‘Dreamgirls’ is a dream come true
by DAVID HANNAH Bee Reviewer

Beyoncé Knowles, Sharon Leal and Anika Noni Rose star in Bill Condon’s “Dreamgirls,” now showing.

I am not a big fan of movie musicals, but “Dreamgirls” changed my mind. It has everything: great music performances, a believable story and songs to cheer for. The audience I was sitting with actually applauded during the middle of the movie, instead of at the end. How often does that happen?

This movie is loosely based on the rise of Diana Ross and the Supremes and Motown Records. It is a movie about how ambition and success can make a person better or how it can cause someone to crash and burn. Everyone handles fame in different ways. This movie is at its best when it shows a character singing about how they feel at any given time.

As in the musical, the Dreams themselves are direct counterparts to the Supremes members: Deena Jones is based upon Diana Ross, Effie White on Florence Ballard, Lorrell Robinson on Mary Wilson and Michelle Morris on Cindy Birdsong.

“Dreamgirls” begins by having three women entering a singing contest in 1963 as the Dreamettes in Detroit. The lead vocalist is Effie White (“American Idol’s” Jennifer Hudson) who can bring the roof down with her voice. Gospel music is definitely her forte.

After Curtis Taylor Jr. ( Jamie Foxx) hears them sing, he slickly convinces them to be their manager. He turns them into backup singers for James “Thunder” Early, played by Eddie Murphy. And what a part he plays! Mixing up James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson and some of his own wiseguy persona, Murphy’s Early leaps off the screen both in his scorching numbers and dialogue scenes. It’s his best screen work.

As the movie progresses, it becomes apparent that Effie is attracted to Curtis. They become romantically attached, but in a dramatic scene Effie realizes that Curtis has eyes for Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles), her backup singer. When Effie is later fired and replaced by Deena, who is more curvacious and thinner than Effie, Effie belts out “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” This show-stopper expresses Effie’s feelings about being replaced and how she feels about Curtis. She is leaving her dreams behind her. The audience was vigorously applauding after this scene. One can't help but be amazed by the range of emotions Hudson’s able to express in those mere four minutes, leaving you quite stunned and speechless. If she does not receive an Oscar nomination for her performance, it would be a miscarriage of movie justice.

The second half of this film jumps ahead to 1973 and shows how these people turned out later in life. James Early had a problem with drugs and paid the ultimate price for it. Curtis fired Early when his career was on a decline and he could not deal with that. Curtis married Deena and became a control freak. Effie had a child by Curtis, which only the audience is privy to. She had a life filled with sadness and poverty, but she never gave up on her dream to be a singer. The final scene is full of heart and is remarkable for the fact that Effie came back to the Dreamettes for their final show.

Produced by Laurence Mark, “Dreamgirls” was written and directed for the screen by Bill Condon, screenwriter of the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of “Chicago,” working from the original 1981 Broadway book by Tom Eyen and the Broadway songs by Eyen and Henry Krieger.

While much of the stage musical’s story remains intact, a number of significant changes were made. The Dreams’ hometown — the setting for much of the action — was moved from Chicago to Detroit (the real-life hometown of The Supremes and Motown Records). The roles of many of the characters are

fleshed out and further developed giving them more substance and relating them more closely to their real-life inspirations.

Oscar nominations should go to the following three actors: Eddie Murphy, Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer Hudson. This movie is PG-13 for language and drug usage.