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There are dreams of white Christmases and dreams of R&B stardom, and on Nov. 22 the traditional Main Stem first-nighters were torn about which dream to follow, although neither option led to a true Broadway opening as we've come to know it. Irving Berlin's White Christmas merely resumed seasonal performances at the Marquis for the second consecutive year (albeit, with a new cast), and its celebrants hoisted the holiday cheer a block from the theatre at Bond 45. It was different uptown — 80 blocks uptown — where a road-company revival of Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen's Dreamgirls kicked off with a month's gig at the Apollo before heading out to the hinterlands.

The famed and fabled Harlem theatre is where the story of Dreamgirls starts and stops, so the site-specific aspects of this actual overlap were downright italic.

"We are absolutely thrilled," declared Jonelle Procope, president of the Apollo. "It's John Breglio's genius that it should be here where it happened. It's absolutely fitting. I think we have a smash on our hands, and we're going to be launching the careers of some new artists — in keeping with the Apollo's legacy."

Producer Breglio is the executor of the estate of Michael Bennett, the director and Tony-winning choreographer of this 1981 musical, which, now that it can be told, pretends to tell the saga of a R&B girl-group trio and how they were made and shaped into The Supremes by Motown kingpin Berry Gordy. Now, as then, these are the only real-life reference points that parallel the backstabbing among back-ups.

The Dreamettes — Effie White (Moya Angela), Deena Jones (Syesha Mercado) and Lorrell Robinson (Adrienne Warren) show up for Amateur Night at the Apollo, and their careers take off. Of course, their old-school manager, Marty (Milton Craig Nealy), is left at the starting gate in favor of a fast-talking, two-faced empire-builder, Curtis Taylor Jr. (Chaz Lamar Shepherd), who slims down their name to The Dreams. The reducing doesn't stop there: he sentences Effie, the stout, talented lead diva, to the background and brings front and center the curvy, less talented Deena — eventually sacking Effie altogether and bringing in a sexy substitute, Michelle Morris (Margaret Hoffman).

The fallout of this action is one of the most heart-wrenching Act I curtain-numbers ever — Effie's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." It was Tony fodder for Jennifer Holliday and Oscar fodder for Jennifer Hudson, and it should rake in lots of awards for Angela on the road.

If her tumultuous curtain call is any barometer, you can take that to the bank. Angela had trouble holding it together when she walked out to the thunderous ovation. "Absolutely," she later admitted. "It just felt like a big hug. You know that there were some original people out there, then some people who had never seen it and people who had seen it originally. It just felt so warm. I broke down. I had a moment."

A year of raw emotions lies ahead of her. "I'll just pace myself and get a lot of sleep. I've been on tour before, so I know what it's like to have to adjust to different cities and climates and just everything around me so I'll keep my plan."

As the girl who would — or could — be Diana Ross, Mercado gives a sympathetic account of the role. "I can really relate to Deena, coming from nothing and having a dream and having a vision and really going after it, working hard, surrounding herself with people who are really positive and who really believe in her dream. Just like Deena, I was raised in the projects. I didn't have a lot of money growing up. I didn't have a mother who sewed all my dresses, but I did have a mother who supported me in whatever I did."

Even Shepherd gets generous applause for his ruthless wheeler-dealer. "It's easy to play Curtis because I understand it. I don't necessarily — personally — agree with his bad side because I think it could be done another way, but I still understand a bad side. Most successful businesses in the world have a bad side. And we're dichotomous — we have good, we have bad. The easy out for bad behavior is to say 'I'm making a business decision.'"

View the Entire Photo Gallery Margaret Hoffman and Patrice Covington Photo by Matthew Blank

Nealy makes the discarded manager one of the nicest characters in the show. "I'm the oldest, that's for sure," he dirt-kicked. "I was in the original production. I was the swing, the male cover. I've done every role you saw tonight, except for the character of C.C. For some reason, I never did C.C. I did Curtis, I did Jimmy, I did Tiny Joe Dixon, I did Little Albert and the Tru-Tones, The Five Tuxedoes, I did Marty. So I did everything in that original production. There are still moments where I have to hold back because I start to remember and it kinda gets to you. When I hear certain songs, I have to hold myself back because it's so melancholy and nostalgic for me."

Like most of the actors in the show, he loved playing the Apollo. "All those years we did the original production at the Imperial, we pretended we were at the Apollo. Now, to actually be at the Apollo, with all those spirits of all those wonderful singers and performers who were there before us — it's indescribable. I can't even find the word. I wish there was a word. We're all floating. Nobody walks in that theatre. Everybody floats. We're so full and excited and proud."

As the live-wire rocker, James "Thunder" Early, Chester Gregory finds him self again doing a role Eddie Murphy played on film. (He originated the role of Donkey during the out of town of Shrek.) "I was actually at the New York opening of 'Dreamgirls' so I was in the room with Eddie that night. It's a ironic to be playing this role now.

"I have a lot of fun playing this role. I sorta consider my interpretation of James 'Thunder' Early as a gumbo mix of Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, James Brown and Otis Redding. What I like about this character — our director, Robert Longbottom, gave me freedom to do my own interpretation with it so every night it's a little bit different. It's never the same. You have this little bit of improv, like a little bit every night where I play with the audience, stuff like that."

Longbottom, who also choreographed the production with Shane Sparks, said the famous fumes of Apollo affected his whole cast. "It was thrilling. Those kids came to work every day, and it was, like, 'This is our heritage. We belong here.' I love this company. They were so hungry to learn and embody these characters. It was really a good time. I'm so proud of them."

Bill Condon, who caught the opening night of the original Dreamgirls and subsequently directed the movie version, was Longbottom's special opening-night guest. "He had a good time, too. He was very supportive." Continued...