They're teaching dreams

By April Silvaggio  

AUGUST 20, 2010 7:30 a.m. (0)

The spectacular harmonies from the national tour of the revamped Tony Award-winning Motown musical “Dreamgirls” reverberated through Greenville’s Phillis Wheatley Community Center.

Minus the flashy costumes and heavy stage makeup, the bigger than life voices and personalities of the three young  stars who were performing at the Peace Center delivered a powerful message.

“We’re here to tell you to get your education, reach for your goals and don’t stop dreaming,” Margaret Hoffman, who plays Deena in the production, told an estimated 300 children and teenagers, many of whom have never seen a stage show, let alone visited New York.

It was all a part of the outreach Hoffman and the show’s other two leading ladies, Talitha Farrow and Nikki Kimbrough, are undertaking in each city they visit. The daytime message fits seamlessly with the premise of their nighttime script: a trio of girls from the projects becoming women as they struggle with glitz, glamour, ambition and adversity on their way to the top.

The show originated on Broadway in 1981, hit the big screen for a modernized adaptation in 2005 and opened the current national tour at the legendary Apollo Theater in November 2009.

For Greenville’s youngsters, it isn’t an opportunity that comes along often, said Jil Littlejohn, executive director of the Greenville YWCA.

“I don’t remember anyone from a show ever doing anything like this before,” Littlejohn said.

The youngest child watching was 3.

Many of the oldest were in their first year of college.

Most came on buses from summer programs at places like the YWCA, the Urban League of the Upstate, Pleasant Valley Connection, community centers across the city and local churches.

Some were participants in the Phillis Wheatley Repertory Theatre for Youth.

“Dreamgirls” is Hoffman’s first major production.

A recent graduate of Sam Houston State University with a bachelor of fine arts in musical theater, the 23-year-old had performed in several local productions in her hometown, but said she never imagined landing such a role.

Getting there was the result of a lot of sweat, study and sacrifice, she said.

“Everybody has difficult situations in life they have to deal with,” Hoffman said. “I want them to know that all you have to do is keep dreaming and striving for your goals and you’ll get there.”

After the program, 18-year-old James Williams stood back and watched as Hoffman, Farrow and Kimbrough autographed hand fans.

“It was great, just phenomenal,” said Williams, a J.L. Mann graduate who this fall is attending Livingston College in North Carolina. “It is hard to put it into words. It really pushes me to want to follow my dreams.”

Fifteen-year-old Carmen Dixon said, “This just tells me that I can do anything I think I can.”

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