There's a whole lot of hand-clapping, foot-stomping and good old-fashioned raise-the-roof whooping and hollering going on with "Dreamgirls." And some of it is even in the movie. Audiences who paid $25 for reserved-seat performances at special advance screenings of "Dreamgirls" in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco before the movie's nationwide release today have responded to the movie with applause, cheers and even standing ovations.
Those who track moviegoing experiences say that sustained applause during a movie is unusual, and what's happening at "Dreamgirls" screenings is almost unheard of. Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations Inc., said he attended an advance screening for Paramount and DreamWorks (who produced the film) employees where the musical was met with thunderous applause.
That was to be expected, he said. "But I went to one that was mostly for trade and theater owners, and people were out of their seats," said Bock, whose company is a leader in entertainment research. "It was like being at a theatrical performance.
People couldn't contain themselves." At sold-out screenings at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York last week, moviegoers cheered wildly, saving their loudest applause and standing ovations for the musical's gut-wrenching number, "And I Am Telling You," sung by breakout star Jennifer Hudson. "They clapped even before she started singing," said Robert Hagerty, a research coordinator at New York University School of Medicine, who saw the movie musical last week in New York.
"`Dreamgirls' was the biggest audience reaction I've ever seen at a movie. There was just as much excitement for this as there was for the live version of `Dreamgirls.'" Stephen Alfieri, a hotel labor manager in Manhattan, said it's the only time he's seen an audience respond with applause from the film's first note.
"The only time I could remember an audience reacting like that before the credits started was the re-release of the `Star Wars' trilogy, with that first blast of music of the `Star Wars' theme," said Alfieri, who saw the film last week. "There was a woman sitting next to my friend, and for her, it was almost like being at a gospel meeting. She was so into the film.
I felt like I was in a revival." How to explain this reaction? "Sometimes you want to go to a movie and have your socks knocked off.
This film does that for you," said Jeanine Basinger, head of the Wesleyan University film school in Middletown and curator of the university's film archive. "I also think that we're starved for lighthearted entertainment. There's not a lot out right now at this holiday season that offers and experience you can interact with.
A lot of films don't offer that possibility. It's a season to be jolly." And that's not limited to filmgoers who are musical fans or familiar with "Dreamgirls" from stage productions or the Broadway cast album.
Jeffrey Feigenheimer, a sales professional in New York who saw the film last week, said he had never seen the Broadway show. "But from word of mouth, I knew I had to see this movie because everyone was talking so crazy about it," he said. "I never clap at the movies, but I clapped because everyone else was.
It seemed like everyone was on the edge of their seats." Bock said that talking back to the screen is something audiences are accustomed to seeing, however unwelcome it is. But applause and ovations?
"We go to the movies and want everyone to be quiet and stay in their seats. But at this one, people can't contain themselves. They're jumping in the aisles," he said.
"It's posed to be an event film, and we need one of those." Bock likened "Dreamgirls" to "Chicago," the most recent successful movie version of a Broadway musical. "`Chicago' was the same way.
People were talking about the performances and they went on to receive Academy Award nominations," he said. "I expect nothing less from `Dreamgirls.'" Basinger said that the film was well crafted because the people who made it (including producer Laurence Mark, a former film student at Wesleyan) "understood the property down to its toes.
" "They understood it musically and emotionally as to what they could do to get the audience involved in it," she said. "The people who made it really believe in it. `Dreamgirls' has had the perfect packaging, the perfect presentation for film at the right time in history.
You know what? It's going to do gangbusters." to the Hartford Courant today and receive up to 50% off!
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