dif,70. ntertainment

Cantors Fly South, Too!

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Dream On

"Dreamgirls" stops in Detroit before its third
Broadway run.

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Tama REA

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to The Jewish News

Tafal- /

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A DETROIT REUNION and an
AFTERNOON OF YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC
Yiddish, Broadway, Cantorial, Opera

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SINCE 1 947

he Dreamettes, a singing trio
not unlike the Supremes in
the early years of their
career, may be from Chica-
go, but their story could have taken
place in Detroit.
Theirs is a tale of backup singers,
the vocalists striving to step forward,
straight ahead into the spotlight
reserved for the stars.
Henry Krieger knows all about the
Dreamettes and all the dreamers they
represent. He composed the music that
expresses their feelings.
It all comes to life in Dreamgirls, the
play being staged at the Detroit Opera
House March 3-22. It's a revival of a
show introduced on Broadway in 1981,
brought back in 1987 and set to return
there later this year.
Krieger will be in the Detroit audi-
ence for at least one of its perfor-
mances. In this 40th anniversary of
Motown, he celebrates the sounds set-
ting the style for the numbers filling his
musical.
Krieger also celebrates the musical's
six Tony Awards and the late collabora-
tors who worked so closely with him
— lyricist/librettist Tom Eyen and
director/choreographer Michael Ben-
nett.
"Certainly, there is a great feeling of
gratitude for the kind of music that
Motown created," Krieger said.
"When I was growing up, that was an
important staple in a teen-ager's musi-
cal life.
"The score was perceived as a
Motown-influenced homage, but it's a
lot bigger than that. We love Detroit,
but our show really doesn't have a
Motown sound. It has its own sound."
The current production of Dream-
girls projects a different look than the
original.
"We don't have the same hydraulics
or computer-driven moving towers,"
Krieger explained. "Things are pro-
pelled by actors.

1

Composer Henry Krieger: "The score
was perceived as a Motown-influenced
homage ... but it has its own sound."

"There's a youthfulness in this cast.
It's kind of a second generation of
actors taking on what the generation
just before them created. It's something
that was written in the '80s and has
taken on a great life force in the '90s."
Krieger has mixed emotions facing
this theater season. While Dreamgirls
heads for New York, his latest musical,
Side Show, recently closed after a short
Broadway run.
Side Show, about Siamese twins
joined at the hip, recalls their real-life
vaudeville career in the 1930s.
"I wrote it from my heart just as I
wrote Dreamgirls from my heart, but I
think it's been a difficult trip because
we didn't promote [Sideshow] properly,"
the composer said.
"I think the public was afraid they
were going to see something that was
unpleasant or witness a story that was a --/\
downer. How could Siamese twins find
happiness [in show business'?
"I haven't given up on it [because]
it's a rags-to-riches story. I think it will
have a great life in London and nation-
al tours. The CD is selling very well."
Krieger started composing in the '70s
after only minimal piano training. He
took odd jobs that would keep him
close to the entertainment world —
working in the mail room at the Ameri-
can Federation of Television and Radio
Artists, becoming a press agent and play-
ing piano and singing in small clubs.
When he met Eyen, the two first