How Dreamgirls Was Born
from the Performance PlusTM program,
Kennedy Center Education Department


The original production of Dreamgirls opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theater on Dec. 20, 1981, and played for 1,522 performances. It received six Tony Awards in 1982, and the original production was directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, who had become a theatrical legend with A Chorus Line.

The show charts the ups-and-downs, the promises, the hopes, the heartbreak, and the destructive qualities of making it to the top in show business. Although comparisons have been made about the plot and the story of one of the most successful groups in recording history, Motown's Supremes, composer Henry Krieger claims that similarity is responsible for the "simplistic assumptons about the show...saying that Dreamgirls is Motown, and letting it go at that is a layman's quick knee-jerk reaction."

Krieger claims he and his music were influenced by Etta James and Benny King, Fats Waller, Ray Charles, the Drifters, and other groups. He stated in a recent Washington Post interview with David Richards, "I don't sit down and say to myself, 'I'll do this style or that style.' I write what a character is saying through me. God forbid I should use the word 'channeling' - it's so trendy - but if you open yourself up, if you open up your mind and your heart, things do come through."

The idea for Dreamgirls, according to Krieger, originated with Tom Eyen. Eyen, who wrote the book and lyrics, had worked with Krieger in 1976 when they collaborated on The Dirtiest Musical, a musical version of Eyen's play, The Dirtiest Show in Town. "He wanted to tell the story and experience of back-up singers. He was inspired by three singers, Leata Galloway, Nell Carter, and Marion Ramsey, with whom he had worked." Carter, in fact, was in the initial workshop producton of Dreamgirls at Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival in 1979. But she was hired for the television show Gimme a Break, and Jennifer Holiday took her place in the following workshop.

Evenutally, choreographer/director Michael Bennett took over the production. Bennett will be remembered for his collaboration with composer Marvin Hamlisch on the extraordinarily successful A Chorus Line, as well as his work on Dreamgirls, Ballroom, and Stephen Sondheim's Follies. Bennett died in 1987.

Robin Wagner was responsible for the original scenic design for Dreamgirls and his sets astonished critics and audiences when the musical opened on Broadway in 1981. The design consisted of five metal towers and bridges constantly realigning to form differnt locations from Harlem to Hollywood.

Wagner's theatrical work ranges from off-Broadway and regional productions to ballet, rock 'n' roll, and grand opera, including the Royal Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and the New York City Ballet. Wagner has received Tonys, Drama Desk, Outer Critics' Circle, Lumen, and Maharam awards for his designs.

Costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting designer Tharon Musser completed the original Dreamgirls production team. Because of Bennett's incredibly detailed and slow-paced preparations, Aldredge had a year to sketch and produce the 300 costumes needed for the production. "Every scene in Dreamgirls was difficult," she told Playbill Magazine in 1981. "You had to worry about the enormity of the show, the fast changes, and the fashion changes in the period, which takes place from the 1960s to the 1970s. It's not like you're going from the 1820s to 1900. It was a tremendous problem, because I don't know how much is understood by an audience; for instance, a flared pair of pants as opposed to a straight pair represents a 10-year span."

Tharon Musser's long career includes every Neil Simon play from The Prisoner of Second Avenue through Broadway Bound in 1987, and 92nd Street, as well as her other collaborations with Michael Bennett. Musser was responsible for revolutionizing theatrical lighting when she introduced the computerized light board to Broadway with A Chorus Line in 1975, allowing for faster, more precise changes, changes she uses to great effect in Dreamgirls. Her effects are almost cinematic, ranging from montages, dissolves, and wipes to spotlights, shadows, and silhouettes.


main Dreamgirls page