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Here's a film reviewer who didn't just watch Dreamgirls. She lived it.
Big wigs, fancy gowns, torrid romances, groundbreaking triumph, clashing egos and heartbreaking loss. She went through it all.
Mary Wilson of The Supremes recently caught a private screening of the movie version of the Broadway musical, opening Friday in limited release, about a Detroit girl group inspired by her own Motown trio.
The movie was an emotional triple whammy for the smoky alto, 62, who with childhood pals Florence Ballard and Diana Ross made history as the most successful black musical act of the '60s, to the tune of 12 No. 1 hits between 1964 and '69.
"I totally enjoyed it," she says of the behind-the-scenes tale starring Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and newcomer Jennifer Hudson. "But I saw it from three perspectives: The original Broadway play, which I saw. The story that is supposedly loosely based on The Supremes. And the film itself. My mind was racing."
When she attended the stage production, "It took me right back to when we started as The Primettes, as three little black girls from the Brewster Projects in the '50s. I began crying, it was so much like us."
As for Dreamgirls on the big screen, "I think director Bill Condon captured the essence in a beautiful way." She especially appreciates the depiction of how difficult it was for black artists to cross the color barrier. "Now these kids are on the cover of all the magazines. We only had Ebony back then. They are making a heck of a lot of money compared to what we made."
But what drew her tears this time was Jennifer Hudson's portrayal of Effie, pushed out of the lead to make way for the easier-on-the-eyes Deena, played by Knowles. Similarly, Ballard, a gutsy R&B belter, was forced into the background when Motown mogul Berry Gordy anointed Ross the queen Supreme. A problem drinker, Ballard was kicked out of the group in 1967 and died from coronary thrombosis in 1976 at age 32.
"She was Etta James and Aretha Franklin in one great voice," says Wilson, who remains close to Ballard's three daughters. "Effie got a chance to show her talent. Florence never did."
But her favorite was Eddie Murphy as strutting soul man James "Thunder" Early. "He stole the whole thing," Wilson says. "I grew up with these guys, and he was that person."
As for her own counterpart, Lorrell, played by Anika Noni Rose, "She made it clear she was in the middle position, just trying to talk common sense. I'm not saying it's me, but I loved her."
Her one gripe is that Knowles as Deena, the stand-in for Ross, is more of a puppet in the hands of Foxx's manager than a force on her own. "She seemed naive. She's not the over-the-top, backstabbing diva that people might expect."
Wilson wishes that Dreamgirls acknowledged the debt owed to The Supremes. "Not giving you credit -- that hurts. But I am the kind of person who can rise above that."
In fact, she continues to sing the musical's I Am Changing in her solo act and was inspired to title her 1986 best-selling memoir Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme. Those who flipped through the pages to find the gossipy nuggets about Ross' behavior dubbed the tome "Diana Dearest."
And the last time they talked? Says Wilson, "I don't remember." Still, she savored memories stirred by the film: "It was like my scrapbook."
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