Dreamgirls

Signature Theatre’s production of Dreamgirls is a two-act thrill ride of great music, great performances, and lavish showmanship.

The musical tells the story of the Dreamettes (later, the Dreams), a fictional African-American girl group, as they experience the ups and downs of show business personally and professionally circa 1968-1975.  While it’s easy to note that Tom Eyen’s book charts an often-told path and the second act is a bit eventless, it certainly presents characters that are interesting and endearing and makes worthwhile points about racial tensions in the entertainment world of the era.  Henry Krieger’s score balances pastiche of the era’s sounds within a consistent musical framework used for much of the sung-through material.

The performances are generally spectacular.  Nova Y. Payton shines as Effie White, the most troubled of the Dreams.  It only makes sense that intermission follows her rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” because it certainly is a show-stopper.  Cedric Neal is riotously good as R&B king Jimmy Early, and Sydney James Harcourt balances sliminess and pragmatism as Curtis Taylor, Jr.  I particularly want to commend the ensemble for clearly delineating individual characters and blending together seamlessly as needed.

Matthew Gardiner has staged the show with a tremendously sure hand, bringing cinematic sweep and movement (along with his co-choreographer Brianne Camp) to the piece.  Frank Labovitz’s costumes tell as much of a story as the actors do, but are only one of the components that make this one of the most visually arresting productions that Washington has seen in a while.

(Pictured: Kara-Tameika Watkins, Shayla Simmons, Nova Y. Payton, and Crystal Joy; Photo by Christopher Mueller)

Michael Miyazaki
Cabaret Scenes
December 2, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org