Dreamgirls
Backstage at an R&B amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre in 1962, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a black girl group known as "The Dreamettes": lead singer Effie White and back-up singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson. Curtis presents himself as The Dreamettes' new manager and arranges for the girls to become backup singers for popular R&B singer Jimmy 'Thunder' Early.
Curtis soon starts his own record label, Rainbow Records, out of his Detroit car dealership, and appoints Effie's brother C.C as his head songwriter. When their first single fails after another pop group releases a cover version, Curtis, C.C, and their producer Wayne turn to payola to make Jimmy and The Dreamettes mainstream pop stars. Offstage, Effie becomes infatuated with Curtis, while the married Jimmy begins an affair with Lorrell.
However, Jimmy's manager Marty grows weary of Curtis' plans to make his client more pop-friendly and walks out. When Jimmy bombs in front of a white Miami Beach audience, Curtis sends Jimmy out on the road alone, keeping The Dreamettes behind to headline in his place. Feeling that Effie's curvy figure and distinctive voice will not attract white audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer and higher-voiced Deena lead singer and renames the group "The Dreams".
With the aid of new songs and a new more glamorous image, Curtis and C.C. transform The Dreams into a top selling mainstream pop group by 1965. However, Effie begins acting out, particularly when Curtis' affections also turn towards Deena. Curtis eventually drops Effie (who has just learned she is pregnant with Curtis' child) from the group, hiring Michelle Morris, his secretary, to take her place beginning with their 1966's New Year's Eve debut in Las Vegas as "Deena Jones & the Dreams". Despite Effie's defiance and desperate appeal to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams leave her behind and forge ahead to stardom.
By 1975, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother, living in inner-city Detroit with her daughter, Magic. Struggling to restart her career in music, Effie goes to Marty Madison for management. Meanwhile, Deena Jones & the Dreams have become superstars. With Rainbow the biggest pop business in the country, Curtis is now attempting to produce a film about Cleopatra starring an unwilling Deena, who is now his wife. Meanwhile, Jimmy Early has descended into drug addiction, his career neglected due to Curtis' preoccupation with Deena. When Jimmy has a breakdown onstage at Rainbow's tenth anniversary TV special the following year, Curtis drops him from the label, and Lorrell ends their long affair. A short time later, C.C. quits after a fight with Curtis, whom C.C. feels is undermining the artistic merit of his songs by making them into funk music for the sake of making a profit. Their fight is interrupted by the breaking news that Jimmy has been found dead in a hotel room from a heroin overdose.
Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C.C returns to Detroit to find Effie. The two siblings reconcile and C.C. writes and produces Effie's comeback single, "One Night Only". Just as the record begins gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play a disco cover of "One Night Only" by The Dreams instead. His plan falls apart when Deena, angry over Curtis' control of her career, finds evidence of his payola schemes and contacts Effie and C.C, who arrive in Los Angeles with Marty and a lawyer.
Deena and Effie reconcile, with Effie revealing to Deena that Curtis is the father of Magic while Curtis, wanting to avoid being reported to the FBI for payola, agrees to give Effie's record national distribution. Inspired by Effie's victory and realizing Curtis' true character, Deena leaves him to make it on her own.
Sometime later, The Dreams give a farewell performance at the Detroit Theater, and Effie is invited onstage for the final song. As the concert ends, Curtis notices Magic in the front row and realizes that he is her father.
romantic