Hearing a Symphony in ‘Dreamgirls’

“Dreamgirls,” which was inspired by the saga of the Supremes and ran for nearly four years on Broadway, looked for a moment like it might be the defining musical of the 1980s. Then along came “Cats” and the British invasion. On Tuesday at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills, however, a full-throttle revival of the Motown-meets-Tin Pan Alley musical made it seem as if Andrew Lloyd Webber never existed at all.

There is no turning back the clock, of course; and the 1980s was not on the whole a great decade for the American musical anyway. But the electric first act of “Dreamgirls”--with Roz White’s show-stopping performance of Effie’s anthem, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”--offers a high-octane charge of theatrical brilliance and not a little nostalgia for Michael Bennett, who pulled together the original 1981 production.

Although White has neither the charisma nor the physical stature that Jennifer Holliday had when she created the role of Effie, she puts her own heartfelt stamp on the show as the temperamental lead singer of the Dreamettes who gets pushed aside and finally dropped in favor of a prettier, if less talented backup singer, Deena (gracefully played by La Tanya Hall, a towering Diana Ross look-alike). Effie sings too big and black--she has too much “soul,” as White more than proves with her strong pipes--to make the crossover to the white-dominated pop charts, where the money is.

The Dreamettes’ manager (Darrin Lamont Byrd in a capable performance) takes the group out of the R&B; ghetto and gets them booked in the white-bread precincts of Miami and Las Vegas, eventually to be homogenized on television in glittering spangles and sequins. The group’s transformation from rough around the edges to smoother than cream carries us through the second act, though in dramatic terms just barely.

Tom Eyen’s sketchy Tony Award-winning book, which is made of stock situations, gets a little too threadbare. Effie’s heartfelt treatment notwithstanding, the show is better at sending up great black performers like James Brown--Kevin-Anthony as James Thunder Early in an entertaining turn (opposite Tonya Dixon, a pistol of a Dreamette)--than at taking them seriously. For instance, when Deena says she wants to be an artist with integrity, someone “important,” all it means is that she wants to make a movie.

Even so, the chief pleasure of “Dreamgirls” never lets up: Henry Krieger’s Motown score. The songs keep on coming, delivered with verve by a huge cast and a tight pit band. Director-choreographer Tony Stevens paces the show beautifully. It’s always fluid. And for all its style--rich costumes and blazing lights--he keeps the production spare. Any temptation to slickness is banished by a bare-bones scenic design that recalls the original.

Darrin Lamont Byrd: Marty

Brian Evaret Chandler: Curtis Taylor Jr.

La Tanya Hall: Deena Jones

Tonya Dixon: Lorrell Robinson

Gary E. Vincent: C.C. White

Roz White: Effie Melody White

Kevin-Anthony: James Thunder Early

Ron Kellum: Wayne

A re-creation of the original Broadway production directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett. Producers Marvin A. Krauss and Irving Siders. Book and lyrics Tom Eyen. Music Henry Krieger. Director-choreographer Tony Stevens. Set design Robin Wagner. Costume design Theoni V. Aldredge. Lighting design Tharon Musser. Sound design Otts Munderloh. Orchestrations Harold Wheeler. Vocal arrangements Cleavant Derricks. Musical direction/supervision Keith Levenson.

BE THERE

“Dreamgirls,” Wilshire Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 21. $30-$50. (213) 365-3500. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.