Dreamgirls is the quintessential show about black singing groups in the Motown era, but the composer, Henry Krieger, is white and Jewish. He doesn't apologize for that:

"You know, the Middle East and Israel are right next to Africa," he jokes. "As a Jewish boy in Ossining and Harrison and White Plains, New York, I grew up listening to Aretha and the Drifters and other black singers. Lots of white people were buying Motown records. We're from the same tribe. African-Americans who sang spirituals like `Let My People Go' were singing about the Jewish experience."

Krieger visited Philadelphia where his 1981 hit is being successfully revived by the Prince Theater. He's a sturdily-built man with a shiny dome, big glasses, a wide nose and a broad grin. He's happy because the Prince's production is a good one and because a motion picture version is being shot with Beyonce Knowles, Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Fox, Danny Glover and Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder" Early.

Actually, Krieger normally smiles a lot. He says that when he was 25 he worked briefly as a publicist in an office that handled comedians such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers, and he observes that people with pain in their pasts use humor as protection.

"I'm a self-taught composer and pianist," says Krieger, "An international history major. Then I went to live in the East Village and hung out at Cafe La MaMa and started playing piano, then writing songs for shows. I found that theater is a family I could belong to."

"First show I ever saw was South Pacific with my parents and sister. Then Fiddler on the Roof, Li'l Abner and Take Me Along." So he was steeped in the traditions of Broadway's Golden Age.

"My favorite musical of all time is still South Pacific, but I also loved Aretha, Ben E. King, Etta James and gospel. Broadway was becoming ossified and had to be brought in touch with contemporary culture." Like the character in A Chorus Line, Krieger said: "I can do that."

The first show he composed was The Dirtiest Musical, with Tom Eyen, who was born in 1941, three years before Krieger. Eyen was "a crazy man; a wild guy; very talented, with a lot of life-force and attitude. He was script writer for that nutty parody of soap operas, "Mary Martman Mary Hartman." In 1973, before he met me, Tom wrote the book and lyrics for a musical called Rachel Lily Rosenbloom And Don't You Ever Forget It. Even though it was produced by Robert Stigwood and Ahmet Ertegun, it closed in previews." (Music was by Paul Jabara, who appeared in the cast.) "Our dirty musical had nudity and was anti-war. Nell Carter and Allison Fraser were in the cast."

"I wrote songs for `Captain Kangaroo' on TV. Then Tom and I got this idea for a musical about backup singers, which became Dreamgirls. It was written in a cinematic way, with a sweeping, sequential story where everything in it was complementary. Until then, black musicals had been about singing and dancing but not about real people's lives. Tom would call me every day and stay on the phone for hours. He did most of the talking. He'd give me a lyric, and I'd write the tune. I never could read music, and I use my own special notation. He was my mentor, my catalyst, because without him I was a couch potato."

Dreamgirls was a significant departure, being written in a year dominated by traditional musicals such as 42nd Street, My One and Only, Sophisticated Ladies, Woman of the Year, On Your Toes and The Pirates of Penzance.

"Tom directed the workshop of Dreamgirls,, and Nell Carter was Effie. She became popular on television and couldn't stay with our production. Then Michael Bennett joined the project. He was a thunderstorm, fitful, intense." Directed and choreographed by Bennett, Dreamgirls opened in December of 1981 and played 1521 performances before closing in 1985.

"After that came a long period where I didn't produce anything new," says Krieger. "At the beginning, you get records on the charts and a lot of airplay. You get paid for productions of the show, but after seven years, that dropped off, and you don't make enough to live on. You begin to wonder if maybe you're a one-hit wonder."

He did have a success with The Tap Dance Kid on Broadway from 1983 to 1985, but some critics dismissed it as strictly a dance show. "I did industrials. And you have to believe that things will have a way of working out."

A brief revival of Dreamgirls in 1987 was notable for the performance of Lillias White as Effie. A benefit concert version was staged in September 2001 with a star-studded cast that included Lillias White, Audra McDonald, Heather Headley, Darius de Haas, Norm Lewis, Billy Porter and Brian Stokes Mitchell, with bit parts played by Malcolm Gets, Patrick Wilson, Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley. Seth Rudetsky conducted, and a recording is available.

Then in 1997 came Krieger's clever Side Show about a pair of twins whose bodies were co-joined, with book and lyrics by Bill Russell. It starred Alice Ripley, Emily Skinner and Norm Lewis and received much praise, although it ran less than three months. Krieger feels that "people were afraid of the co-joined twins, but it connected with audiences because it is about the plight of being an outsider."

Krieger has worked off and on with playwright John Patrick Shanley on a musical version of Moonstruck. Now Krieger is collaborating with Susan Birkenhead and director Michael Mayer on a stage version of the film The Flamingo Kid.

"I'm glad my shows make people happy. It makes me happy too. The fact that people are coming to see Dreamgirls again after 24 years makes me grateful."

[END]

Writer: 
Stever Cohen
Writer Bio: 
Steve Cohen has written numerous pieces for This Month ON STAGE magazine and Totaltheater.com.
Date: 
February 2006
Key Subjects: 
Henry Krieger, Dreamgirls, Tap Dance Kid, Side Show, Tom Eyen, Michael Bennett.