‘DREAMGIRLS’: Amber Riley in her Olivier-winning role. Photo: Brinkhoff & Mögenburg

DREAMGIRLS
Book & lyrics by Tom Eyen
Music by Henry Krieger
Original direction & choreography by Michael Bennett
Directed & choreographed by Casey Nicholaw
Savoy Theatre
Savoy Court, Strand
London, WC2R 0ET, United Kingdom
0844 871 7615, http://www.dreamgirlswestend.com/

Soundtrack available from Masterworks Broadway

By David NouNou

In 1981, Michael Bennett brilliantly revitalized Broadway with a new musical sound and look that New York audiences haven’t seen before. It was a musical based on the top female singing group “The Supremes,” their rise to superstardom to their eventual breakup. They were part of the Motown family. Mr. Bennett conceived, directed, choreographed, chose his cast of virtual unknowns, and had his hand in the designs and the entire look of the show. It was his show.

He deliberately cast unknowns to make the show a story-motivated musical rather than a star-driven show. He cast Sheryl Lee Ralph as Deena Jones, Loretta Devine as Lorrell Robinson, and Jennifer Holliday as Effie White. The three ladies make their separate entrances with no fanfare, because you only get to know them as three young women who want to be a singing group and call themselves The Dreamettes. He also made the musical so seamless and continuous that there was no room for applause after any song or number. Not until near the end of Act I, where Effie has been replaced by another singer, deserted by her group, manager/boyfriend Curtis, and her brother and songwriter, C.C. White. Everyone has abandoned Effie for being a diva, unprofessional and difficult, always late and always making excuses for something or other. She is left all alone onstage staring into her make-up mirror in fear and despair and starts what has now become a Broadway anthem, “And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going.” By the end of the song when the light starts dimming on Effie, her makeup table is being pulled back upstage and she lets out her final painful gasp, does the audience finally get their release and give Ms. Holliday and the show a long show-stopping standing ovation that was a theatrical moment filled with goosebumps.

Casey Nicholaw is now at the helm of directing and choreographing the West End revival of Dreamgirls. Mr. Nicholaw is a brilliant director and choreographer of musical “comedy.” After all, he has given us The Book Of Mormon, Aladdin, Spamalot and one of my favorite musicals of all time which hasn’t reached London yet, Something Rotten (which should have won the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Score, and Director). Mr. Nicholaw loves the glitz, glamour, and hoopla of a musical comedy. Like Mr. Bennett, he also started as a performer on the Broadway stage and triumphed up the ladder of being both director and choreographer. Unlike Mr. Bennett, he hasn’t gotten the handle on musical “drama.”

This version isn’t as seamless and continuous as its predecessor. This revival is filled with gaps where the audience is now familiar with the score and will automatically clap at the end of each song. Mr. Nicholaw has eliminated all the tension that Mr. Bennett created. The show is still intact, but the focus of Act I has shifted from the rise of the trio to centering on Effie and her problems as well as James Thunder Early (Adam J. Bernard), because he is an automatic audience-pleaser. All the other characters become sub marginal. You notice this right from the beginning when the girls make their entrances, when Deena (Liisa LaFontaine) and Lorrell (Asmeret Ghebremichael) enter, nothing. When Effie enters, wild applause and that’s because it is Amber Riley of “Glee” fame and the winner of the mirror ball on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Of course, when the number “And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going” arrives near the end of Act I, yes Effie has been abandoned by everyone and is alone on stage, but she is no longer singing to herself in front of her makeup mirror but is center stage in a sequined blue cocktail dress, not singing out of fear and despair but what seems as one of two finalists on “American Idol,” singing her heart out to be the winner. In fairness to Ms. Riley, she does a great job with the song, not as Effie but Ms. Riley in an audition for Dreamgirls.

Even in Act II, when Deena is given her solo number to declare her independence from her husband/slimy manager, Curtis Taylor (Joe Aaron Reid), “Listen,” the Beyoncé song from the movie, it is now no longer a solo of independence for Deena but as a duet with Effie and that makes no sense. Mr. Nicholaw taketh from Deena Jones and giveth to Effie White. For most Brits and Europeans, they would not be such sticklers about these choices, but to American purists of the show, this would be intolerable.

The performances by Liisi La Fontaine, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Adam J. Bernard, and Joe Aaron Reid are all perfect in their roles. Joshua Liburd is totally miscast and too young as C.C. White, the in-house songwriter. As for Amber Riley, she has a great voice, a real musical talent, but she is not in “Glee” anymore, she has to adapt to the stage now.

Visually the show still looks good, but Gregg Barnes’ costumes come nowhere near to what Theoni V. Aldredge created. They were a show unto themselves. Had Casey Nicholaw followed the template of what Michael Bennett created and known more about musical drama, this Dreamgirls should have been an absolute knockout; now it’s just “well, it was nice to revisit.”

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 30, 2017
Reviewed at June 21, 2017 performance in London

‘DREAMGIRLS’: Amber Riley. Photo: Brinkhoff & Mögenburg

‘DREAMGIRLS’: The cast. Photo: Brinkhoff & Mögenburg

The post ‘Dreamgirls’ London revival: All about Effie appeared first on StageZine.

