Broadway Across America: Dreamgirls

From the outset, the 1981 musical Dreamgirls felt like a kind of roman clef tell-all, a fictionalized way of exploring the tensions that splintered a group like The Supremes when Diana Ross became a solo artist. But the story has come to be about much more when it comes to show business and the highly charged connections between female friends.

The story follows an all-female vocal trio in 1962 who call themselves The Dreamettes and enter a talent contest at New York’s famous Apollo Theater. A fast-talking car salesman convinces the girls to let him manage them, but his plans for their success include taking the lead vocal spot away from powerhouse singer (but somewhat plus-sized) Effie and giving it to the more conventionally attractive Deena. The resulting drama digs into the darker corners of the era’s music industry, all while providing the killer, already-legendary Henry Krieger/Tom Eyen songs like “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” (Scott Renshaw)