Three smash musicals set to steal the spotlight in Rosemont and Chicago

Come Tuesday, three national tours of Broadway smash musicals hit the Chicago area on the exact same day.

"Dreamgirls" starts up a two-week run at the Cadillac Palace Theatre on Tuesday, Jan. 19, while "Mamma Mia!" at the Rosemont Theatre and "Annie" at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University each open for eight performances apiece.

Each musical has its own devoted following of die-hard fans. Each also has been transformed into a big-budget Hollywood movie musical. With this simultaneous bounty of Broadway, let's look at why these shows keep audiences coming back for more.

Dream on"Dreamgirls" merits the most attention, since there hasn't been an Equity tour of the Broadway musical in Chicago since the late 1980s (the last professional production to play locally was at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire in 1995).Loosely inspired by the rise of an African-American girl group like The Supremes, "Dreamgirls" inspired rave reviews when it debuted on Broadway in 1981. Critics particularly heaped praise on actress Jennifer Holiday, who delivered a towering performance as Effie White, the overweight and ousted member of the fictional girl group.Holiday would go on to win a Tony Award, while Chicago native and former "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson won an Academy Award for the same role in the 2006 film version. Pivotal to both performances was pulling off the famed Act I emotional breakdown song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."Instead of feeling the weight of audience expectations, actress Moya Angela feels honored to be playing Effie in the new national tour of "Dreamgirls," which launched in North America this past November at New York's legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem - the first full-fledged Broadway musical ever to play the venue."It was an absolutely amazing feeling," Angela said. "I always would have one moment in the show when I would realize that I was actually on stage playing Effie at the Apollo!" This tour of "Dreamgirls" is also something of a triumphant return for former Chicago actor Chester Gregory, who plays the soul singer James Thunder Early (Gregory left Chicago for New York with Black Theatre Ensemble's hit "The Jackie Wilson Story" in 2002 and has worked almost continuously on Broadway since). For Gregory, it's the 1960s- and '70s-sounding pop score, along with its rags-to-riches showbiz tale, that audiences take to heart. "The score that (composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Tom Eyen) created is a masterpiece," Gregory said. "And you leave singing these songs, which are the heart and soul of the show."As always, 'Annie'"Annie" is famously based upon Harold Gray's comic strip about a redheaded orphan who sings of a better "Tomorrow" amid the Great Depression. "Annie" has proved to be very resilient over the years, returning time and time again for a new generation of kids to fall in love with the seven-time Tony Award-winning show."The material itself is solid," said Lynn Andrews, who is now in her third year on tour playing the embittered orphanage caretaker Miss Hannigan. "('Annie') can be revived 50 years from now because when it's written so well the first time around, it tends to last."The current tour to hit Chicago is a non-Equity production, but still officially carries the designation of being "The 30th Anniversary Tour" (which commenced in 2005 as an Equity production). Yet in many ways, this tour offers a chance to recapture some of the magic of the original. Lyricist/director Martin Charnin is re-creating his Broadway direction, the original Broadway costume designs by Theoni V. Alredge are re-created and two rescued shelter dogs (Mikey and his understudy Oliver) have been trained to play Sandy by famed animal trainer Bill Berloni (who rescued and trained the original Sandy back in 1976). Now that America is in the midst of an economic downturn, Andrews has noticed that the tone of the laughter after certain lines tends to be a little more venomous from when she first started the tour. "I think that people really have a lot to relate to (with 'Annie') nowadays."Unstoppable ABBABoth "Dreamgirls" and "Annie" tours are revivals, but the tour of "Mamma Mia!" continues off the initial success of the 1999 London original and the 2001 Broadway production (both of which are still running strong and show no signs of stopping, in addition to a plethora of companies spanning the globe). Undoubtedly the main reason for the success of "Mamma Mia!" is its catalog of peppy ABBA pop from the 1970s. It's certainly not playwright Catherine Johnson's simple plot of a bride-to-be who invites three men who could be her father to her wedding. Though many critics have been less than kind to "Mamma Mia!," global audiences can't seem to get enough.Michelle Dawson, who plays the mother Donna in the show, attributes the success to the way "Mamma Mia!" makes audiences feel. "It's like a big party," she said, "and any worries that you have, you just leave them at the door."False20001333The rising girl group The Dreams attract lots of media attention in the new national tour of the 1981 Broadway hit musical "Dreamgirls." False <p class="breakhead">"Mamma Mia!" </p><p class="News">Location: Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Road, Rosemont.</p><p class="News">Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, through Thursday, Jan. 21; 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23; 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24</p><p class="News">Tickets: $30-$80</p><p class="News">Parking: Nearby pay garage</p><p class="breakhead">"Annie" </p><p class="News">Location: Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago. </p><p class="News">Showtimes: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, and Friday, Jan. 22; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23; 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24</p><p class="News">Tickets: $20-$75</p><p class="News">Parking: Nearby pay garages</p><p class="breakhead">"Dreamgirls" </p><p class="News">Location: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago.</p><p class="News">Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays (and Sunday, Jan. 24), 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (and Wednesday, Jan. 27); Jan. 19 through Jan. 31</p><p class="News">Tickets: $18-$85</p><p class="News">Parking: Nearby pay garages</p><p class="News">Call (800) 775-2000 or visit broadwayinchicago.com for tickets to each show</p><div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Stories</h2><ul class="links"><li><a href="/story/?id=350277">Stage vs. screen versions a toss-up<span class="date">[1/15/10]</span></a></li></ul></div></div></div>