Producer John Breglio and the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. will bring Broadway uptown for four weeks only with Dreamgirls at the Apollo Theater, prior to the national tour of the new production of the groundbreaking musical. The national tour of Dreamgirls will kick-off at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater (253 West 125 Street) beginning previews Saturday, November 7, 2009, and opening Sunday, November 22, 2009, for 12 weeks only, through Sunday December, 12, 2009.
Dreamgirls is directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom with co-choreography by Shane Sparks, scenic design by Robin Wagner, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Ken Billington, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, and media design by Howard Werner for Lightswitch. With music direction by Sam Davis, orchestrations by Harold Wheeler, and Vocal Arrangements by David Chase & Cleavant Derricks, Dreamgirls is produced by John Breglio for Vienna Waits Productions in association with Chunsoo Shin, Jake Productions & Broadway Across America/TBS.
This brand-new production will incorporate a duet version of the Academy Award-nominated song "Listen" which was written for the film Dreamgirls, as well as a new Act Two-opener, "What Love Can Do" written for this new stage production. Both musical numbers are composed by Henry Krieger with lyrics by Willy Reale.
Dreamgirls will introduce Moya Angela as Effie White and feature, as The Dreams, Syesha Mercado as Deena Jones, Adrienne Warren as Lorrell Robinson, and Margaret Hoffman as Michelle Morris with Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Curtis Taylor, Jr., Chester Gregory is James "Thunder" Early, Trevon Davis as C.C. White, Milton Craig Nealy as Marty Madison in a cast of 26 that also features Felicia Boswell, Tallia Brinson, Patrice Covington, Ronald Duncan, Talitha Farrow, Brittney Griffin, James Harkness, Robert Hartwell, Eric Jackson, Chauncey Jenkins, Jared Joseph, Nikki Kimbrough, Brittany Lewis, Douglas Lyons, Kimberly Marable, Jarran Muse, Amaker Smith and Marc Spaulding.
Following the Apollo Theater engagement, the national tour of Dreamgirls will play Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, Columbus, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Costa Mesa, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and more. Tickets for the Apollo engagement can be purchased at apollotheater.org or by visiting ticketmaster.com. For more information on the tour, visit www.dreamgirlsonstage.com.
Dreamgirls tells the story of an up-and-coming 1960's girl group from Chicago, and the triumphs and tribulations that come with fame and fortune. The original Broadway production of Dreamgirls opened December 20, 1981 at the Imperial Theatre and won six 1982 Tony Awards. Dreamgirls closed on Broadway August 11, 1985, after 1,522 performances. Dreamgirls features music by Academy Award nominee Henry Krieger and book and lyrics by Tony and Grammy-Award winner Tom Eyen. The original Broadway production was directed by Michael Bennett and choreographed by Bennett and Michael Peters. Dreamgirls was adapted into a motion picture by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, and opened in December 2006.
