After a thirty-five year wait, DREAMGIRLS finally comes to London!
This much-anticipated new production will be directed and choreographed by the hugely successful, Tony and Olivier award-winning Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin, Something Rotten!) and stars Amber Riley as ‘Effie White’.
Featuring the classic songs ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’, ‘I Am Changing’, ‘One Night Only’ and ‘Listen’, DREAMGIRLS follows the journey of a young female singing group from Chicago and will transport you to a revolutionary time in American music history. The trio ‘The Dreams’, must learn the tough lesson that show business and stardom isn’t always as glamorous as it seems.
With Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen and Music by Henry Krieger, Director and Choreographer, Nicholaw, will be joined by a fantastic creative team in London including Set Design by Tim Hatley, Costume Design by Gregg Barnes, Lighting Design by Hugh Vanstone, Sound Design by Richard Brooker and Hair Design by Josh Marquette. The Musical Supervisor will be Nick Finlow, the Orchestrator will be Harold Wheeler, with Additional Material by Willie Reale.
DREAMGIRLS first opened at the Imperial Theatre, Broadway in the December 1981. The production was directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, and starred Sheryl Lee Ralph as ‘Deena Jones’, Jennifer Holliday as ‘Effie White’, Loretta Devine as ‘Lorrell Robinson’.
In 1982, DREAMGIRLS won six Tony® awards which included Best Book of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Holliday), Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Lighting Design. In the same year, Jennifer Holliday’s recording of Effie’s solo ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’ reached #1 on the Billboard singles R&B chart and following the success of the show on Broadway, the show began its first US tour in 1983.
In December 2006, DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures produced and released the film DREAMGIRLS, which won three Golden Globes and two Oscars and starred Beyoncé Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson (Academy Award Winner, Best Supporting Actress, 2007).
In November 2016, after thirty-five years and 13 awards (including six Tony® Awards, 5 Drama desk Awards and 2 Grammy’s), this new production of DREAMGIRLS finally premieres in the United Kingdom, opening at the Savoy Theatre, Strand, London.
Twitter: @DreamgirlsLDN