THEATRE REVIEW: Dreamgirls - The Grand Theatre, Leeds

Dreamgirls has arrived in the bustling hub of West Yorkshire and is transporting its audiences back to 1960’s Detroit, and tells the story of a small black record label and its star singers, whose success crosses from the R&B charts, to the mainstream pop charts. Loosely based on Diana Ross & The Supremes, we follow how girl groups changed American music forever.

The show opens up at a talent show, where we meet a car-salesman-cum-artist-manager, Curtis Taylor Jr. (Dom Hartley-Harris), who manages to talk our ‘Dreamettes’ into singing back-up for Superstar, James ‘Thunder’ Early (Brandon Lee Sears) following the resignation of his last remaining support, despite the concerns for her own future of Dreamettes, lead singer, Effie White (Nicole Raquel Dennis). Hartley-Harris’s character then convinces the girls to make him their manager, and the second they agree, their lives change forever.

The story goes on to show the rise and fall of characters, and really focuses on the ‘biz’ part of Show-Biz, as a lot of people forget that the music industry is a cut-throat world, where you may well need to remove your biggest asset, in order to succeed peacefully, but, as we find out in this show, all Curtis is doing is cutting off his nose, to eventually spite his face. It really is a wild ride, that whisks us through a 10-year career in 2 hours, showing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the music industry in the 1960s, albeit a fictional story.

The music in this show is stunning. There is such a wide variety of styles, from Motown, doo-wap, R&B, soul, disco, pop and outrageous power ballads, taking us from almighty highs then spinning on a dime to bring the audience to tears. And this is what makes the show such a wonderful way to spend an evening. Musical Director, Simona Budd, who starts the show off with a 2 bar cowbell solo, guides us musically on the most enjoyable ride with her stunning orchestra, which featured world-class playing and impeccable knowledge of the genres to pull off some appropriate and stylistically accurate solo breaks throughout the score. A particular highlight would be the driving beats from drummer Dan Hayward lifting the show and giving us a real sense of energy.

The rather large cast, all had brilliant singing voices, evident by the standing ovation that Nicole Raquel Dennis received, at the end of the first half, following the triumph, that was, ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’. This was a first for me! The rest of the cast were also stunning, confident, and perfectly placed, showing excellent technique; as proven in the intricate harmonies that the songs required, no one seemed phased by the challenge of dancing (sometimes quite energetically) and acting whilst holding down an inner harmony or a difficult high harmony, so bravo to the cast for that! On the subject of casting, what a sterling job Natalie Gallacher did here. The Dreams, who consisted of Dennis’s Effie White, Deena Jones (Natalie Kassanga) and Lorrell Robinson (Paige Peddie) made for a wonderful principal cast, a power thriple, if you will, all bouncing off each other and supporting each other, much like 3 sisters would; their voices intertwining like the goddesses of '60’s girl bands, Add into this, baby brother, C.C. White, (Shem Omari James) Effie’s baby brother, and songwriter for The Dreams and Jimmy Early, who, ultimately becomes the demise of the power rampage that Curtis is on. The ensemble and dancers were all inch-perfect in their roles, no-one looked out of place, and the dancing was so perfectly in sync, that you couldn’t take your eyes off the stage for even a second, as you would miss something wonderful happening - all lead by dance captains Lukas Hunt and Brianna Ogunbawo in a truly inspiring manor.

You would think, that in a show about singers, there wouldn’t need to be an excessive amount of set, and you would be right. In terms of the set, we spent a lot of time looking at different stage layouts all configured by lit-up flats, which moved around and lit up in all sorts of configurations appropriate to the scene or setting, and different curtains that would drop in and out to create the scene, but other than that, there wasn’t really much on stage. The use of angles and perspective was really cleverly done in the blocking stage, as often the girls would head to the back of the stage, or a corner of the stage and act out as if they are performing their routines and numbers, while we focussed on what now was a backstage scene, we could see everything happening with the main attraction, but we were also watching business meetings, chats, shady deals or confrontations backstage which were happening at the same time, which was a brilliantly clever angle of the show.

Costumes! Costumes! Costumes! It wouldn’t be Harlem, Detroit or Chicago in the 1960s without the fabulous costumes that were on stage tonight. Each character must have had 30 changes in the show, which varied from little dresses to slim-fitting fish-tailed ball gowns, boring drab suits to glittering sequined showstopper suits, all awash with fabulous vibrant colour, which I found myself thinking, what a time to see this show, mid Pride Month, where the world is awash with colour as people go out of their way to express themselves, this show, really hit home with what confidence and colour can do for a person's image. Team all of this in with an unbelievable amount of wigs, and your wardrobe, [hair and make-up and wig departments] have their hands full, but once again, all without error, nothing seemed out of place, everything looked just right, and I would like to congratulate Tim Hatley on the triumph that was the set and costume design.

Casey Nicholaw’s direction and choreography has driven this juggernaut of a production right into the sweet spot of entertainment and must be immensely proud with the outcomes of their graft. Bravo.

If you are free this week, in travelling distance to Leeds, and you don’t go and see this show, then you are going to miss out on an utterly fabulous piece of musical theatre. I hope you go and see it. (And) I am telling you, you’re going to love it.

Reviewer - Simon Oliver
on - 22.6.22