The big Day-After-Christmas buzz in Hollywood is about how surprisingly well the new Bill Condon film "Dreamgirls" performed at the box office, earning $8.7 million in a single day and taking second place among the big-budget holiday movies even though it's playing in only a fraction of the theatres. There's a lot of talk about the "crossover biz" that the film is generating which is a hoot since black artists "crossing over" is the subject of the story of the Supremes-like Dreams. Back in the day. crossing over for black artists meant diluting their sound and intensity to appeal to a jittery white population. Let's be grateful that no such holding back seems necessary today. If anything, we've seen a plethora of white performers trying to beef up or manufacture their "street cred" in an attempt to appeal to both white and non-white crowds.

I saw "Dreamgirls" last week at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles during its three-city preview engagement. Tickets were $25.00 each which entitled you to a glitzy program and a limited edition lithograph of the poster art with a certificate of authenticity. As soon as I arrived at the sold-out theatre I could see that I wasn't the only patron who strayed from the studio's anticipated demographic of African-Americans and gay males. The musical is attracting people of all colors and persuasions despite the marketing experts' presumed ghettoization. And not only are people lining up in droves, their behavior inside the theatres harkens back to the days of film's glory years with wild applause after every musical number and standing ovations at the end of the film.

My 11-year-old daughter was mesmerized by the film and has already choreographed her own versions of most of the numbers. Having just finished playing the title role in "Annie" at a local children's theatre company, Leah couldn't decide which of the Dreams she wanted to play, Deena or Effie. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her company of mostly white 10-13-year-old girls will probably never put on this show.

I happened to be in New York in early 1982 and scored a front row seat to the original Broadway production of "Dreamgirls" at the Imperial Theatre. I was stunned by Jennifer Holliday's knockout performance as Effie White, the overweight Florence Ballard-like member of the Dreams who is booted out of the group even though she has the best set of pipes. The crowd went wild during Holliday's explosive signature song, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," which was sung with such raw emotion you worried that she might keel over from a heart attack before the end of the number. In addition to Holliday, the Dreams were played by Sheryl Lee Ralph as the Diana Ross-inspired Deena Jones and Loretta Devine as the Mary Wilson-ish Lorell Robinson. Several movie versions of the musical were planned over the years including one in the 80s with Whitney Houston as Deena and one in the 90s with Lauryn Hill. Thankfully, the project languished in development. Now, 25 years after its Broadway opening, "Dreamgirls" the movie has finally arrived. So how did it turn out?

Wow.

I can't remember the last time any movie I've seen has lived up to its hype but "Dreamgirls" surpasses its own enthusiastic press. Several of the characters from the play were fleshed out for the film and Bill Condon's deft direction allowed more elements of the civil rights struggle to find their way into the story which added a lot.

If I rack my brain I can't come up with a negative comment about the cast. The biggest surprise to me was Eddie Murphy's fantastic turn as R&B singer James Thunder Early. Early was loosely based on singers such as the legendary James Brown, and Murphy's performance is an appropriate tribute to the Godfather of Soul who died yesterday just as "Dreamgirls" was opening across the country. There were so many opportunities for Murphy to fall back on his old shtick in this role but he avoided the temptation and gave a performance that was wild and raw and yet full of poignancy and complexity. Academy voters, take note! I read that Jamie Foxx first turned down the Berry Gordy-like role of Curtis Taylor and the part was offered to Denzel Washington who declined because he can't sing. When Murphy signed on, Foxx relented, and he is superb in the role of the visionary but ultimately corrupt and power-hungry Svengali who brings the Dreams and their "new sound" into the mainstream and turns the once timid Deena Jones into a world class performer.

Beyoncé Knowles was apparently so desperate to play the role of Deena (she's wanted it since she was 15 years old) that she begged Condon and the producers to meet with her and swore that they would not see any trace of Beyoncé in her performance. Her transformation in the film is remarkable--it is Deena Jones all the way, with a healthy dose of Diana Ross, of course. The Deena-Diana connection is so much more pronounced in the film version than in the stage play that I wondered if the Dreamworks/ Paramount lawyers were huddled in a Century City office working out their plans to deflect lawsuits. Most of Deena's incredible outfits and hairstyles (she has dozens of costume changes in the film) are adapted from the annals of Miss Ross's heyday, as are many of the situations (e.g., trying to break free from her mentor's influence to become a serious actress). When the musical came out in the 1980s it was widely disowned by the real-life Supremes. Times have changed, though. Last week Mary Wilson was asked about the film and said that "it was closer to the truth than they even know." Diana Ross, who never acknowledged the stage play, apparently tried to get a role in the film version. She ultimately turned down the role of Deena's mother and is once again trying to distance herself from "Dreamgirls" as much as possible. When asked recently how similar Diana Ross was to the character of Deena Jones, Mary Wilson said, "Nowhere near it." "You mean she wouldn't have been as sweet?" the interviewer asked. "You said it!" Wilson exclaimed. Ouch.

