Dreamgirls
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Dreamgirls
''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,Grossberg, Michael " 'Dreamgirls' continues to spark questions about its Motown inspiration" ''The Columbus Dispatch'', March 6, 2015 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 sta ...
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Dreamgirls (film)
''Dreamgirls'' is a 2006 American musical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name, ''Dreamgirls'' is a film à clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, the Supremes. The story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit girl group known as "The Dreams" and their manipulative record executive. The film adaptation stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles and Eddie Murphy, and also features Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson. In addition to the original compositions by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist/librettist Tom Eyen, four new songs, composed by Krieger with various lyricists, were added for the film. The film marks the acting debut of Hudson, a former ''Americ ...
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Jennifer Holliday
Jennifer Yvette Holliday (born October 19, 1960) is an American actress and singer. She started her career on Broadway in musicals such as ''Dreamgirls'' (1981–83), ''Your Arms Too Short to Box with God'' (1980–1981) and later became a successful recording artist. She is best known for her debut single, the ''Dreamgirls'' number and rhythm-and-blues/pop hit, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", for which she won a Grammy in 1983. She also won a 1982 Tony Award for ''Dreamgirls''. Career Broadway actress Holliday landed her first big role on Broadway in 1979 at age 18, the same day she auditioned for the Broadway production of ''Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.'' Her performance in that musical earned her a 1981 Drama Desk nomination. Her next role, which she began to act at age 21, was the role for which she became best known: the role of Effie Melody White in the Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls.'' Holliday originated the role of Effie and remained with the show for ne ...
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Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ''NPR''. Her success has led to her becoming a cultural icon and earning her the nickname "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen Bey". Beyoncé performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of her debut album ''Dangerously in Love'' (2003), which featured the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy (Beyoncé song), Baby Boy". Following the 2006 disbanding of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé released her second solo album, ''B'Day (Beyoncé album), B'Day'', which contained s ...
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Henry Krieger
Henry Krieger (born February 9, 1945 in New York City) is an American musical theatre composer. He most notably wrote the music for the Broadway shows ''Dreamgirls'' (1981, with lyrics and book by Tom Eyen), ''The Tap Dance Kid'' (1983), and ''Side Show'' (1997). He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Score for both ''Dreamgirls'' and ''Side Show'', won the Grammy Award for Best Cast Show Album for the cast album of ''Dreamgirls'', and received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Song for songs he wrote for the 2006 ''Dreamgirls'' film. Early life Born in New York City, Krieger grew up in White Plains and Ossining in Westchester County, New York and attended school at the Scarborough School in Scarborough, New York. There he played in Gilbert and Sullivan's '' Iolanthe'' and ''Ruddigore''. He became interested in theatre and the dramatic arts, and he later studied creative and liberal arts at the American University in Washington, D.C., and Columbia Univ ...
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Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, television, and theater. Hudson became the youngest woman and second African-American woman to receive all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony ( EGOT). She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020. Hudson rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of ''American Idol,'' placing seventh. She made her film debut as Effie White in the musical ''Dreamgirls'' (2006), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the youngest African-American to win in a competitive acting category. After signing to Arista Records, Hudson released her self-titled debut studio album in 2008 ...
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Tom Eyen
Tom Eyen (August 14, 1940 – May 26, 1991) was an American playwright, lyricist, television writer and director. He received a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for ''Dreamgirls'' in 1981. Eyen is best known for works at opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum. Mainstream theatergoers became acquainted with him in 1981, when he partnered with composer Henry Krieger and director Michael Bennett to write the book and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls'', about an African-American female singing trio. Eyen's career started, however, with experimental theatre that he wrote and directed Off-Off Broadway in the 1960s. This led to his Off-Broadway success with ''The Dirtiest Show in Town'' (1970), a musical revue with nudity, and ''Women Behind Bars'' (1975), a camp parody of women's prison exploitation films. Eyen died of AIDS-related complications in Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 50. Early life and education Eyen was born in Cambridge, Ohio, the younges ...
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Imperial Theatre (Broadway)
The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shubert brothers. It has 1,457 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City designated landmark. The theater is largely situated on 46th Street. A narrow lobby extends to the main entrance on 45th Street, where there is a three-story facade of white Architectural terracotta, terracotta. The 46th Street facade, which is made of Buff (colour), buff-colored brick, was intended as the carriage entrance. The lobby, originally decorated in dark and white tiles, leads to the rear of the theater's orchestra level. The auditorium contains Adam style, Adam-style detailing, a large balcony, and Box (theatre), box seats with carved pa ...
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Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph OJ is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in the 1977 comedy film '' A Piece of the Action'', before landing the role of Deena Jones in the Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls'' (1981), for which she received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical nomination. She currently stars as Barbara Howard on the ABC mockumentary sitcom ''Abbott Elementary'', for which she won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, and became the first Black woman to win the award in 35 years. Ralph has appeared in a number of films during her career. She starred alongside Denzel Washington in the film '' The Mighty Quinn'' (1989). In 1991, she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her performance in the 1990 drama film ''To Sleep with Anger''. Ralph starred in the 1992 films ''Mistress'' and ''The Distinguished Gentleman''. She later played the role of Florence Watson in '' Sister Act 2: Back in ...
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Loretta Devine
Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress, singer and voice actor. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of ''Dreamgirls'', the long-suffering Gloria Matthews in the film ''Waiting to Exhale'', and her recurring role as Adele Webber on the medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011. Early life Loretta Devine was born in Houston, Texas, on August 21, 1949. She grew up in the Acres Homes area of Houston, where her mother was a single mother to six children. She was very active on the pep squad, and performed in talent shows at George Washington Carver High School. In 1971, Devine graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Drama. In 1976, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Theater from Brandeis University. She was initiated into ...
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Anika Noni Rose
Anika Noni Rose (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, as seen in ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011. She is also known for her starring role as Lorrell Robinson in the Academy Award-winning film ''Dreamgirls'' (2006) and for playing LaVerne "Jukebox" Ganner in the Starz series ''Power''. She is also known for her performances in theatre, particularly for her starring roles as Emmie Thibodeaux in the Broadway production of ''Caroline, or Change'' (2004), for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and Beneatha Younger in the Broadway revival of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (2014), for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Early life Rose was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut, to Claudia and John Rose, a corporate counsel. She began her acting career in Bloomfield high school, ...
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The Supremes
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal group, vocal band, with List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones#Most number-one singles, 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. It is said that their breakthrough made it possible for future African American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. ''Billboard'' ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time. Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson (singer), Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown, the original members, were all from the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, Brewster-Douglass public housing proje ...
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Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has also worked as a stand-up comedian and is ranked No. 10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. Murphy has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in ''48 Hrs.'' (1982), the Beverly Hills Cop (film series), ''Beverly Hills Cop'' series (1984–present), ''Trading Places'' (1983), ''The Nutty Professor (1996 film), The Nutty Professor'' (1996), and ''Dolemite Is My Name'' (2019). He has also won numerous awards for his work on the fantasy comedy film Dr. Dolittle (1998 film), ''Dr. Dolittle'' (1998) and its Dr. Dolittle 2, 2001 sequel. In 2007, Murphy won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the ...
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