All You Have to Do is Dream
Dreamgirls is opening on December 25! A very big Christmas present for gay boys of all ages! I didn’t see the original ‘cause I wasn’t in New York yet and I didn’t see the first revival ‘cause I was stupid. I had just blown into town and thought “well, it’s not the original, how good could it be?” (see Catch the Original Version of Everything, November 3, 2006). Well, now it’s been 25 years and the film is in the can, as they say, and the stage show has become the stuff of legend. What can I tell you? I saw the legendary Carrie (“There’s never been a musical like her”), but I missed out on this legend. Then again, if I had seen the revival in 1987, I would have seen Lillias White as Effie, and judging by her off-key and over-the-top performance in the recording of the 2001 Actors Fund benefit of the show, when she is telling you she’s not going you’d probably be praying she would!
But now, Jennifer Hudson is playing Effie in the movie and Eddie Murphy told Denzel Washington that Ms. Hudson “is stealing the movie” (during an interview for Déjà Vu as posted by Sheila Roberts on www.moviesonline.com). And when I saw Babel there was a trailer for Dreamgirls and when I heard the first strains of “No, no, no, no way, no, no, no, no way I’m living without you…” I got chills so bad I was afraid I had a fever.
“Hey Sam,” I can hear you saying now, “isn’t this all a whole lot of hype? Aren’t you just another shill for this movie I’ve been hearing way too much about already?” Um, no, I’m not a shill. And if you feel you’ve heard way too much about this film already, you’re just not a gay boy at all! I’m excited (as are countless others) because this film took so long to make and for a while looked like it would never be made. “Well, Evita took a long time to make, too, and that was a real dud, wasn’t it?” I can hear you saying. Yes, yes, that’s true. But Evita starred Madonna, who may have looked just like Eva Peron, but she couldn’t sing the score the way it was written. In Dreamgirls, Beyoncé Knowles stars as Deena Jones, and from the accidentally leaked versions of One Night Only and the title track, I know for a fact she can sing the score the way it was written. I’ve also read many, many articles that tell me Beyoncé worked many, many 15-hour days in order to get all of Fatima Robinson’s choreography right. Now, if girlfriend is working that hard on this film and putting her diva ego aside to do it, you know she gonna light a fire!
“Hey Sam,” I’m sure you’re saying now, “you make it sound so good I can’t wait until December 25 to see it! What am I gonna do?” Well, aren’t you glad you came to this blog? If you live in New York (and who doesn’t?), Los Angeles or San Francisco, you can line up to see this Oscar front-runner on December 15! Wait a minute; you actually don’t have to line up at all. There’s reserved seating! DreamWorks (is that too perfect, or what? and Paramount) are producing a roadshow which will feature the film by itself without all those nasty previews and television commercials and annoying “Did you turn off your cell phone” announcements. Audience members will also be given a 51-page color program to remember the experience by. Of course, as anyone who has no patience (well, I have a friend named Patience, but she’s not as excited about Dreamgirls as I am) can attest, if you want something before everyone else gets it, you’re gonna have to pay for it. So the roadshow is coming to town with a hefty $25 ticket price. But hey – need I remind you of the 51-page color program? And no, I don’t think it’s going to turn up on eBay in a few months for $5.00 + postage, Mr. Smart Mouth!
So what does any of this have to do with Matt? Matt’s not in Dreamgirls, is he? He’s not, no. And for a very good reason. Director Bill Condon knew if he put Matt in there it would be much too fabulous and yours truly would have a coronary and then there’d be no blog to tell everyone how fabulous this film is! Isn’t Bill a wise, wise man? But Matt has always been a dream of mine ever since he came out on the stair landing with his shirt off in The Rainmaker. This picture
isn’t from that infamous moment, but I spent a long time Googling to find a still from that scene and I’m afraid no matter how many different variations of “Matt Damon, gorgeous, naked, chest, The Rainmaker” I enter in the search engine the proper picture just isn’t popping up. That’s too bad, really, because it truly was a sight to behold. Yes, that momentous event took place in a 1997 film and Matt had been making movies for 9 years already, but that was the moment that warmed the cockles of my tasteful little heart to such a degree that I spent countless nights dreaming about him and countless dollars seeing his films in theaters, on video and on DVD. I only hope one day you'll be able to look back on the moment you first decided to spend countless hours dreaming about and countless dollars on merchandise for Dreamgirls.
