On Feb 19, 2007, at 11:49 AM, Darcy James Argue wrote:
I'm afraid I disagree. I mean, you're correct that Dream Girls isn't built around the idea of music that matches the specific time and place of its setting, but for a musical ostensibly about the rise and fall of Motown, I see that as a serious shortcoming. The music in Dream Girls is not only just as ahistorical as Grease (there is no real attempt to capture the sound of the Supremes or Motown), it also completely fails to indicate the passage of time. The songs from Act I (set in 1962) aren't appreciably different in style from the songs from Act II (set in the early 1970's) -- it's all generic, undistinguished "early 1970's disco-soul." This bugs me far more than the anachronistic songs in Grease -- perhaps because I have much more affection for 1960's Motown than 1950's teenybopper stuff.
I see your point. A Dream Girls with a real Motown sound would be very nice. The actual Dream Girls isn't that, but I still like it. Perhaps I wouldn't be bothered by the weird 70s-50s fusion version of Grease (ie, the movie), if I weren't already familiar with (and fond of) the pure faux-50s version (ie, the show).
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