DREAMGIRLS Original Broadway Cast: Where Are They Now?

It’s been nearly 45 years since the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls opened on Broadway in 1981. 

The musical, following The Dreams as they rise to stardom and the drama that ensues when Effie White breaks from the group, features music by Henry Krieger with lyrics and a book by Tom Eyen.

Starring Jennifer Holliday as Effie White, the musical was nominated for multiple Tony Awards, winning for Best Choreography (Michael Bennett and Michael Peters), Best Actor in a Musical (Ben Harney), Best Actress in a Musical (Holliday), Best Book of a Musical (Eyen), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Cleavant Derricks) and Lighting Design of a Play or Musical (Tharon Musser). 

While a revival of Dreamgirls is still planning to come to Broadway, BroadwayWorld looks back on the original production, which ran from December 1981 through August 1985 at the Imperial Theatre. 

Jennifer Holliday 

Jennifer Holliday rose to fame for her iconic performance as Effie Melody White in Dreamgirls, winning a 1982 Tony Award for her work as well as a Grammy Award for “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” 

In a 2021 BroadwayWorld interview, Holliday explained that she didn’t actually audition for director-choreographer Bennett. “He came to see me,” she said. “I was already on Broadway in a show called Your Arms Too Short to Box with God at the Ambassador Theatre. I was already on Broadway and he came to see me. Then he asked me and Cleavant Derricks to come to a workshop that they were doing. It wasn’t called Dreamgirls then, it was just called A Project.” 

When Holliday boarded the project, “It all began to change a bit because at first it was pretty much a vehicle for Sheryl Lee Ralph before I had come on,” she said. “That’s the truth. She wrote about it in her book. Dreamgirls was her vehicle.”  

After Dreamgirls, Holliday continued on in her recording career before she returned to Broadway as Teen Angel in the 1994 revival of Grease. She has also been seen on the Great White Way as Shug Avery in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple and as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago. She continues to make frequent concert appearances. 

Sheryl Lee Ralph

The musical Dreamgirls was basically created around Sheryl Lee Ralph, who played Deena Jones. “There was no cast to join,” she recalled in a 2022 interview with Elle. “There was a workshop with myself, Loretta Divine, and Ramona Brooks. It was just the three of us working on this show which started off as Project #9.” 

Dreamgirls was so successful, Ralph was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance — and even won over her mother in the process. “At my graduation from college, my mother was so unaccepting [about me becoming an actress],” Ralph told Elle. “I remember my father saying, ‘If your mother doesn’t want to go to the Tony Awards, you and I will be right there!’” 

Her mother came and “ended up sitting behind” her and her dad, Ralph said. “I could hear her the whole time saying, ‘That’s my daughter right there! Deena Jones, that’s my daughter.’”

Ralph went on to have a successful career on Broadway and in film and television. She originated the role of Muzzy Van Hossmere in Thoroughly Modern Mille and played Madame Morrible in Wicked. Since 2021, she’s played Barbara Howard on ABC’s Abbott Elementary, for which she won an Emmy Award in 2022. In her personal life, she has been married to Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes since July 2005 and has two children, whom she shares with ex-husband Eric Maurice. 

Loretta Devine

Loretta Devine already had a few Broadway credits to her name by the time she was cast as Lorrell Robinson in Dreamgirls. Though she returned to Broadway in Bob Fosse’s Big Deal in 1986, the actress found success in film and television. 

Devine is known for her roles in Waiting to Exhale, Boston Public, A Different World, The Carmichael Show and more. She also received an Emmy Award for playing Adele Webber on Grey’s Anatomy and made a cameo in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls. 

During a November 2025 appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, she spoke about the lasting power of these projects. “Child, I had no idea this was going to be wearing me out my entire life,” she told host Jennifer Hudson. “You just think it’s going to come and go. It’s amazing the things that stay forever, and Dreamgirls is one of those things. The movie I did This Christmas, that’s another thing people watch every Christmas. Waiting to Exhale, that’s something that revolutionized the industry for all Black women. So all of those things make me very proud.”

Cleavant Derricks

Cleavant Derricks, who had a handful of Broadway credits to his name before Dreamgirls, won the Tony and Drama Desk Award for his performance as Jimmy Early — and he also is credited with the original production’s vocal arrangements. 

