@@Broadwayriah That’s actually not true. Before booking this show, she made her Broadway debut in a show called “Your Arms Are Too Short to Box With God!”. She had a Supporting Lead Role in the show.
I'm not fooled. Someone...somewhere has a live visual recording of this opening night of DreamGirls some where in their repertoire. So whoever you are, go ahead and dig them out and upload them on youtube! lol I would have LOOOVVVEEEDDD to see Jennifer Holliday on opening night...
I am WAY too familiar with this production and this recording STILL gives me chills! Damn....never before and never again. I remember my first time seeing it on Broadway in the early 80s as a teenager and being in a state of shock during intermission. Life changing.
I was 3 years old when it premiered on Broadway. I remember seeing the commercials for it in New York and never gave it much thought. I remember singing Jennifer's part that aired on tv in commercial when she said "I I I I'm not going"...lol and that's all I remember of DreamGirls at the time.
well at least there was that little bit of entrance applause for Deborah Burell, they probably recognized her from the wiz, it had closed about 2 yeard prior and she played Glinda. When you hear "Oh, I'm so nervous.." thats her.
@balletplus9835 Let me say thank you for the bottom of my heart. As being a huge fan of Jennifer Holliday & the whole entire cast of DreamGirls... this was something that I've longed to hear for many of years. I remember Sheryl Lee Ralph saying in a interview once that she will always remember the opening night of DreamGirls and how nervous everyone was that night, but she will always remember Jennifer singing And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going and how she sung the song from a place where no one knew or had a idea of where she was singing it from. And if this is the original opening night of DreamGirls pre-broadway, I see why she said that. Now I have heard Ms. Holliday always singing this song from the heart, but this right here is EPIC!!!!! THANK YOU AGAIN for sharing this with us!!
This recording was also LONG before anyone had ever heard "And I'm Telling You..." so everything was new and extra thrilling. Now the song gets applause when audiences hear the first few notes.
Holy shit I love it..... thank you. I hate what they've done to this great musical theater gem with all the changes. This will always be how DREAMGIRLS is supposed to sound and look
Because it really happened ...during the out of town tryout in Boston, I believe. She and Bennett had an argument and fired her. Jenifer Lewis was brought in. Holiday references this in her Tony acceptance speech (something to the effect of "Michael, wanna fight again...?").
02:40 I love the costume change that takes place there. How exciting it must have been to have been there that night! I wasn't born until December 1982, but how wonderful that we can all hear a part of theater history no matter if we were alive back then or not!
Flo returns. Now then ,Diane vs Flo. Enter Cindy and Mary feels bad July 1,1967 berry fires Flo. Flo vs Cindy. Flo Goes Solo And Diane Ross&The Supremes Take on Vegas 1967
I've always hated the end of And I'm Telling You. It's screams for an applause to the end instead going directly into the next song. I get it for the story but it's just always bothered me. The curtain should have closed at the end of her song and not 30 seconds after. I think the audience wanted to give her love
There might be a reason for that. The fact that Effie was taken out of the group and replaced really hurt her. And when she sang the song, you’ll noticed that the song changes when she hits the last note. The applause is supposed to be for Effie but was stolen from the new group with their new song. Pretty clever writing tbh
@donereally My thoughts exactly. I saw the original production many times in NYC and on tour and rarely did I hear the music or lyrics for "Love Love You Baby"
@donereally Now, let's give a shout out to that costume designer. The pink outfit for Effie couldn't not have been more on the nose: "The pink elephant in the room" is a problem that everyone knows is there but no one wants to acknowledge. ... "
@donereallyIt was also Bennett's way of maintaining the momentum that flowed from "And I'm Telling You" -- the recession of Effie into the background and emergence of the new Dreams. Bennett's staging kept it all going. The curtain fell at exactly the right moment.
Omg ...that ending ...the extra bit of music for the "showbiz its showbiz" wow .. Someone explain what happens ..I know the dreams come out and the curtain closes but when I did it in high school I (playing Curtis) gave someone a brief case of money in the wings while the dreams sang love love you baby than we closed the curtain. But ugh this was bomb
The producer David Geffen wanted to record and promote Dreamgirls as a pop album with only two sides, so a lot of the great parts like Heavy Heavy and It's all over was left out. Back then Broadway musical albums were usually a two-album package. Trust me when I say we were all very angry that we were cheated by not having the missing parts on the album. I hope I was helpful in answering your question.
