I don't have anything clever to finish off that title, but in honor of Black History Month (and also because I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself [I listened to this show last Saturday] and I wanna listen to a love-themed show in honor of Valentine's Day) I'm going to review Dreamgirls. But not very well, because I listened to it last week.
Because of my great love for Audra McDonald, I had to get my hands on the concert album that was recorded from a one-night-only engagement that not only had Audra as Deena, but Heather Headley (most famous to me at least for Lion King) as Lorell and Lillias White as Effie. This is probably the strongest trio taken together. In fact, when I heard that Audra was Deena, I was taken aback because Deena is supposed to have a lighter voice. Not bad, just lighter, certainly lighter than I'm used to hearing from Audra. In fact, if there's much of a complaint to be made it's that. I could be biased, but I found myself mostly listening for Deena on this album (where, usually I'm listening for Effie.).
One problem that one usually finds on concert albums is that the rehearsal process tends to be rushed and even though they're usually special events that boast star-studded casts, they come out sounding less than awesome. You end up listening to them to hear a particular performer on a particular song, but aside from one or two gems, the entire album falters for one reason or another. Dreamgirls, surprisingly, suffers less from that than any other album. Lillias White, while not being quite equal to Jennifers' Holliday or Hudson performances, is a powerful Effie White. Same for Heather Headley, who plays the usually meek Lorell. Of course where Lorell is never meek is "Ain't No Party" which Heather knocks out of the ballpark.
Additionally, the dialogue spots are really fun to listen to. Usually. These women really have a handle on their characters, even in a concert performance. Unfortunately, I can't remember much about the guys. I've fallen into the trap of ignoring the boys in favor of the girls, but they do all give great performances. Billy Porter channels everyone from James Brown to Little Richard for a great performance as Jimmy Early.
It's also worth mentioning that this concert recording is the only complete recording available. Even the recent rerelease of the original cast album with additional material doesn't include all of the music written for the show. For the entire kit and kaboodle, this album is the one to get. And to be honest, that's the best reason to own this album. Otherwise, as recommendable as this is, the Original Cast Album is the one I'd go for if I had to choose just one.
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