But now, Jennifer Hudson is playing Effie in the movie and Eddie Murphy told Denzel Washington that Ms. Hudson “is stealing the movie” (during an interview for Déjà Vu as posted by Sheila Roberts on www.moviesonline.com). And when I saw Babel there was a trailer for Dreamgirls and when I heard the first strains of “No, no, no, no way, no, no, no, no way I’m living without you…” I got chills so bad I was afraid I had a fever.
“Hey Sam,” I can hear you saying now, “isn’t this all a whole lot of hype? Aren’t you just another shill for this movie I’ve been hearing way too much about already?” Um, no, I’m not a shill. And if you feel you’ve heard way too much about this film already, you’re just not a gay boy at all! I’m excited (as are countless others) because this film took so long to make and for a while looked like it would never be made. “Well, Evita took a long time to make, too, and that was a real dud, wasn’t it?” I can hear you saying. Yes, yes, that’s true. But Evita starred Madonna, who may have looked just like Eva Peron, but she couldn’t sing the score the way it was written. In Dreamgirls, Beyoncé Knowles stars as Deena Jones, and from the accidentally leaked versions of One Night Only and the title track, I know for a fact she can sing the score the way it was written. I’ve also read many, many articles that tell me Beyoncé worked many, many 15-hour days in order to get all of Fatima Robinson’s choreography right. Now, if girlfriend is working that hard on this film and putting her diva ego aside to do it, you know she gonna light a fire!
“Hey Sam,” I’m sure you’re saying now, “you make it sound so good I can’t wait until December 25 to see it! What am I gonna do?” Well, aren’t you glad you came to this blog? If you live in New York (and who doesn’t?), Los Angeles or San Francisco, you can line up to see this Oscar front-runner on December 15! Wait a minute; you actually don’t have to line up at all. There’s reserved seating! DreamWorks (is that too perfect, or what? and Paramount) are producing a roadshow which will feature the film by itself without all those nasty previews and television commercials and annoying “Did you turn off your cell phone” announcements. Audience members will also be given a 51-page color program to remember the experience by. Of course, as anyone who has no patience (well, I have a friend named Patience, but she’s not as excited about Dreamgirls as I am) can attest, if you want something before everyone else gets it, you’re gonna have to pay for it. So the roadshow is coming to town with a hefty $25 ticket price. But hey – need I remind you of the 51-page color program? And no, I don’t think it’s going to turn up on eBay in a few months for $5.00 + postage, Mr. Smart Mouth!
So what does any of this have to do with Matt? Matt’s not in Dreamgirls, is he? He’s not, no. And for a very good reason. Director Bill Condon knew if he put Matt in there it would be much too fabulous and yours truly would have a coronary and then there’d be no blog to tell everyone how fabulous this film is! Isn’t Bill a wise, wise man? But Matt has always been a dream of mine ever since he came out on the stair landing with his shirt off in The Rainmaker. This picture
isn’t from that infamous moment, but I spent a long time Googling to find a still from that scene and I’m afraid no matter how many different variations of “Matt Damon, gorgeous, naked, chest, The Rainmaker” I enter in the search engine the proper picture just isn’t popping up. That’s too bad, really, because it truly was a sight to behold. Yes, that momentous event took place in a 1997 film and Matt had been making movies for 9 years already, but that was the moment that warmed the cockles of my tasteful little heart to such a degree that I spent countless nights dreaming about him and countless dollars seeing his films in theaters, on video and on DVD. I only hope one day you'll be able to look back on the moment you first decided to spend countless hours dreaming about and countless dollars on merchandise for Dreamgirls.
posted by Sam at 9:50 AM
2 Comments:
How do you know I'm not as excited about Dreamgirls as you are? Okay, so I'm not. I don't even know the music! Should I be killed? I have seen most of Matt Damon's movies, though. Except for Rounders....
--patience
Should you be killed? No. Should you be educated? Yes! You should listen to the OBC and Actors Fund Benefit recordings of Dreamgirls on my iTunes until you know the whole show backwards and forwards. Or, you could just ask me to perform the whole thing for you (my Lorrell is not to be missed!).
As for not seeing Rounders, what's up with that? It's not that bad, and you know what? Matt Damon's in it! Of course, it's kind of unbelievable. Gretchen Mol leaves Matt 'cause he gambles too much. Come on! Who'd leave Matt Damon for a little thing like that? He could gamble on me staying and he'd win every time!
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