"DREAMGIRLS" A RAZZLE DAZZLE DELIGHT

With big hair and even bigger dreams, the music world of the 1960's and 1970's was filled with girl groups who wanted to make it to the top.  With glitz and glamour, they put their personal lives on hold as they tried to catch the gold ring and the fame and fortune and success it would bring.

With Tom Eyen penning book and lyrics and Henry Krieger composing great music, the sensational Broadway hit "Dreamgirls" will pulsate its way into the Palace Theater in Waterbury for three performances only, Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1.

Follow the ambitions and hopes of a trio of young black women from Chicago, The Dreamettes, who put everything on the line to compete at New York's Apollo Theater in Harlem in a huge talent competition.  Although they don't win, Effie Melody White, Deena Janes and Lorrell Robinson do gain a new manager, Curtis Taylor, Jr. in the process.

Promoting his new girls, Taylor soon has them singing backup for James "Thunder" Early, until they gain the confidence to strike out on their own.  The back stage personality conflicts of the trio and the opinionated differences of the people waiting and wanting to manage them, threaten to derail them. Glorious music like "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," "Defying Gravity," "I Am Changing," "Steppin' to the Bad Side" and "One Night Only" keep the joint jumping.

Loosely based on the rise to fame of the Motown girl group Diana Ross and The Supremes, "Dreamgirls" packs a musical wallop that will have you happily flying high.  The backstage intrigue as race, sex, beauty and power are traded for success and fame will keep you on your toes.

For tickets ($49-69), call the Palace, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at www.palacetheaterct.org.  Performances are Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. SPECIAL $26 tickets for the upper mezzanine are available now rather than one hour before curtain. At 6 p.m. before the Friday performance, on May 31, a three course dinner at the Poli Club on the mezzanine level will be prepared by River House Catering.  Tickets are $62.50 and include tax, fees and coffee and tea, with a cash bar available.  Call the box office for reservations.

Follow The Dreamettes as they become The Dreams and experience all the proud and problematic moments that mark their journey to the top.