dreamgirls

GEARS UP FOR BIG SCREEN DEBUT

By Mike Szymanski

The old vaudeville Orpheum stage in downtown Los Angeles is set up to look like the early 1960s. When the director shouts "Cameras rolling, Action!" then three stunning women in white take the stage and belt out "Steppin' To the Bad Side" with 11 hunky guys in tuxedos dancing behind them. The ladies are Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose and they're the "Dreamgirls."

It's a quarter of a century since the hit Tony-award-winning musical was staged on Broadway, and Bill Condon was in the audience on opening night. "It was one of those experiences you never forget,” he recalls. “It was a brilliant cast and had legendary staging by Michael Bennett. With the passage of time, I think it's possible to take a fresh look at this material. This story of the crossover success of African American music during the 1960s has a particular relevance today, when black culture almost defines the mainstream."

For Condon, the project is a dream, and after he won an Oscar for best screenplay for Gods and Monsters in 1998 he earned some clout to pursue it. Then, he got nominated for writing the film version of Chicago, which took home the best picture award, and he wrote and directed Kinsey.

But, he's not the only one who's having a dream come true in seeing this finally being made into a movie. It's Beyonce's dream, and she's nervous to even talk about it. Flanked by a bodyguard on the set, the recording superstar whispers, "It's hard to imagine I'm doing this. It's more than a dream come true."

The elaborate staging on this day of shooting reveals a three-tiered red and white design that moves during the number, allowing for plenty of dancing, and plenty of potential stumbling. In fact star Jamie Foxx stumbled a bit while heading out between takes to talk about the show. "It's going to knock your socks off, it's different from any other musical, the production is magic. It's really so hard to take a stage play and make it a movie, but I have to tell you, to see Eddie Murphy excited about something is amazing, and he's really excited about this."

The film, set in the early 1960s and through the mid-1970s, follows the careers of three women:—Deena (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie (Jennifer Hudson) and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose)—who have formed a promising girl group called The Dreamettes. They get discovered by an ambitious manager named Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), who offers them the opportunity of a lifetime to become the back-up singers for headliner James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy). But it's Curtis who gives them tips about their appearance, their sound and he controls and steers them into the intense spotlight of fame. Suddenly, it's Deena who breaks out of the trio and pushes out the heavier, less attractive Effie and they soon realize that the cost of fame and fortune may be higher than they ever imagined.

The film marks American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson's film debut as Effie and rounding out the main cast are veteran actor Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Keith Robinson (Fat Albert), Sharon Leal (TV’s Boston Public), and three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle (Miss Saigon, The Tap Dance Kid, The Wiz).

The story sounds familiar because it's loosely based on Diana Ross and the Supremes, but the second act is quite different from the real-life story of the successful singing sensations. Murphy is playing his role like a James Brown type of guy, and Beyonce is more diva than we've ever seen before.

Hanging around to talk to the press, Tony-winning Anika Noni Rose says she thinks the word-of-mouth will definitely help get girls to bring their guys into the theaters to see the movie this Christmas season. "Maybe guys who'd never come see a musical will come, but why not? We're sexy. We got some sexy things going on with the Dreamgirls. I think the surprising thing is how easily the drama can move from stage to screen."

Not exactly that easy, according to Henry Krieger, who wrote the music with lyricist Tom Eyen. Also on the set about halfway through the filming in Los Angeles, Krieger says he added four new songs to the roster of music he wrote for Broadway. He won a Grammy for the Best Broadway Album in 1982, and now is revisiting his work. "Bill [the director] had a vision, and so I added the songs to help that. It's not an updated version, because it doesn't need to be updated, it's a timeless story."

Production designer John Myhre, who won an Academy Award for Chicago and also garnered an Oscar nomination for Elizabeth, says the trick is to bring reality to the musical, and translate it to the screen. "I'm a fan of musicals, and musical theater, so the trick is to make it as much of a magical adventure as it is on stage, but also bring some realism."

Costume designer Sharen Davis, who was nominated for her work on the hit biopic Ray, is creating the wide-ranging costumes for the film and says, "I think the cast is having as much fun wearing the outfits as I have designing them."

And choreographer Fatima Robinson is following in the footsteps of some famous and intense choreography. She is known for music videos and now says, "It's a great collaborative process, and I have some of the best talent to work with. We're all having a lot of fun."

Are there any diva attitudes on the set? The stories haven't surfaced, but Beyonce does have a pretty scary and big body guard shadowing her every move.

Dreamgirls is slated for release on December 22, exactly 25 years and two days after it opened on Broadway.