An advance look at the hit musical as it goes from stage to screen

By Christopher Cappiello

“When Broadway history is being made, you can feel it,” wrote New York Times theater critic Frank Rich about the 1981 opening night of the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls. On the same December evening that inspired those rare gushes from Rich, a young Columbia University graduate and lifelong Broadway musical fan named Bill Condon was sitting in the balcony. A quarter century later, after receiving an Oscar for the screenplay of Gods and Monsters, writing and directing Kinsey, and scripting the Oscar-winning film adaptation of Chicago, Condon is directing the long-awaited film version of Dreamgirls, due in theaters nationwide this December.

“It's one of those nights you'll never forget,” Condon recalls about that opening night 25 years ago. “I was sitting in the last row with a group of friends. It was one of the most thrilling things I'd ever seen.”

The original production was directed and choreographed by Broadway genius Michael Bennett, whose previous work had included Stephen Sondheim's Follies and Company, and, most famously, the phenomenon that was A Chorus Line. The 38-year-old Bennett was at the height of his powers with Dreamgirls, staging the musical about a Supremes-like trio without any naturalistic scenery or scene changes. Using a series of scaffolding towers that moved around the stage to suggest different locations, the musical was a never-ending swirl of motion and music, sweeping audiences away in its tale of the emotional price of success and fame.

The Motown-influenced score by composer Henry Krieger (Tap Dance Kid, Sideshow) charted the ascent of a trio of black women from their first 1960s Detroit talent show to subsequent Vegas-style success, and eventual pop music fame. Along the way, their ambitious manager dumps Effie, the strongest singer, because her heavyset frame and powerhouse voice don't fit with the emerging image of the Dreams as a slick, polished, pop culture phenomenon.

Jennifer Holliday shook the rafters of Broadway's Imperial Theatre every night with the show-stopping Act One closer, “And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going,” sung to Curtis, her lover and manager who has just told her she's through. “Really, it was just one of the great, legendary performances in Broadway history,” Condon recalls. “The audience didn't wait till the end of the number to applaud. Everyone stood in the middle of the number and remained standing for the rest. It was that kind of phenomenal experience.”

The original Broadway production garnered 11 Tony nominations and took home six awards, including best choreography for Bennett, best actress for Holliday, and best book for Tom Eyen, an off-Broadway playwright whose many gay-themed works included the camp favorite Women Behind Bars. Gay audiences in particular gravitated to the show for its glamour, contemporary music and, especially, for Effie's story of remaining proud and true to herself in the face of rejection.

The ambitious young David Geffen produced the original show. In the generation since, he has fiercely protected the integrity of the show and the reputation of Michael Bennett's original work, refusing to allow a film adaptation to be made. (Bennett died in 1987 from AIDS-related illness at the age of 44.)

Producer Laurence Mark (Jerry Maguire, The Object of My Affection) recalls that after Condon's acclaimed screenplay for Chicago fueled a best picture Oscar win, the writer/director was being offered every musical in Hollywood. “I said, 'Is there one Broadway musical that you would do?' and Bill said, 'Well, there's only one and it's never going to happen because David Geffen controls it and he's being very, very, very careful.'” Mark called Geffen and, in spite of his resistance, asked if Condon could make his seven-minute pitch. The pair found themselves at the DreamWorks mogul's home the next day for lunch, “and somewhere between the entrée and dessert, Bill got to deliver his seven-minute schpiel,” Mark recalls. “David, being one of the last great tycoons, who didn't have to make a zillion phone calls to make things happen, said, 'Hmmm. Let's do this.'” Geffen's DreamWorks is co-producing the film with Paramount Pictures.

To cast the ambitious film, Condon combined top talents from film, music and theater, with most of his first-choice actors happily signing on. With a nod to real-life, he cast multi-Grammy winner Beyoncé Knowles as Deena, the Diana Ross-like member of the trio who eventually takes center stage and becomes a huge star in her own right. Knowles' own career trajectory—starting with a little girl group called Destiny's Child and then catapulting into superstardom as a solo artist—brings some powerful layers to the Dreamgirls tale. The rest of the Dreams are Tony-winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline or Change) as Lorrell, and American Idol's Jennifer Hudson in the pivotal Jennifer Holliday role of Effie. “The lovely thing is that each of these ladies brings something different to the party,” Mark says about the trio's diverse backgrounds.

Almost 800 women auditioned for Effie during a six-month, nationwide search covering eight cities. “Effie is the center of this story,” Condon explains. “She's the character that you embrace the most. Jennifer just turned out to be the ideal choice. She has very big shoes to fill—Jennifer Holliday's performance is legendary—and to her credit Jennifer [Hudson] doesn't do the same thing. She has made this part her own.”

The male roles were cast with the same care, with Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx playing the pivotal role of the Dreams' manager Curtis and Eddie Murphy playing James “Thunder” Early, the Vegas star whose act is a major stepping stone for the girls. “I think [Eddie] loves the challenge of doing something that doesn't even remotely connect to anything he's done before,” Condon says. “And when I first met him I was thrilled to hear that, like me, he'd seen Dreamgirls over and over originally.”

At the center of this enormous project is the quiet Condon, respected by actors and appreciated by producers for his gentle decisiveness and respect for the material. “Bill brings an enormous knowledge of the musical form,” Mark says. “It's just in his DNA. Just to watch him figure out how a certain song will be shot, it's contagious, the enthusiasm.” “For me,” Condon explains, “musicals are like action movies are for teenage boys. You know, they just get your blood pumping.”

Moviegoers will enjoy that inspiring musical journey when the much-anticipated film opens on Dec. 22, 2006.