Saturday, March 3rd was the second performance for the John Ruffin Production of Dream Girls at the Harold Washington Cultural Center, located at 4701 Martin Luther King Dr. The theater was filled to the balcony while stragglers walked in as Ruffin addressed the crowd. I have seen the film and theater adaptation of this classic musical, but my expectations for this production were neutral. However, this was a well done presentation. There was perfect casting for the lead players consisting of Opal Nesbitt as "Deena Jones," China Stewart as "Effie White," KC Lee as "Curtis Taylor Jr.," and Mark Smith as "James Thunder Early" (Jimmy). Each one carried their own. Of course there were definitely the stand out characters such as "Jimmy," and "Effie White." Smith was a great Jimmy and gave Eddie Murphy a run for his money. Some highlights of the musical were a tap dance routine that was added to the "Stepping To The Bad Side" number. Also there was a modern dance routine added to the song "I Am Changing." Of course the show stopper of Effie singing, "I Am Telling You" is always a crowd pleaser. Stewart's performance was very emotional and left many people standing on their feet in applause at the end. The only cons about the performance were the microphones. Through the entire performance there were late cues on the mics, as if someone wasn't paying attention to their job. It was very distracting, needless to say. Also the microphones weren't of the highest quality. There was a lot of distortion when Stewart and others in the cast hit high notes. However, the show is in the beginning performances so hopefully any glitches can be fixed by the end of it's stint. If you are a lover of Dream Girls you will surely appreciate this Southside showing of a Broadway Musical. Dream Girls is running every Friday-Sunday until March 31st.
