History Theatre / Dreamgirls

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: There's a scene where the Dreams are recording "Heavy", the shots before we actually see them recording is clearly of the Detroit "12th street" riot of 1967. There's even a small recreation of the event before we see them performing a rehearsal of Heavy at the television studio. The following scene, there's a brief shot of the marquee that states that the year is 1966, making the riot irrelevant to the plot (except to display the CivilRightsMovement that was appropriate for the era).

-->--'''Opening line of the most famous number'''

* HonestJohnsDealership: Curtis is a high-flying, smooth-talking manager for the likes of the Dreams and Jimmy Early, but it turns out he's gotten involved in various borderline-illegal schemes to grow his label—including payola schemes to radio stations, accepting dirty money from the Mob, and even [[spoiler:the theft of Effie's single "One Night Only" for re-recording by Deena]]. It doesn't help that he was actually also a car salesman in the beginning (he sold Jimmy his Cadillac).
** HopeSpot: It seems like Jimmy's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome CMOA]] until the pants come off...

* HonestJohnsDealership: Curtis is a high-flying, smooth-talking manager for the likes of the Dreams and Jimmy Early, but it turns out he's gotten involved in various borderline-illegal schemes to grow his label—including payola schemes to radio stations, accepting dirty money from TheMob, and even [[spoiler:the theft of Effie's single "One Night Only" for re-recording by Deena]]. It doesn't help that he was actually also a car salesman in the beginning (he sold Jimmy his Cadillac).

[[caption-width-right:350:"All you got to do is dream, baby!"[[note]]From left: Lorrell, Deena and Effie.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"And all you have to do is dream, baby!"[[note]]From left: Lorrell, Deena and Effie.[[/note]]]]

* KickTheDog: Curtis to Deena (paraphrased): "You're popular because your voice has no personality except what I put in it." It's kinda weird when the person you're telling that to is ''Beyonce freaking Knowles''.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The very first teaser for the Dreamgirls movie had three stand-ins posing and even used the original version of 'And I Am Telling You'. The original Effie was not amused.

* DudeNotFunny: An InUniverse example. I'm the film, when Jimmy drops his pants on national television, he expects others to find it funny. The others then criticize him for making a fool out of himself instead.

[[caption-width-right:350:From left: Lorrell, Deena and Effie.]]

* {{Expy}} / LawyerFriendlyCameo: In addition to the leads, there's also the Jackson Five and the Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone expies at the Rainbow Records concert.

* TheCameo: ArethaFranklin, Loretta Divine (who played Lorell in the original play), [[Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun John Lithgow]], and [[Series/TheOfficeUS John Krasinski]] in TheMovie.

* CutSong: "Ain't No Party", where Lorrell voices her frustrations at Jimmy for not marrying her. A shame it was cut in the movie, since it gives her a bit of an edge.

Mainly inspired by the story of The Supremes, ''Dreamgirls'' follows the lives of the Dreams, composed of full-figured and sassy lead singer Effie White, driven Deena Jones, and mousy Lorrell Robinson. With the help of Effie's songwriting brother C.C., the girls dream of leaving the slums of Detroit. They are plucked from obscurity by Curtis Taylor Jr., who becomes their manager, and arranges to have them sing backup for superstar Jimmy "Thunder" Early. As Jimmy begins a long-term affair with Lorrell while married, Curtis falls in love with Effie. But when he decides to give the group their own act, he shifts his attention to the more conventionally beautiful Deena, much to Effie's chagrin. Drama ensues.

* TheCameo: ArethaFranklin, Loretta Divine (who played Lorell in the original play), [[ThirdRockFromTheSun John Lithgow]], and [[TheOffice John Krasinski]] in TheMovie.

One of the most beloved plays with a predominantly-black cast, ''Dreamgirls'' was nominated for several awards when it came out, including Best Musical. Jennifer Holliday won the Tony for Best Actress and later a Grammy for Best Vocal Performance for the play's showstopping number, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." In the 2006 film, Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role, one of the few performers to win for their first film.

Mainly inspired by the story of The Supremes, ''Dreamgirls'' follows the lives of the Dreams, composed of full-figured and sassy lead singer Effie White, driven Deena Jones, and mousy Lorrell Robinson. With the help of Effie's songwriting brother C.C., the girls dream of leaving the slums of Detroit. They are plucked from obscurity by Curtis Taylor Jr., who becomes their manager, and arranges to have them sing backup for superstar Jimmy "Thunder" Early. As Jimmy begins a long-term affair with Lorrell while married, Curtis falls in love with Effie. But when he decides to give the group their own act, he shifts his attention to the more conventionally beautiful Deena, pushing her to the top, and leaving Effie quite out in the cold. Years later, Curtis' ambitions for Deena clash with Effie's attempts to start on her own. More Drama Ensues.

Mainly inspired by the story of The Supremes, ''Dreamgirls'' follows the lives of the Dreams, composed of full-figured and sassy lead singer Effie White, driven Deena Jones, and mousy Lorrell Robinson. With the help of Effie's songwriting brother C.C., the girls dream of leaving the slums of Detroit. They are plucked from obscurity by Curtis Taylor Jr., who becomes their manager, and arranges to have them sing backup for superstar Jimmy "Thunder" Early. While the Thunderman begins a long-term affair with Lorrell while married, Curtis falls in love with Effie. But when he decides to give the group their own act, he shifts his attention to the more conventionally beautiful Deena, pushing her to the top, and leaving Effie quite out in the cold. Years later, Curtis' ambitions for Deena clash with Effie's attempts to start on her own. More Drama Ensues.

->''"We're your Dreamgirls, boys!\\
We'll make you happy.\\
Yeah...\\
We're your Dreamgirls, boys!\\
We'll always care.\\
We're your Dreamgirls...\\
Dreamgirls will never leave you!\\
No, no...\\
And all you have to do is dream, baby.\\
We'll be there!"''
-->--'''From the title song'''

-->--'''Opening line of its most famous number'''

* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Lorrell goes through this when she watches the news and finds out that Jimmy died of a heroin overdose. She loses it and starts crying uncontrollable]].