Dreamgirls is one of the great successes of both Broadway and
Hollywood, and it’s no surprise that Stumptown Stages would want to
capitalize on that success by staging their own production. But
Dreamgirls is a big show that calls for big voices, and it needs
a production team that can handle all that bigness and make some sense
of it. Director Kirk Mouser has cast some amazing talent, but it seems
like the entire rehearsal period focused only on the vocals—every
other element of the show falls far short of the mark.
The play follows the rise of the R&B/pop group the Dreams, and
it’s not a smooth ride. Their manager wants to “lighten” up the group’s
look and sound so they will appeal more to white audiences. He kicks
the lead singer—his lover, Effie (Julianne
Johnson-Weiss)—to the curb, trading her big voice and big body
for the softer, prettier back-up singer Deena (Joann Coleman). After
this change, the group’s success skyrockets and Deena is propelled to
stardom. By the play’s end, everyone involved has paid a steep price
for success.
Mouser has made some excellent casting choices, notably
Johnson-Weiss as Effie and Eugene Blackmon as Jimmy Early. But that’s
where the production team’s strengths end. Janet Mouser’s set design is
horrendous: Candy-pink steps edged in tinfoil flashing engulf a pit
band that’s placed smack in the center of the stage, crowding the
actors onto the very front edge. Between the terrible design and
Mouser’s poor use of it, huge amounts of space are wasted while the
cast trips over itself on the awkward steps. What passes for
choreography is ridiculous at best, immense sound-tech issues make even
the best voices hard to listen to, and the theater is far too intimate
to ignore the handful of players who don’t know their lines or blocking
and fumble aimlessly around the stage.
At nearly $30 a head, Stumptown needs to work a little harder to
give its audiences what they’re paying for. But if what you want is to
hear some amazing voices sing some fantastic songs, then lean back,
close your eyes, and settle in.