McCarter’s Production of “Dreamgirls” is About More Than Glitz and Glam

FROM OBSCURITY TO SUPERSTARDOM: The award-winning musical “Dreamgirls” is onstage at McCarter Theatre through March 24 in a production directed by Lili-Anne Brown. (Photo by Diane Sobolewski)

By Anne Levin

A video on McCarter Theatre Center’s website takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the set and costume shops as they prepare for the opening of Dreamgirls. With some 3,000 square feet of shimmer panels adorning the set, the musical, which is on stage at McCarter’s Matthews Theater March 6 through 24, is big on flash and glitz.

But there is more to Dreamgirls than glamour and sequins. “I love the story. I think it has a better book than it gets credit for,” said Lili-Anne Brown, director of the show, during a break from rehearsals this week. “I have always felt that while it was very glitzy and very much about that life, with really showy singing, that’s just one of the many parts of that story. It’s a generalized story about the music business, and also about womanhood and friendship, and how these things can be exploited in a business that’s supposed to be about people’s talent.”

Brown brings Dreamgirls to Princeton from the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., where she directed the show late last year. Originally produced on Broadway in 1981 starring Jennifer Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph, the Tony Award-winning musical was made into a movie in 2006 with Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Beyonce in leading roles. It tells the story of a 1960s Motown girl group that wins an amateur competition and soars to stardom. “And I am Telling You I’m Not Going” and “One Night Only” are among the show’s best-known songs.

Brown came to the show after Goodspeed approached her — out of the blue — about directing its production. “It was absolutely on my bucket list,” she said. “I’m very lucky, because I’ve gotten to do a lot of shows that I always hoped I’d do, and tell stories I’d hoped to tell. The offer came out of nowhere. I was actually working on a different production for McCarter at the time. As [the Goodspeed production] went along and different ideas were happening, they said maybe the best move here would be to take Dreamgirls to McCarter. And here we are.”

A native of Chicago, Brown is a director, actor, and educator with a page-long list of credits to her name. Just a few: she directed Lottery Day and I Hate It Here at the Goodman Theatre, and Put Your House in Order at La Jolla Playhouse. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and has won numerous awards for her work. She feels a particular affinity for Dreamgirls.

“It speaks to me culturally,” she said. “It’s music that I grew up with, because my parents were listening to it. I grew up knowing Motown. That was heritage music for me.”

One of the things that makes Dreamgirls unique is the speed at which it moves. “This is a big, big show with a lot of really tiny details,” said Brown. “It moves really fast, and is known for its lack of transitions. It races from location to location, moving like a freight train. Doing that is hard, especially when you don’t have a Broadway budget with hydraulics and all that sort of thing. This is all people-powered for us. The lighting alone — we’ve been programming lights for the last week.”

The cast is “phenomenally talented,” Brown said. “There is something different and special about each one of them. They are not just singers, they are actors — great actors. I hope it sells really well. I think this cast deserves full houses. They’re working really hard, and it’s really a great show that I believe in. The costumes and singing are amazing, but it doesn’t just have to be about that. If you can balance it, it’s a great story.”

For tickets, visit mccarter.org.