Phile under: Phylicia

Over at Manhattan User's Guide, Charlie Suisman shares a fond look back at the original Dreamgirls. (I love these before-they-were-famous tidbits.)

The Boston tryout is the period I remember with the most pleasure. Despite tech week's '10 out of 12s' – a grueling schedule of ten-hour rehearsals out of a period of twelve hours, the shared purpose, being out of New York, and the excitement over the show created a camaraderie among the cast, crew, designers, and everyone else working on the show. (Well, among most of us: Phylicia Ayers-Allen, who was in the chorus, had a permanently aggrieved look on her face and her demeanor made it clear that she was made for better things. And who's to say she wasn't right, since she went on to become Phylicia Rashad and to play Bill Cosby's wife on The Cosby Show.)