thesexofit said:

I have what I believe are ALL her solo albums.....she is the best singer ou there. though some of hte material isn't as good as the gems: I Am Love, Come Sunday, Giving Up, some of hte fast tempo numbers.

Never herad of Peace in our Time. what album is that?

GaryMF said:

1988 summer olympics album. I still hear it sometimes when I feel down. A few nice lyrics in that one aswell.

GaryMF said:

The deluxe version of the movie soundtrack has that

Disc: 1
1. I'm Lookin' For Something- ,
2. Goin' Downtown,
3. Takin' The Long Way Home-
4. Move-
5. Fake ,
6. Big (Jazz Instrumental)
7. Cadillac Car-
8. Steppin' To The Bad Side ,
9. Love You I Do-
10. I Want You Baby -
11. Family- ,
12. Dreamgirls -
13. Heavy-
14. It's All Over-
15. And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going -

Disc: 2
1. I'm Somebody
2. When I First Saw You-
3. Patience-Performed by
4. I Am Changing-
5. Perfect World-
6. I Meant You No Harm/Jimmy's Rap-
7. Lorrell Loves Jimmy/Family (Reprise)-,
8. Step On Over-
9. I Miss You Old Friend-
10. Effie, Sing My Song *-
11. One Night Only-
12. One Night Only (Disco)-
13. Listen-
14. Hard To Say Goodbye-
15. Dreamgirls (Finale)-
16. Curtain Call
17. Family (End Title)-
18. When I First Saw You (Duet)-
19. One Night Only (Dance Mix) *-
20. And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going (Dance Mix) *-
21. Patience (Composer Demo) *-


I know it's not the show, but is it close?
[Edited 1/1/07 22:54pm]

Just saw it and I have to say I'm very impressed. Never saw the stage show and I barely know the songs on the original cast album, but it's a very effective fictionalization of the r&b scene before the Beatles and the British Invasions. The casting was perfectt and the songs really worked.

Jennifer Hudson gets the praise for her singing. Her "Effie" was a Gladys Knight to Beyonce's casting in the Diana Ross role of "Deena". Eddie Murphy's character was a composite of James Brown (stage presence processed pompadour), George Clinton (drops his pants on national TV art the climax of a driving funk number) and Jimi Hendrix (heroin overdose). At times he evoked Marvin Gaye (with his wool knit cap singing a message song in a duet and philandering with the girl singers).

No complaints from me. I usually avoid musicals as well as film adaptations, but I liked CHICAGO. Make sure you see it in the premiunm theater; the biggest screen and best P?A. Just like you would with a SF techie film.

Oh my, but Beyonce looks so good I almost didn't recognize her; all slimmed down and hair darkened.

Janfriend said:

What I meant was no full version of the Broadway show with the original cast exists.

That would sell so well..... it's a shame it's not available.

Re: the movie.... some of the plot changes made no sense.

Why move the original talent show to Detroit instead of the Apollo in NY? THe girls are supposed to have traveled from Chicago to compete.

Also, why make Thunder Early (Eddie Murphy's character) a drug addict??? In the show he is neither a drug addict nor does he die. I think that just pepetuates the stereotype of musicians and/or African Americans as drug users which is not a good thing.

In the show, Jimmy gets dumped by Lorelle but he doesn't die. Actually, it's Deena's mother that dies (offstage) but this is referred to in a moving scene in the play when Effie finally meets up with Deena after all this time and she says something like "I wanted to talk to you at your mama's funeral but....." it's very moving and sad.....it shows how far the 2 had drifted apart and wanted to really be close again.

PFunkjazz said:

I'm sold.

GaryMF said:

I agree with that. It was just plain unnecessary. When I first heard that, I just shook my head (I didn't know the story of the play). The film is still very good, but I don't like that change.

It seems they did that because they wanted to have a main character die, to make it that much more dramatic for the audience.

GaryMF said:

I thought that change made perfect sense. They were poor young women. How could they afford to travel to NYC?


This is a stretch. It made for a more well-rounded character, and I think given his treatment by Curtis and the industry it doesn't seem uncharacteristic that he'd turn to drugs. Since the movie portrayal is partly based on Marvin Gaye, it fits.

TommyRoss said:

In the play their first lines are something along the lines about how they took the bus (e.g. greyhound) or train from Chicago (i.e. they didn't travel luxuriously) and then got lost on the subway on their way up to Harlem....and that is why they miss their spot. It makes perfect sense that 3 young women would take that type of transportation and would get lost on the subway system.

IMO less contrived than the "my momma wouldn't go to sleep" reason in the movie.


This is a stretch. It made for a more well-rounded character, and I think given his treatment by Curtis and the industry it doesn't seem uncharacteristic that he'd turn to drugs. Since the movie portrayal is partly based on Marvin Gaye, it fits.[/quote]

I didn't know the movie portrayal is "based on Marvin"...has that been said somewhere by the creators?

I always thought the original character was more like James Brown. Anyway, given the all too common portral of minorities in film/tv, i think it is not in good taste to turn him into a drug addict when he wasn't originally.

GaryMF said:

According to Wiki "James "Thunder" Early is depicted as a cross between James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Jackie Wilson." This is for the stage show

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamgirls


Effie White is a doppelgänger for Florence Ballard, original lead singer of the Supremes; the character's vocal stylings and personality are based upon soul singer Etta James. Diana Ross, who became the central focus of the Supremes and later left the group to pursue a solo career and a brief venture into films, is here adapted into the character of Deena Jones. Supremes member Mary Wilson is represented by Lorrell Robinson. Curtis Taylor, Jr. represents Berry Gordy, Jr., the founder of Motown, who pushed the Supremes towards pop success and became romantically involved with Ross.C. C. White is a collective representative for The Supremes' songwriters, who included the Holland-Dozier-Holland team and Smokey Robinson. Michelle Morris is representative of Cindy Birdsong, Florence Ballard's replacement in The Supremes, which was renamed "Diana Ross & the Supremes" at the time of that line-up change
[Edited 1/2/07 20:43pm]

Janfriend said:

And as pfunkjazz pointed out, the knit wool cap Early's wearing while recording Patience is a direct nod to Marvin (and it came to mind right away for me when that image appeared on screen).



I'm not trying to change your opinion on the film. Just putting the character in perspective.