Musical Dreamgirls Is a Showstopper
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
``Dreamgirls,'' which opened on Feb. 27 at Charlotte Theater in southern Seoul, immediately captivated the audience, with magical devices such as LED panels and glamorous lights, and triumphed in upgrading the '80's high-profile musical into a new rendition starring a local cast with a roughly 10 billion won budget.
The new rendition of ``Dreamgirls,'' better known as the Hollywood hit film starring Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson, had its world premiere here amid great anticipation.
The musical, co-produced by OD Musical Company head Shin Chun-soo and American producer John F. Breglio, was reinforced visually by an impressive set that included mobile panels that kept moving to form an almost infinite number of configurations.
The set pieces and glamorous costumes were also successful in creating explosive variations with the special stage effects.
The audience couldn't stop rewarding the show with spontaneous admiration and the roar of applause.
The show used shadows and lights, background and foreground action, and spotlighted figures and eerie silhouettes to maintain a constant tension between darkness and light.
The five LED screens, two meters wide and six meters high, moved up and down and left to right to project a night view of New York, Miami and the real-time moves of actors, with computer graphics.
Twenty-six performers changed into more than 400 costumes and 112 wigs in seconds at a time amid the surreal effects of the LED panels.
The story is about a black singing group making the journey from the ghetto to stardom in the 1960's and overcoming obstacles and heartache and facing triumphs, breakups and love.
The show successfully turns the racial story of black entertainers who make it in white America into a universal piece that focuses on the conflicts between members who moved from the fringe as backup singers into mainstream superstars.
Even though the musical didn't deeply foray into Motown territory, which seemed to be a little bit of a disappointment to some fans, it drew great sympathy from the Korean general audience, which saw a high toll of guilt and self-hatred inflicted on those who sold their artistic souls to the highest bidder but find their way in the end.
The girls are about to make their debut in Las Vegas but there's some nasty business to be dealt with backstage. Curtis, played by Oh Man-seok, comes to the girls and offers Effie, played by Hong Ji-min, the lead singer of Dreams and later his lover, a job working for him.
Effie and the other members, who perform R&B and soul, cross over into the lucrative field of white pop and the members change their images with a new, glamorous look and a lighter sound.
Effie, who is overweight and doesn't sing to Curtis' taste, is replaced with a new girl and gets dumped by him.
Actress Hong tries to restrain her lover from leaving, and her voice flows into a dark and gutsy blues number, rising to a cry without pause.
Deena, played by Jung Seon-a, falls in love with Curtis and rises to stardom, becoming estranged from Effie.
Jung stole the limelight with her glamorous look and powerful vocals, while actor Choi Min-chul, as James, played a key role as a comical character.
The original version of the musical was first staged on Broadway in 1981 thanks to the efforts of the celebrated Broadway creative staff.
Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown and others, the musical was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won six.
For the new production, the world-renowned creative team upgraded the original to include new musical numbers by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Tom Eyen, including ``Listen,'' which was used in the film adaptation, which underwent a story revision.
The new production will tour other countries with local casts and will be in Boston next fall and on Broadway in 2011, according to OD Musical, and will continue through July 26 at the Charlotte Theater. For ticket reservations, call 1588-5212.