Dreamgirls (musical) | |
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Cover for the second Playbill musical Dreamgirls. The artwork for the original Playbill was also used as the cover of the Dreamgirls Original Broadway Cast album.
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Music | Henry Krieger |
Lyrics | Tom Eyen |
Book | Tom Eyen |
Basis | The Supremes and the history of Motown and rhythm and blues music |
Productions | 1981 Broadway 1983 US Tour 1985 International Tour 1987 Broadway revival 1994 Atlanta, Georgia 1997 Chicago, Illinois 1997 US Tour 2001 Broadway concert 2002 Atlanta, Georgia 2006 Feature film 2007 Atlanta, Georgia 2009 US Tour 2012 St. Louis, MO 2013 Vancouver, BC 2016 West End |
Awards | 1982 Tony Award for Best Book |
Dreamgirls is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called "The Dreams", who become music superstars.
Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatundé, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. The musical was then nominated for 13 Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, and won six. It was later adapted into a motion picture from DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures in 2006. The film starred Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, and Keith Robinson.