Anika Noni Rose struck just the right chords as Lorell in "Dreamgirls" despite the big shoes she had to fill. Loretta Devine was superb in the original--her character provided much needed comic relief and a killer voice. In a fan-pleasing move, Devine has a nice cameo in the film as a jazz singer and former acquaintance of Jimmy Early (her married boyfriend in the play).

Sheryl Lee Ralph, the original Deena, has criticized the casting of Beyoncé on the grounds of her light skin tone. "When Tom Eyen who is the creator, had this idea, he said that the Dreams have to be three obviously black girls," Ralph said in a recent interview. "Why? Because America will always go for that light, bright, long-haired black girl because they will feel comfortable building her up, since they see themselves in her. But for the obviously black girl, if she makes it, she deserves to be right there...So, when they cast Beyoncé in the role of Deena Jones, I said, 'Wow, this is exactly what Tom Eyen said would happen. They are going to take to that light, bright blackish blonde girl because they feel comfortable with her. That's the reality.'" I'm not sure I agree with her concerns about Beyoncé but I'm sorry they didn't find a role for the still gorgeous and talented Ralph. "For us to be so much a part of theatrical history and then to be treated like we did nothing is heartbreaking," she said last week. "I don't take offense. It's just show business, baby. I wish them every success."

Jennifer Holliday seems to be the most bitter former cast member, raging mad that she wasn't asked to be involved with the project in any way and feeling like she was being disappeared from the history of the show in the same way that Effie White was excised from all the Dreams PR after she left the group. "Why is it necessary for them to wipe out my existence in order for them to have their success?" Holliday has publicly pondered. "It's scary that they can be so cruel. I know it's business, but why do they have to go to this extreme? I'm a human being. Why do I have to die to make them a winner." Following her huge success in "Dreamgirls," Holliday's life took a few Effie-like turns. She suffered from severe depression, had two failed marriages, and tried to commit suicide on her 30th birthday. She later lost a whopping 200 lbs. and started recording again but it's been an uphill struggle.

I can understand how Holliday's ego might be taking a hit since her mantle has been passed on to someone as extraordinarily talented as Jennifer Hudson. The one-time "American Idol" performer gives the role of Effie White an entirely new interpretation, one that is so real and natural you can't believe she hasn't acted before. Hudson never hits a false note in this film and for my money, is the best thing in it. When was the last time you heard someone sing a song with such emotion in a movie that people were crying all over the theatre and then furiously applauding at the end of the number?

In another case of life imitating art (as if Jennifer Holliday's troubled life isn't enough), the Golden Globes were announced the other day with Beyoncé being nominated for Best Actress and Jennifer Hudson getting the nod for Best Supporting Actress. Huh? Isn't her part just as big and critical to the story? I guess it's the studios themselves who submit their actors for different categories and it was probably a calculated move to give Hudson a better shot at the prize, but it makes no sense. Is Knowles more the lead than Hudson because she's prettier and thinner?

Whatever crossover appeal "Dreamgirls" may have, I am one straight white male who is thrilled that movie musicals are making a comeback. "Dreamgirls" director Bill Condon deserves a lot of the credit for that. After so many failed stage-to-screen transfers (from the abominable "Chorus Line" to the lukewarm "Rent" and "The Producers") the total success of "Dreamgirls" as a film is even more heartening. In the recent "Chicago," which Condon penned, all the musical numbers had to be seen as Renee Zellweger's fantasies. "Dreamgirls" uses no such gimmick--there are lots of actual staged numbers since this is a story about show biz, but there are also plenty of instances where the characters just burst into song without apology to convey their emotions. Hooray! I say we elect Bill Condon our new National Musical Czar and see what he comes up with next.