Derricks followed Dreamgirls with another Tony-nominated turn in Big Deal. He originated the role of Street Singer in Brooklyn and also appeared in Broadway’s Wicked. Though he is a celebrated stage performer, Derricks is perhaps best known for playing Rembrandt Brown on the TV series Sliders.

Ben Harney

Ben Harney had numerous Broadway credits to his name before he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Curtis Taylor, Jr. Though he was on Broadway in Treemonisha, The Wiz, The Pajama Game, Pippin and Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, he seemed to step away from performing full-time and ventured into teaching and coaching young artists. 

Obba Babatundé

Obba Babatundé — who had already appeared on Broadway in It’s So Nice to Be Civilized, Reggae and Timbuktu! — earned a Tony nomination for playing Effie’s songwriter brother C.C. White. Following Dreamgirls, he appeared in Broadway’s Grind and Chicago; onscreen, his credits include Philadelphia, That Thing You Do!, The Notebook, The Temptations miniseries, Dawson’s Creek, Dear White People, The Bold and the Beautiful and S.W.A.T., on which he recurred as Daniel Harrelson Sr., among others. According to his Instagram, he recently directed the movie Ruby’s Heart. 

Babatundé previously told BroadwayWorld that there were “a lot of changes” to Dreamgirls when it was in development. “All of these characters were being built on us,” he explained. 

“Jennifer and I were part of the workshop that actually created the musical Dreamgirls,” he added. “She was 19 years old when she came into the company. It was her...really first foray other than Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. She was just like my little sister. So we developed a beautiful and wonderful friendship.”  

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Though Vondie Curtis-Hall originated the role of Marty in Dreamgirls and was also seen on Broadway in Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and It's So Nice to Be Civilized, he went on to mainly work in film and television. 

Curtis-Hall was an understudy in Broadway’s Stardust following Dreamgirls, but he is best known for playing Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope and Ben Urich in the Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series Daredevil. He also wrote and directed the 1997 cult film Gridlock’d. In Curtis-Hall’s personal life, he is married to director and screenwriter Kasi Lemmons, with whom he shares two children. 

Phylicia Rashad

Phylicia Rashad was in the ensemble of Dreamgirls and most notably understudied the role of Deena Jones. According to Ralph, the actress whom she understudied, Rashad knew that she wanted to break out of the ensemble. 

“I remember Phylicia Ayers-Allen came in one day and she said — Phylicia Rashad now — ‘I was never born to be an understudy.’ And that was that,” Ralph recently told Jake Shane on his Therapuss podcast. “And what a miraculous, beautiful career she has had, moving herself to the forefront. I say to people all the time, ‘Know who you are. Know who you are.’ She knew exactly who she was. She knew exactly what she wanted to do.”

Rashan, known for playing Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show — a role that earned her two Emmy Award nominations — has had a long and celebrated career on Broadway and off. Her multiple Broadway credits include Into the Woods, Jelly’s Last Jam, A Raisin in the Sun (Tony win for Best Actress in a Play), Gem of the Ocean (Tony nominee for Best Actress in a Play), A Wonderful Life, Cymbeline, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, August: Osage County, Skeleton Crew (Tony win for Best Featured Actress in a Play) and more. She is also a mother of two. 

Vanessa Bell Calloway

Vanessa Bell Calloway was an original Stepp Sister in the musical Dreamgirls. She went on to an extensive film and television career with credits that include Coming to America, What’s Love Got to Do with It, The Inkwell, The Temptations, Shameless, Saints & Sinners, Harriet and Coming 2 America. She returned to Broadway playing Idella Landy in the 2023 revival of Purlie Victorious.

During an appearance earlier this year on the You Might Know Her From podcast, Calloway explained how she booked Dreamgirls. “When you’re not trying hard for something, that’s when you get something,” she explained. “I was doing a show called El Bravo at the Entermedia Theatre down in New York Off-Broadway, and I was a very featured actress in that … Vinnie Liff, who was the casting director for Dreamgirls, came and saw me, and we were closing that night. It was a Sunday. He said, ‘Hey, would you like to come and audition for Dreamgirls tomorrow? It’s the last day for callbacks.’ He said, ‘I can’t offer you any part for the lead — they’re all taken because they’ve been in a workshop for this, but would you like to come audition for the ensemble?’” 

