Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Stay cool with us this summer with Musicfest at the Movies! We explore the evolution of musical films, starting from the 1930s into the 21st century, with each film representing an important contribution to the art form. After a brief introduction on the film’s music, we will view the film in its entirety and conclude with a brief discussion. Popcorn and soda are provided!
The idea for Dreamgirls originated in 1975 as an idea by playwright Tom Eyen and composer Harry Krieger to craft a musical centered around black back-up singers. Both were little-known writers focused on creating experimental theatre off-off-Broadway in the late 60s and early 70s. Thanks to the interest of Broadway producer/director/choreographer Michael Bennett, the show come to fruition, eventually making its way to Broadway in 1981 and running for 1,521 performances until mid-1985. The song “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going,” performed by Jennifer Holliday in the show, found its way to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts in 1982.
The story follows the history and evolution of American R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of a Detroit girl group known as “The Dreams” and their manipulative record executive. Though a work of fiction is based on the amalgamation of the history of the Motown record label and the girl groups that performed for them, most notably The Supremes. Though there were many attempts to adapt Dreamgirls for the screen in the 1980s and 1990s, it wasn’t until 2005 that the film was greenlit – and was to be the most expensive film with an all-black cast in cinema history. Krieger wrote four new songs for the film.
The film rearranges the original score of the musical to combine the R&B-style score to better reflect both its original 1960s inspiration combined with R&B aesthetics from the early 2000s. In the same way that Jennifer Holliday was a relative unknown at the time of the original Broadway production, the filmmakers cast American Idol participant Jennifer Hudson in the role of Effie. While in a sense a musical pastiche like Grease, Dreamgirls utilizes instead the stylings of a “calvacade of black Motwon singers: the Shirelles, the Chiffons, Martha and the Vandellas, Little Richard, and Steve Wonder” (Eyen) in a very direct way, creating both the world of the characters but completely intertwined the plot with frequent diegetic music throughout.
Instructor
Josh Condon
As a pianist equally adept in the genres of jazz, pop, and classical, Josh Condon has served as music director/supervisor for over 40 musical theatre productions, in addition to leading concerts with symphony orchestras, choirs, jazz ensembles, and pop/rock bands. He has traveled the world as a music director and pianist for the Norwegian, Celebrity, and Princess Cruise Lines where he worked with numerous Broadway and West End performers.
Currently, Josh serves as Resident Artist and Director of Community Music Programs for Arizona Musicfest in Scottsdale, an organization which features concert performances of the music industry’s top talent. In addition to serving as Assistant Conductor for the Musicfest Festival Orchestra, he lectures on topics surveying a huge breadth of music history and analysis, including popular song, symphonic repertoire, jazz performance practice, musical theatre, and everything in between.
He also serves as Assistant Conductor for the North Valley Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as Guest Conductor with the Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra, the Scottsdale Philharmonic, and the Arizona Musical Theatre Orchestra. Josh is passionate about using flexibility, positivity, and encouragement to create spaces where all can learn and perform to their best ability. He holds a BM in Jazz Studies from Ithaca College and an MM in Musical Theatre/Opera Music Direction from Arizona State University, and resides in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Lexy, their son Arlo, and their cat Sadie.