IMELDA’S TURN: Imelda Staunton gives one of the freshest interpretations of Mama Rose ever in the London revival of ‘Gypsy.’ Photo: Johan Persson

GYPSY
Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Jonathan Kent
Choreographed by Stephen Mear
Through November 28, 2015
Savoy Theatre
Strand
London, United Kingdom
(0844 871 7674), www.gypsythemusical.uk

By David NouNou

Americans are very possessive of their national treasures, and Gypsy, the musical, is certainly one of them. I would definitely place it among the five greatest American musicals of all time. However, in the past 11 years, two Broadway revivals have been major disappointments: the first was a total flatliner, and the second was a maniacally one-note, manic, diva-driven vehicle. So when it was time for StageZine to select which shows to review in London, Gypsy was not a top priority. I must say that nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the stage of the Savoy or Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose.

To begin with, the book by Arthur Laurents is tightly written (though at times now a bit creaky) but the music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim are immortal and second to none. From the first note of the overture, the music is intoxicating and prepares you for the roller coaster ride you are about to take. Starting with the new orchestrations by Nicholas Skilbeck and Tom Kelly to fit the range of the leading lady’s voice, they maintained the crispness of the score, and Jonathan Kent’s reimagined and redefined direction compresses the proceedings on the small Savoy stage not in a downscaled manner but in the shabby mode of the old vaudeville and burlesque style.

The story is simple: a stage mother (Rose) is trying to push her two young daughters, Baby June and Baby Louise, to stardom in vaudeville at a time when vaudeville was dying and the girls are growing up and still being passed off as young little girls. Ultimately time marches on, June runs off to elope and get away from Mama’s grip to become an actress, and Louise becomes the renowned stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.

Now for the best part of a review, when a critic shamelessly fawns over the leading lady and for good reason. Most Americans know Imelda Staunton for her Oscar-nominated role as the lead in Vera Drake and the two Harry Potter movies and would not seem an obvious choice as Mama Rose; after all, the role was originated by Ethel Merman, the legendary voice of Broadway. Just listen to the original recording of Gypsy and you’ll know why no actress dared play the part until 1974. That was the time when Angela Lansbury was coaxed to do the role. Ms. Lansbury was not a great singer but certainly gave a brilliant performance. Ms. Lansbury originated it in London and lucky for me she came to Broadway, where I got my first glimpse of this masterpiece. Subsequently many actresses have come to play the part: Tyne Daly, Linda Lavin, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Patti LuPone, and those are only the ones that I saw, but I can honestly say I have never encountered a force with the ferocity of Hurricane Imelda.

She is as ruthless as Medea, as delusional as Norma Desmond, as genteel, charming and emotionally fragile as Blanche DuBois. Being familiar with this musical, I was most interested to see how Ms. Staunton was going to make her first entrance. While the audience was watching the proceedings onstage, I had my head cocked to the right, watching her make her way down the dark aisle. While most Roses barrel in on their first entrance to make their presence felt as the force they are with the famous line “Sing out, Louise,”  not Imelda; she casually sashays down the aisle and firmly says those three immortal words while climbing onstage. At first I thought this was an odd choice for an entrance, but then it made sense; she unobtrusively enters to receive her due applause. And so begins this legendary performance for the ages. You see her building layer after layer with every scene and song. She is raw and vulnerable; she is coiled like a cobra ready to strike, and all wrapped up in a veil of desperation to succeed. As for her singing, no one expects Merman, but watch Ms. Staunton act the hell out of “Some People,” “Small World,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Together Wherever We Go,” and the finale “Rose’s Turn.” One is absolutely and orgasmically drained after that number.

As the grown up Louise, Lara Pulver bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Joan Crawford, is perfect in her early stages of awkwardness and being invisible and touching up to the point where Mama pushes her onstage to be a stripper. It’s at this point where she is not convincing in the maturation process and the emergence of the renowned stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Her “Let Me Entertain You” montage of the cocoon opening into a butterfly is hampered in two ways; she is given the most hideous costumes to perform in, thus making the scene blah instead of sexy and exciting; and she lacks the oomph to bring any shading to character development as Gypsy Rose Lee.

Peter Davison is sweet, gentle and loving as Herbie, Rose’s ardent pursuer, but lacks the hard edge of an agent that Herbie needs to survive in show business.

One of the major highlights of the show’s reimagining are the three strippers in the “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” number. Usually performed by older but fit actresses, Mr. Kent made it more authentic, by showing the seediness of burlesque with women whose bodies have had hard times and seen better days. Kudos to Anita Louise Combe (Tessie Tura), Louise Gold (Mezeppa) and Julie LeGrand (Electra) for letting it all hang out.

I must confess that seeing Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose performing at the magnificent art deco Savoy Theatre was theatrical nirvana for me. For anyone who is planning to visit London and is going to the theatre, Gypsy is the show to catch. A truly “must see” show of the year.

AS RUTHLESS AS MEDEA & AS DELUSIONAL AS NORMA DESMOND: Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose in ‘Gypsy’. Photo: Johan Persson

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES: Lara Pulver (left) & Imelda Staunton in ‘Gypsy.’ Photo: Johan Persson

ONE OF AMERICA’S BEST MUSICALS REVIVED IN LONDON: Imelda Staunton (left) & Lara Pulver in ‘Gypsy.’ Photo: Johan Persson

‘LITTLE LAMB’: Lara Pulver in ‘Gypsy’. Photo: Johan Persson

GREATEST SHOW-BIZ STORY EVER ON THE STAGE: ‘Gypsy’ revival in London. Photo: Johan Persson

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 26, 2015
Reviewed at June 19, 2015 performance in London

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