Monday, January 23, 2006

Dreamgirls, the movie, casting

Well, I guess we can only hope that this trend in new movie musicals, spurred by the success of Chicago, will continue.

I don't think The Producers and its so-so reviews is going to help much.

Intrepid Annette sent me casting info on the impending Dreamgirls movie.

Most of the casting is movie/music-star casting that I think will probably work just fine:

Can't complain about Jamie Foxx as Curtis Taylor Jr., Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder Early" and Danny Glover as Marty. I'm not even going to question Beyoncé Knowles as Deena Jones.

Two pieces of casting are a little more interesting though. Young Tony-winning Anika Noni Rose (from Caroline or Change) is playing Lorrell. First of all, she's the only one with musical theatre pedigree involved, so good for her. but isn't she really young?

Lastly, American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson is going to play Effie. Lord have mercy. OK. Anyone who has read my American Idol recaps from Season 3 knows that I was never ever a Hudson fan. She may have belty chops, but she has no nuance and no vulnerability. Not only that, but she's not exactly the right physical type for Effie. Effie borders on the unlikable as it is because she ends up being rather self-pitying through the center section of the show. I really fear Hudson is just going to make that unbearably obnoxious.

Any Hudson fans out there to refute me?

Comments:
I went to graduate school with Anika Noni Rose and she's actually in her 30s, probably the oldest of the three of them.
 
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