Standing in line for a Dream of a role ...
They were queuing to fulfil a dream.
The 350 hopefuls waited in line for a chance to perform at an open audition seeking singers for the UK premiere of Dreamgirls, the musical about a Supremes-like girl group who start as unknowns from Detroit in the Sixties and become international superstars.
The story of betrayal, broken romance and corruption, set against a backdrop of an America simmering with racial tension (so no change there), is set to open in London in the spring.
The central character is effie, a young singer with an outsized voice and a figure to match, who battles with her fellow Dreams and the manipulative manager she loves but can’t keep.
Jennifer holliday created effie on Broadway 30 years ago and hasn’t been bettered in any U.S. revival.
‘It would be the most beautiful narrative if we found our effie — and she’s somewhere in this room,’ producer Sonia Friedman told me, as she gestured to performers at are hearsal centre in Southwark, South London.
‘None of them have agents, or have had access to shows like this.’
Casting director Pippa Ailion was auditioning in one room while musical director Nick Finlow and executive producer Donna Munday were in another.
I sat in for around four hours and there was one standout as a potential effie, and several others — male and female — who could possibly play other parts.
They will attend a further session next month, when director Casey Nicholaw will join Friedman, Ailion and Finlow.
Ailion noted: ‘Some of these actors are very inexperienced; some can sing but don’t have the range; some have good voices but don’t know quite how to access them.’
Many s a ng t he s a me numbers made famous by Alicia Keys and Whitney houston, and I had to smile when Finlow almost begged them to sing some real soul tunes at their callbacks.