A trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
Co-Writer/Director: Bill Condon
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson.
Donald Barrett ... choreographer: musical numbers
Aakomon Jones ... co-choreographer
Eboni Nichols ... assistant to choreographer
Joey Pizzi ... associate choreographer
Fatima Robinson ... choreographer
37 songs in the Soundtracks, 29 Written by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, 6 more by Henry Krieger and other partner(s).
Excellent use of music. Sometimes a song starts out as a musical number sung privately to communicate feelings and then evolves into a performance number by the professional singer. That makes this the rare film where I agree it is both Musical and Music genres.
Singing is by the cast, and is excellent. Songs seem written for the film, which is based on a B'way show.
Lots of glitz and glamor. Some shabby reality too, but appropriately and briefly.
IMDb trivia:
- "The film, and the original Broadway musical, are based heavily on The Supremes (later known as "Diana Ross & The Supremes"). Curtis Taylor, Jr. represents Motown Founder Berry Gordy, Jr. Both men worked in the automotive industry before focusing on music, and integrated aspects of the automotive business into the music making process. Both men were romantically involved with the lead singer of the most successful female group on their label. Effie's departure from the group closely matches Florence Ballard, who was known to have a much more powerful voice than Diana Ross."
- "When The Dreams stand in front of a huge replica of their first album, "Meet The Dreams," the cover art is an almost identical replica of The Supremes 1965 album "More Hits by the Supremes." The photos of The Dreams on that cover are nearly identical poses from The Supremes 1966 album "The Supremes A Go-Go.""
Rated 6.5 (63,449)
Dreamworks, Paramount & more, dir. Condon; 8-
