from NYObserver.com
Today's New York Observer cover story is perhaps the best indication of the movie Event with a capital "E" that next month's release of Dreamgirls is in this town, because there's not really anything new in it. Anyone who is obsessed with the long-awaited release of this film (see Chelsea; West Village piano bars; the hallowed halls of NY media) knows most of the backstory of finally getting the 1982 Tony-winning and highly beloved musical on to the screen and has more or less followed its progress through production to the pre-release publicity runup. As Observer cover stories go, it is more reverent and less juicy than usual, which to me suggests that this piece is more about topic than story, that is to say, New York wants its Dreamgirls! (NB I mean no disrespect to writer Sarah Vilkomerson , who pulls together and updates the story very effectively, it's just that it's not tingling with tidbits the way most NYO cover stories are. That will no doubt change once Jamie Foxx and his ego start clubbing his way around town once the film comes out — we modestly predict a number of impromptu sing-songs. Well we remember the aftermath of Ray).
But this is the New York Observer; and if it's Oscar they crave, Dreamgirls has to fly in Peoria, too. One interesting point that is almost buried at the bottom is the Dreamgirl-iffic question of black performer crossover appeal: "But within studio walls, echoing Dreamgirls' own themes, there were concerns about how to sell an all-black cast," as it was noted that "a period African-American musical, at face value, doesn't sound like it has enormous foreign potential" (or domestic, necessarily; remember Idlewild?). With respect, I point out that, well, we're not alone anymore, now there are others there; namely, the wider audience of YouTube, where the video of Jennifer Holiday singing "And I Am Telling You" at the 1982 Tonys has gotten over 326,000 hits*, a figure which will no doubt increase exponentially as PR for the film ramps up. Today's technology offers the chance to expose a huge audience to Dreamgirls in a way that was unimaginable for previously planned versions, and that will expose a whole other audience which might otherwise have had zero interest in or exposure to some highfalutin' Broadway musical from over two decades ago. Put differently: It's not the dream that they had before, it's the dream that will give them more and more!
*Combined - there are two of them.
