The power of the box office; the magic of sheer talent

Because of the threat of a lawsuit from music tycoon Berry Gordy Jr., the producers of Dreamgirls had to come up with an ad saying that the movie version of the Broadway musical is not about Gordy. It is also not about the record label Motown, that he founded or about the girl group Supremes, he once had under contract.

Still, one familiar with the rise of Motown from small label to major industry player in the ‘60s cannot help but see similarities. I do not know if Gordy like the character Curtis Taylor Jr., played by Jamie Foxx, was an automobile salesman but most people in his hometown of Detroit where Dreamgirls is set, were in the car business. In fact the name Motown came from Motor Town, which was Detroit in the pre-Toyota days. One of Gordy’s most promising acts then was a girl trio called The Supremes. In the movie Curtis sets up his own Rainbow Records and has a girl trio named The Dreamettes.

Pop music lore says that Gordy junked Supremes lead singer Florence Ballard and replaced her with the prettier, more obedient Diana Ross, whom he believed had the potential to crossover into the mainstream white market. Gordy was right, Ross became a big star worldwide. In Dreamgirls, manager Curtis replaces lead girl Effie White, played by American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson with the prettier, lighter-skinned and more pliable Deena Jones, played by Beyoncé Knowles, who also becomes a big star.

I do not know if Gordy indulged in the same machinations, Curtis goes through in pursuit of his goals. Think wheeling-dealing and radio payola. Think betrayals and a total disregard for the feelings of people who get in his way. Did Gordy also exchange his dreams for power like Curtis did? Of course, I also do not know how real were the other events in the story. But the setting, the time, the characters and the occurring events could have all been lifted out of the Motown book and transplanted intact into the screen.

Actually it all started on the stage. Dreamgirls with music by Henry Krieger and book and lyrics by Tom Eyen was first performed on Broadway 25 years ago. It could not have happened at a better time. Broadway had just shed its Rodgers and Hammerstein strait-jacket, (The Sound of Music) and was having a great time discovering the many joys that could be had with the rock musical (Tommy). It was also ripe for other sounds and Dreamgirls offered up R ’n B or to be more exact Motown Soul.

A lot of factors kept Dreamgirls from being translated into film for a long time. Foremost among these was the fact that musicals were out of favor for many years in Hollywood and once more won acceptance only a few years ago. One of the best proofs that audiences were again ready for characters who sing and dance was Chicago, whose success earned screenwriter Bill Condon the chance to direct Dreamgirls.

It was no easy ride. Condon was given the task of extracting meat out of straw fodder. There is nothing new in the flimsy plot about a man succumbing to his demons nor about unknown talents rising to stardom. As a musical, Dreamgirls owed its success more to the staging than to the songs. In fact, there are only two memorable numbers in the original show, And I am Telling You I’m Not Going, the mother of today’s birit songs and One Night Only, which became a disco hit during the ‘80s. Condon had not only to flesh out his plot and characters but also to transpose song and dance from on stage to off on the screen in a realistic manner.

Condon rose up to the challenge. He framed the story against the civil rights conflict of the ‘60s and incorporated the assimilation of black music into the mainstream into the struggle. Several new songs were added, some of them of the current pop variety like Beyoncé’s Listen and more acceptable to today’s movie goers. The musical numbers do not achieve the fluidity that was so stunning in Chicago but they still worked immensely well thanks to the dazzling design and photography and most of all, the brilliant performances by the cast.

Maybe the real reason Dreamgirls took a while getting to the big screen was because it was waiting for the right cast and last year was when these players finally came together. No producer nor director could have asked for more. No group of actors could have been more ideal. They brought with them their big names, box-office clout, talent in abundance and an almost reverential respect for the material into their roles.

Laid back but finely nuanced were the performances by Foxx and Beyoncé, who has never looked more beautiful. Shining with bravura turns were Hudson who got to do an astounding And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going and Anika Noni Rose as the third Dreamette. And I have only superlatives for Eddie Murphy who is just incredible as Jimmy "Thunder" Early.

A star trapped in his image, Jimmy masks his fears of failure with sex and drugs and Murphy plays him with one of the widest ranging performances ever seen. He electrifies as a combination of James Brown, Little Richard and Rick James in the musical numbers, charms with a smile or the lift of an eyebrow and then plumbs the depths of tragedy with a dazed, lost look that tears your guts.