew spontaneous applause from the first-night audience.
As the first act comes to a close, the increasingly frustrated Effie is banished from the group with the blessing of even her songwriting brother. Equal parts broken and defiant, she sings "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," a song that has come to define star quality for the women who can pull it off. The song helped win a Tony for Jennifer Holliday and an Oscar for Jennifer Hudson. It provided a showcase for Amber Riley of the TV show "Glee" this season, and now it declares that Moya Angela has arrived.
In fact, this is a cast that stands and delivers, but too often at one volume level -- loud. An unfortunate exception was an opening-night glitch that left Mercado's Deena without a microphone in the first performance of the Dreams' theme song. There also were problems with blinding lights that forced many of us in the front rows to shield our eyes at times.
Mercado soldiered on through the short silence and eventually was able to show off her voice with "Listen," her second-act duet with Angela that comes from the movie version and was written as a showcase for Beyonce.
It's nothing new to say that the Motown-to-disco sound that "Dreamgirls" aims for is uneven as the music builds toward "One Night Only," a song meant to bridge the eras. The pace and the power of the musical numbers picks up as each of the players learns there's a price to be paid for following a dream.
If excess has its place in "Dreamgirls," it's in the glitzy, brightly colored Bob Mackie-influenced gowns worn by the Dreams. There's artistry in the quick changes these girls have to make, including one clever outfit maneuver by Angela/Effie in the midst of belting "I Am Changing." The giant screens by Robin Wagner, who designed the sets for the show's original Broadway run in 1981, generate the show-biz heights attained by the girls in a high-fashion photo shoot.
This production, which began at the Apollo in New York City and has passed through Baltimore before landing here on Tuesday, works as a showcase for what technology and young talent can do for familiar material. The occasional less-is-more approach might have left the cast a little less exhausted and audiences more appreciative of that talent.
First Published December 31, 2009 12:00 am
