McCarter Theater Review: ‘Dreamgirls’

The second number in the second act of McCarter Theatre’s production of “Dreamgirls” is a solo called “I Am Changing,” meant as a comeback number for the show’s lead, Effie White (Trejah Bostic), a diva who was jettisoned by the ensemble that made her a star and looking, after a tough hiatus, to claim some limelight of her own.

The song’s title is a double entendre. It’s a vehicle for Effie but also a declaration of the character’s decision to be more cooperative and less difficult to work with. It is one of the numbers from Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen’s score that can work outside of the show.

At McCarter, the sequence is a revelation. Living up it to its name, the song changes the tenor of director Lili-Anne Brown’s staging. Suddenly, the show has a focus that was entirely missing in its first act and an intensity that makes one concentrate on Effie, her situation, and her desire to work her way back to show business success.

The difference between this and other scenes is obvious. And welcome. So welcome. It serves as a lesson in the stride Brown’s “Dreamgirls” should take and proves it’s possible for her production to have substance that makes it moving and engrossing instead of just busy or loud.

Not all of “Dreamgirls” is as compact, intrinsically dramatic, or as personal as “I Am Changing.” There’s a lot of ensemble work and overlapping scenes that preclude zoning in on one particular character or story line. Decisions have to be made about whether music, the overarching story about the recording industry, or individual character profiles will dominate.

Ideally, these three elements will mesh. In Brown’s “Dreamgirls” they don’t. There’s always a sense of one sequence or performance being too small or not played to its full potential and another sequence or performance being too large and oversized in its emphasis.

Perhaps because of its relative intimacy, “I Am Changing” hits the Goldilocks spot. It isn’t too small. It isn’t too big. It’s just right.

Several things conspire to achieve that. The setting is a single room, a night club in which Effie is auditioning, whereas much of “Dreamgirls” requires fast shifts from theater stages, recording studios, and rehearsal halls, the performers having to move with the locations and at the speed a song or situation demands. The scene involves four characters with one purpose, to show Effie’s transformation and encourage her to stick with it. Effie gets to sing a number of her own under a single spotlight. The scene is free from having to depict competition or jealousy among the singing group or tend to any plot detail besides Effie nailing her moment and showing the top-level she lost the chance to display.

Brown is lucky in the performers who share this pivotal and extraordinarily satisfying passage. Trejah Bostic, whose Effie has been all irritating temperament with few redeeming traits that would elicit sympathy or support, seizes the chance to give Effie more dimension, to turn her from a puling harridan to a woman whose feelings and ambition we can embrace, to humanize her.

Bostic approached “I Am Changing” in a different way from any previous number, including Effie’s usually surefire showstopper, “(And I Am Telling You) I’m Not Going,” which features vocal fireworks but falls flat dramatically at McCarter, failing to end the first act with its customary “wow.” (I’ve seen “Dreamgirls” more than 20 times since I first saw its 1981 opening, and I’d never seen “I’m Not Going” thud so thoroughly.)

Bostic made “I Am Changing” a showpiece for her and Effie. She drew us to the character and made us root for Effie. She became the production’s star and not its nuisance.

I mentioned luck. Bostic was abetted by the production’s steadiest performer, the one whose tone and demeanor should be an example for other cast members, Robert Cornelius, in the role of Marty, a theater owner who is the first to book Effie and her group, The Dreams, before losing them to the manager, Curtis (Evan Tyrone Martin), who engineers the ensemble’s ultimate stardom but at a cost to their artistic or personal control.

Cornelius and Sean Walton portraying a club owner Marty persuades to give Effie a break, set a tone that makes this “Dreamgirls” feel more like a play and less like an exhibition. Bostic slides right into it. From the chaos of the first act arises perfection.

I dwell on this scene because it snapped me to an attention McCarter’s “Dreamgirls” hadn’t earned before it.

As I mentioned, I’m a “Dreamgirls” veteran. I’m aware of the various threads that have to be interwoven to make its gears click smoothly. The first act at McCarter was a case of too much or too little.

The record industry, its dismissal of Black performers, and tactics Curtis employs to change that to The Dreams’ benefit, are an important and texturing part of the story. They have to be put in perspective, though. Martin’s Curtis is strident and bossy. He exudes corruption and bullying more than the finesse or savvy Curtis understands is needed to effect the transition for which he aims. There’s a point at which the audience has to be on Curtis’s side, even when he seems unfair to Effie or her groupmate, Deena (Ta-Tynisa Wilson). At McCarter, that never happens.

Except for Cornelius’s Marty, who finds the perfect posture and tone from the top of the show on, few characters register as more than types. It’s hard to know them or care for them if they are going to be ciphers rather than integral figures. Brown seems to be putting plot and theme ahead of Eyen and Krieger’s full story. Her production concentrates on details instead of the whole. Of course, the music and the talent of Bostic, Wilson, Kirsten Hodgens as the third original Dream, Lorrell, Shantel Cribbs as Effie’s replacement, Michelle, and Saint Aubyn as a James Brown surrogate, James Thunder Early, make their mark, but little freezes enough to be able to appreciate it, and the show loses cohesion that keeps it from flowing enjoyably. Even the musical numbers could be more effective if they were moved downstage where they could have a more immediate and direct impact.

McCarter’s “Dreamgirls” is not a washout. You can see Krieger and Eyen’s intentions through the heavy-handedness that affects romantic scenes as much as business sequences. There is enough music to entertain and, though the dancing ensemble can be spotty choreographically and vocally, it has spirit and rises to the occasion most of the time.

Following “I Am Changing,” there are more targeted sequences that share its quality. Bostic, Cornelius, and Jos N. Banks as Effie’s brother and songwriter contribute to one, “I Miss You, Old Friend,” while Martin and Wilson create a quiet, poignant moment with “You Are My Dream.”

Once Bostic finds the dimensional Effie in “I Am Changing,” she is terrific. Ta-Tynisa Wilson seems to grow as Deena, read Diana Ross, blossoms into a star. Wilson shows subtlety in building Deena’s vocal strength and daring while making her choreography more nuanced and flashier as the character gains confidence and understands her niche as a show business legend. Saint Aubyn is fun while performing as James Thunder Early. Numbers in which Aubyn gets to let loose James Brown-like flair are special, even the one in which Early drops his pants. Jos N. Banks is sweetly congenial as CC White.

While traffic on Arnel Sancianco’s set gets muddy at times, the glittery sequined arch and most playing areas are well-conceived. Samantha C. Jones has fun with the costumes for The Dreams and other performers. Earon Chew Nealey is shrewd with hair and makeup. Stephanie Farina blessedly resists overdoing the sound, so numbers register clearly. Jason Lynch provides the lighting. Breon Arzell’s choreography is lively and captures the period in which “Dreamgirls” is set.

Dreamgirls, Matthews Theatre at McCarter, 91 University Place, Princeton. Through Sunday, March 24. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $25 to $120. www.mccarter.org or 609-258-2787.