Harry Bryce directs DREAMGIRLS for Cumberland County Playhouse revival

A stellar group of theater artists from throughout Tennessee and the rest of the American South will join members of Cumberland County Playhouse's resident company for Dreamgirls, the Tony Award-winning stage musical that inspired the Academy Award-winning movie starring starring Beyonce, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson. 

Dreamgirls opens September 16 on CCP's Mainstage and is directed by Harry Bryce, former artistic director of Memphis Black Repertory Theater. Bryce previously staged CCP's Crowns and Ain't Misbehavin', and the 2002 production of Dreamgirls at Knoxville's Bijou Theater, which was produced by CCP during its Bijou residency. 

Memphis native and longtime Knoxville resident Lar'Juanette Williams, former Bijou Producer and Dreamgirls star, now co-stars with East Tennessee's Kelle Jolly as "Lorrell" and LaKeta Booker as "Deena,"  headliner of the Dreams,  a fictional 1960's Motown trio, not unlike The Supremes.  

Also starring are CCP resident company men including bass-baritone Keith McCoy as Curtis, University of Tennessee/Knoxville theater grad and Nashville area native Quinn Cason as songwriter C.C. White, and longtime company veteran Michael Ruff as Marty, the agent for Jimmy Early. Early performs some of the show's biggest numbers, and is played by Charles Lattimore, from Orlando, Florida, who is reprising his 2002 Bijou role.  Nashville's  Joann Coleman, now seen as Velma in CCP's hit Chicago, portrays Michelle, a young singer who joins the "new" Dreams when Deena takes the lead.

The show includes the hit songs "One Night Only," "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" and the title tune to tell its tale of family, ambition, and the triumph of true fulfillment over the lure of fame and fortune 

Dreamgirls opened on Broadway in December 1981, directed by A Chorus Line's Michael Bennett, and was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, winning six.  Only twelve Dreamgirls performances play in rotating rep on two CCP stages with musicals Chicago, Smoke on the Mountain and   Dearly Departed.

Tickets for all CCP shows and concerts, selected concerts at Crossville's Palace Theater, plus those of Southern Stars Symphonic Brass, are online at www.ccplayhouse.com or are available by calling (931) 484-5000. 

Pictured (left to right): Kelly Jolly, LaKeta Booker and Lar'Juanette Williams.