“I figured my job was ending that day,” she recalled. “Of course, I’ll be there tomorrow right?” 

Brenda Pressley

Brenda Pressley, who was one of the Stepp Sisters in Dreamgirls and understudied multiple roles, has since returned to Broadway multiple times. She was a replacement in the original production of Cats and was also seen in The American Plan and The Lyons. More than four decades after Dreamgirls, she returned to Broadway as Claudine Jasper in Purpose, directed by fellow original Dreamgirls cast member Rashad.

Charles Randolph-Wright

Charles Randolph-Wright made his Broadway debut as part of the ensemble of Dreamgirls. However, he began to focus on directing and working behind the scenes. Most notably, Randolph-Wright directed Motown the Musical and Trouble in Mind. 

“We all have a unique story to tell, and the more specific you are, the more universal it will be,” he said in an interview with Roundabout Theatre Company, for which he serves on the Board of Directors. “I want people to tell their stories. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to tell some of mine. I think that to follow the dream and realize the dream, it’s not a straight road. The road winds and changes and turns, but it doesn’t mean that you get off that road. And if you go down a path that doesn’t work, you can always turn around. You always can change that path. Find the people that give you permission to be you, then be who you are and celebrate that.” 

Brenda Braxton

Brenda Braxton, who started as a swing and dance captain in the original production of Dreamgirls, has had a successful career in the theater since then. She appeared as Demeter in Cats and returned to Dreamgirls when the musical was revived in 1987. She has also directed productions of Dreamgirls, including the one-night-only Actors Fund of America benefit performance starring Lillias White as Effie, Audra McDonald as Deena and Heather Headley as Lorrelle. 

Braxton was also seen on Broadway in Jelly’s Last Jam and Chicago, and she earned a 1995 Tony nomination for Smokey Joe’s Cafe. Most recently, she played Rita Randolph in the York Theatre’s world-premiere musical Truly, Howard Hughes, which ran through October 4. 

Company Members 

Milton Craig Nealy, who was a swing in the original company of Dreamgirls, returned for the 1987 Broadway engagement of the musical, and his other Broadway credits include Once on This Island, Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Motown the Musical and Caroline, or Change. 

Deborah Burrell replaced Ralph as Deena and continued with Dreamgirls on its national tour. Her earlier Broadway credits included The Wiz, Eubie!, Comin’ Uptown and It’s So Nice to Be Civilized. She also was cast in The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club and Swinging on a Star. 

David Thomé, who was also seen on Broadway in A Chorus Line and Dancin’, returned to Broadway in the 1987 Dreamgirls revival and later performed in Peter Pan. 

Cheryl Alexander, who was part of the ensemble and understudied the role of Lorrell during Dreamgirls’ run, went on to appear in The News and served as a standby for Caroline in the original 2004 Broadway production of Caroline, or Change.

After Dreamgirls, Paul Binotto appeared in Broadway’s Starlight Express as well as Off-Broadway’s Enter Laughing and Ionescopade.

Tenita Jordan, who was in the ensemble of Dreamgirls, later became part of the post-disco group Raw Silk, whose “Do It to the Music” became a dance hit. She died in 2018 at 57, according to her obituary.

Frank Mastrocola went from the ensemble of Dreamgirls into Cats as Rum Tum Tugger. He also appeared in The Rink, Big Deal and Starlight Express.

Jamie Patterson, who was part of the ensemble of Dreamgirls, also appeared on Broadway in Cats and Street Corner Symphony.

Scott Plank moved primarily into film and television, with credits including Melrose Place, Air America and the 2003 film Holes. He died in 2002 at age 43 before Holes was released. 

Weyman Thompson stayed closely connected to Dreamgirls, later playing Curtis in the 1987 Broadway return engagement and appearing in national touring companies. He subsequently appeared on Broadway in Five Guys Named Moe. 

Following Dreamgirls, Stephanie Eley was part of the cast of My One and Only on Broadway.

Other members of the Dreamgirls ensemble included Charles Bernard, Ronald Dunham, Linda Lloyd, Joe Lynn, Tony Franklin, Candy Darling, Sheila Ellis, Wellington Perkins and Larry Stewart. Not much information about their post-Dreamgirls lives is readily available.   

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