[1] Staged with a mostly African-American cast and originally starring Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Obba Babatundé, the musical opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway.

The film starred Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, and Keith Robinson.

[2] Project #9 was workshopped for Joseph Papp; Nell Carter was joined at this time by Sheryl Lee Ralph and Loretta Devine, who were to play her groupmates.

A year later, Project #9 was brought back to the table, after catching the interest of Michael Bennett, then in the midst of his success with A Chorus Line.

However, Holliday left the project during the workshopping phase, as she disliked the material and was upset that her character, Effie White, died at the conclusion of the first act.

However, she found Effie's role had been reduced significantly in favor of Sheryl Lee Ralph's Deena character, and Holliday eventually quit the project again.

After acquiring funding from music industry mogul David Geffen and fellow co-financiers ABC Entertainment, Metromedia, and the Shubert family, Bennett called Holliday back and agreed to rewrite the show's second act and build up her character.

For the Dreamgirls original cast recording, the producers decided to present the intricately interwoven musical sequences as individual songs, cutting approximately half of the score.

The cast recording won two Grammy awards, Best Musical Album and Best Vocal Performance for Jennifer Holliday's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going".

Bennett took Dreamgirls on an abbreviated national tour in 1983, with Jennifer Holliday remaining as Effie, with Larry Riley, Linda Leilani Brown, Arnetia Walker, Lawrence Clayton, and Cleavant Derricks' twin brother Clinton Derricks-Carroll as her co-stars.

The show played extended engagements in three U.S. cities - Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago but was dissolved due to high costs.

[citation needed] In 2004, another national tour began starring American Idol contestant Frenchie Davis, who gained praise for her role as Effie and Angela Robinson as Deena.

[6][7] American Idol alum Syesha Mercado starred as Deena, with Adrienne Warren as Lorrell, Moya Angela as Effie, Chester Gregory as Jimmy, and Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Curtis.

[citation needed] In 2001 a concert performance of the show was staged on Broadway at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts starring Lillias White as Effie, Audra McDonald as Deena, Heather Headley as Lorrelle, Billy Porter as Jimmy, Darius de Haas as C.C., Tamara Tunie as Michelle, and Norm Lewis as Curtis, with appearances by E. Lynn Harris, Adriane Lenox, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Alice Ripley, Emily Skinner, and Patrick Wilson among many others.

In February 2016 it was confirmed that Dreamgirls would have its London premiere at The Savoy Theatre with Amber Riley taking on the role of Effie White.

Notes In 1962, The Dreamettes, a hopeful teenage Black girl group from Chicago, enter the famous Amateur Night talent competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York ("I'm Looking for Something", "Goin' Downtown", "Takin' the Long Way Home").

The group is composed of full-figured lead singer Effie White and her best friends, Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson.

For the contest, the Dreamettes sing "Move (You're Steppin' on My Heart)", a song written by Effie's brother, C.C., who accompanies them to the talent show.

Curtis convinces James (Jimmy) "Thunder" Early, a popular R&B star, and his manager, Marty, to hire The Dreamettes as backup singers.

Curtis convinces Jimmy and Marty that they should venture beyond traditional rhythm and blues and soul audiences and aim for the pop market.

Strongly determined to make his Black singers household names, Curtis transforms Jimmy Early into a Perry Como-esque pop singer through his performance at the Atlantic Hotel with the Dreamettes ("I Want You Baby"), and later, concentrates on establishing the Dreamettes as their own act, renaming them The Dreams, changing their act to give them a more sophisticated and pop-friendly look and sound.

Deena and the Dreams and Jimmy perform at a National Democratic fundraiser, on a bill featuring such groups as The Five Tuxedos ("Got to Be Good Times").

Desperate to keep his set going, Jimmy launches into a wild, improvised funk number ("The Rap"), dropping his pants during the performance.

Amidst their performance of the song in Los Angeles, Deena, Lorrell, and Michelle each think of their dreams, which diverge from their current status as musical performers, and inwardly express their desire to quit the music industry: Deena wants to become an actress, Lorrell wants to live her own life and move on from Jimmy, while Michelle wants to settle down with C.C.

At their farewell concert ("Hard to Say Goodbye, My Love"), Effie rejoins the group on stage for the final number, and all four Dreams sing their signature song one last time.

The film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx as Curtis, Beyoncé as Deena, Eddie Murphy as Jimmy, Danny Glover as Marty, Jennifer Hudson as Effie, Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell, and Keith Robinson as C.C.. Dreamgirls was first exhibited in special ten-day road show engagements beginning December 25, 2006.

Two other alumni of the Broadway production – Hinton Battle (a James "Thunder" Early replacement) and Yvette Cason (Charlene; Effie White understudy) – also appear.

To give the story more exposure for the upcoming film release, DreamWorks Pictures and the licensee of the original play, The Tams-Witmark Music Library, announced they would pay the licensing fees for all non-professional stage performances of Dreamgirls for the calendar year of 2006.

[24] From the show's opening, Michael Bennett, Henry Krieger, Tom Eyen, and the Dreamgirls producers publicly denied basing the musical's plot on the story of the Supremes.

A Broadway urban myth circled at the time that Ross had seen the show in disguise and stormed out at the end of Act I upset.