Sonia Friedman Productions is delighted to reveal the first official images of Amber Riley, Ibinabo Jack and Liisi LaFontaine as The Dreams. Exclusive new photography and a behind the scenes video have been made available today ahead of Amber Riley’s appearance on the Graham Norton show where she will sing And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going. The Graham Norton show will be broadcast on Friday October 7th on BBC 1 at 22.35.
American actress and singer Amber Riley stars as ‘Effie White’ and is joined in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre by Liisi LaFontaine as Deena Jones and Ibinabo Jack as Lorrell Robinson making up the soulful singing trio ‘The Dreams’. Joe Aaron Reid will play Curtis Taylor Jr, Adam J. Bernard will play Jimmy Early, Tyrone Huntley will play C.C. White, Nicholas Bailey will play Marty and Lily Frazer will play Michelle Morris with Ruth Brown and Karen Mav alternating the role of Effie White at performances when Amber Riley is not scheduled to perform.
The cast of Dreamgirls will also include Michael Afemaré, Jocasta Almgill, Callum Aylott, Hugo Batista, Samara Casteallo, Chloe Chambers, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Joelle Dyson, Kimmy Edwards, Candace Furbert, Nathan Graham, Ashley Luke Lloyd, Gabriel Mokake, Sian Nathaniel-James, Sean Parkins, Kirk Patterson, Ryan Reid, Rohan Richards, Noel Samuels, Durone Stokes and Tosh Wanogho-Maud.
Dreamgirls will be Directed and Choreographed by Olivier and Tony Award®-winning Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Aladdin and Something Rotten!), with Set Design by Tim Hatley, Costume Design by Gregg Barnes, Lighting Design by Hugh Vanstone, Sound Design by Richard Brooker and Hair Design by Josh Marquette. The Musical Supervisor will be Nick Finlow, the Orchestrator will be Harold Wheeler, with Additional Material by Willie Reale.
Dreamgirls transports you to a revolutionary time in American music history. Dreamgirls charts the tumultuous journey of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called ‘The Dreams’, as they learn the hard lesson that show business is as tough as it is fabulous, and features the classic songs ‘And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going’, ‘I Am Changing’, ‘Listen’ and ‘One Night Only’.
With Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen and Music by Henry Krieger, the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett opened in 1981 and subsequently won six Tony Awards®. The original cast recording won two Grammy awards for Best Musical Album and Best Vocal Performance for Jennifer Holliday’s ‘And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going.’ In 2006 it was adapted into an Oscar winning motion picture starring Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx.
Liisi LaFontaine is appearing with the support of UK Equity, incorporating the Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity.