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They may have put more of the Ziegfeld originals into the movie, but the show was a lot more about Fanny Brice than the movie was. The movie really had nothing to do with Fanny Brice. Thanks for discussing it, though, because I hadn't realized just how far the show moved in just a few years due to that startling Streisand fame. I know this is mostly :( Forgive me.

By the way, I loved the Supremes too, and I also like Diana Ross in 'Mahogany', no matter how corny.

The movie became about launching Streisand. Everything else suffered. Fortunately she lived up to expectations or things could have really gotten ugly. I have a soft spot for 'Hello Dolly' myself.

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A cut and paste from another thread:

papeetepatrick writes:

Also got around to 'Dreamgirls', finally, and thought it much better than most here at BT, as well as much better than I ever expected. I probably like the basic sound, and then a few songs like 'One Night Only', the title song, and 'I Tell You I'm Not Goin' and a couple of others stand out. It's basically just a plot of 'talented girl group figure out how to get famous and then there is some varied heartache and drugs on the way', so I didn't care if the less-distinguished songs propelled this sort of almost non-existent plot. Some things don't make sense, like 'The First Time I Saw You' by Jamie Foxx to Beyonce Knowles, because their love is so illegitimate in terms of how it got that way that it is like giving especially romantic songs to petty criminals--plus a fashion montage for Beyonce that is like Diana Ross's in 'Mahogany', I think in the same number. I thought it was a good film, not great, but good, and a few songs were actually memorable, which is more than I can say for 'Hairspray', even though that's better-crafted in other ways.

I may have been too hard on it. At the time I was so annoyed by the fake R&B and the nonstop assault of mediocre songs that I came away quite peeved. It's been showing up on cable so I'll take another look if convenient.

plus a fashion montage for Beyonce that is like Diana Ross's in 'Mahogany', I think in the same number

Beyonce was playing a character based on Ross, so the echoes were deliberate. Knowles was stunning, by the way. In all the fuss over Hudson hardly anyone mentioned that she's a goddess. I look forward to seeing her on the big screen again.

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I may have been too hard on it. At the time I was so annoyed by the fake R&B and the nonstop assault of mediocre songs that I came away quite peeved. It's been showing up on cable so I'll take another look if convenient.

Agree to some degree, but it's more comparable to 'Evita', which has but one song to relieve the endless monotony of the Lloyd Webber shtick. Once was enough 'Dreamgirls' for me, but I enjoyed it as this sort of ephimeral bauble (like 'Hairspray' in that sense, which is more than I can say for 'Evita': I think it's a disaster, including its leading lady, who is incapable of going far enough.) I expect little from Broadway shows, on stage or screen, at this point. Musically, any song on the Dixie Chicks 'Taking the Long Way' album (one rare example of a pop awards getting it exactly where the greatness lies IMO) is better than anything I've heard from Broadway, with the one or two exceptions I've mentioned before--and even those two or three ('The Life', 'City of Angels', 'Urinetown') are sporadic.

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I recently saw this on cable and couldn't agree more with dirac's statement

Knowles was stunning, by the way. In all the fuss over Hudson hardly anyone mentioned that she's a goddess. I look forward to seeing her on the big screen again.

I haven't followed her musical career at all, but I now look out for her L'Oreal and AmEx endorsements. :smilie_mondieu:

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