THE DVD SHELF: "Dreamgirls," "The Queen," "Notes on a Scandal," "Venus," and Essential Musicals
By Steven Suskin
20 May 2007
This month's column discusses the recent film version of "Dreamgirls," three movies from an assortment of recent Broadway visitors, and a specially-priced three-pack of legendary musicals.
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Many are the similarities between Chicago and Dreamgirls, starting with less-than-enthusiastic critical and audience receptions on Broadway, with the musicals both relegated to second place in the awards sweepstakes. Both, I think it is safe to say, have proven to be far more durable than was initially thought. Chicago established far greater prominence with its 1996 revival, and the much-heralded motion picture turned out to be a major success as well. Dreamgirls came to the screen in 2006 with much fanfare and great expectations, which it pretty much lived up to. Come awards time, though, the film was all but shut out, altogether overlooked in the all-important Best Picture sweepstakes; it is almost as if they were overwhelmed by the shadow of the phenomenal success of Best Picture-winner "Chicago."
Be that as it may, "Dreamgirls" is quite a film, with director Bill Condon (screenwriter of "Chicago") successfully translating Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger's stage show into something considerably different for the screen. Jennifer Hudson made quite a splash, as you might have heard, as Effie, the girl who tells you she is not going. Hudson won an Oscar for this performance, in much the same way that Jennifer Holliday won the Tony for her stage rendition of the same role. Lillias White was a similarly breathtaking Effie in Bennett's 1987
revival (which makes one wonder whether some of the credit should go to Kreiger and Eyen for writing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going").
Playing the leading roles, with their ticket-selling names up there above the title, are Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and the (perhaps surprisingly) very good Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder" Early. Also featured are Anika Noni Rose (a Tony-winner for Caroline, or Change) and Keith Robinson; all of them join together to make the screen "Dreamgirls" a fine and welcome addition to the motion picture musical catalogue. The new "2-disc showstopper edition," just released by DreamWorks, is loaded with special features which will no doubt keep fans busy. These include a full-length documentary, "Building the Dream," screen tests, and "12 never-before-seen extended musical numbers" (being mostly additional footage of the musical numbers that was edited out of the finished version). Continued...
