My first experiences with the musical Dreamgirls was in 2006 when the movie came out [I think it was that year]. The Ex and I were looking for something to watch, and we just haphazardly decided on the popular black people movie. I remember sitting in the movie theater and enjoying myself. Jennifer Hudson singing "And I Am Telling You" brought a sea of applause which, later, led me to create this facebook group:
From that movie came my short and not so strong obsession with the music from the movie, which later evolved into an interest in the orignial Broadway cast's recording. It's always nice to see how a director makes changes to a musical and why. Researching the original soundtrack opened up a few new songs to me, and made me realize that some of the numbers featured in the movie were made specifically for the movie! I'm sure that if I were actually a Dreamgirls fan before the movie came out [basically I'm a bandwagon Dreamgirls fan] then I might feel a little more passionately either way, but I just find it all very interesting.
One of my favorite pieces that was left out of the movie was "Ain't No Party", which is sung by the character Lorell, who is upset with her lover [Jimmy] because he won't commit solely to her. It became one of my favorites, and Adrienne Warren's performance was astounding, epic, and a marvel to behold. It is a shame that the audience is not given the opportunity to show immediate appreciation for the performance, due to the driving of the story line at that particular point.
Now, after having done some research on the differences in soundtracks [original broadway vs music for the motion picture] I came to find that Listen was written by Beyonce and a few other people specifically for the movie. Listen is the song that is performed by Deena [the movie version] as a declaration of independence from her "man" Curtis [Jamie Foxx]. It was released as a track on Beyonce's Bday album. I remember hearing this song through the walls of my dorm room. My next door neighbor was a big Beyonce fan and would blast the Bday album EVERY-SINGLE-MORNING for an entire semester. And I suppose THAT is why I find difficulty accepting this new form of Listen which is being performed on this Dreamgirls revival tour:
Don't get it twisted: I have no problem with either of the performers' singing ability. These two were on stage that night in Memphis when I died from the musical greatness that was Dreamgirls. However, I just can't get with these lyrics. How many words did Willie Reale think he was going to be able to fit into these musical phrases??? I remember sitting there in the Orpheum and going "What the hell did she just say???" I do like the relevance of the newly arranged piece. It goes from being a declaration of independence to a declaration of friendship between two people who hadn't seen or spoken to each other for a number of years, and that makes me happy. But again, SHAME on everyone involved for allowing those words to be stuffed into the song like that!
It's like that time I sang about Old McDonald after the recession:
Old McDonald had a farm but he couldn't keep up with the payments and had to sell all of his livestock and farming equipment so that he wouldn't go bankrupt [BREATHE] e-i-e-i-ooooooh.
1 comments:
Thanks for reminding me to go back and check out this soundtrack! I hadn't listened to it alone without the movie and it's wonderful -- going on the iPod ASAP!
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