South African celebrity takes the male lead in ‘Dreamgirls’

“I’m a bit established at home, but I went through the audition process. What I liked is the producer didn’t give me any special preference,” Poo said in a phone interview from Santa Barbara, Calif.

	If you go WHAT: “Dreamgirls” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14. Repeats at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16 and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 WHERE: Popejoy Hall, UNM Center for the Arts HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $35-$70 depending on performance and are available in advance at ticket offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit, at select area Albertsons supermarkets, by visiting www.unmtickets.com, by calling 925-5858 or toll-free 877-664-8661 or at the door

When the American creative team stepped in during the final stages of auditioning, Poo got to sing Taylor’s songs, which he had been practicing. He got the part he was after.

Poo’s character of Taylor is a used car salesman who becomes the manager of a 1960s singing girl group The Dreamettes, later changed to The Dreams. The musical follows the rise to fame – as well as the backstage politics – between the young singers, their manager and others.

Poo landed the same role in the current American touring production of “Dreamgirls,” which comes to the Popejoy Hall stage for six performances.

Poo said Bobby Longbottom, the director/choreographer of the touring production, picked him for the part.

“This is the first time I’m on stage in the United States,” Poo said.

“What’s great about it is that it’s the way I wanted to come to a country outside of my own. I wanted to make that shift at this time of my career. I am more confident, more experienced. … To me, it fulfilled a dream.”

Poo finds a parallel between Taylor and title character of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

“(Taylor) has to make sure he is not the evil tyrant from the onset. He wants to make things happen,” he said. “When certain decisions have to be made that are cruel, that’s when the character shifts a bit.”

Taylor’s crucial and painful decision is replacing the full-figured Effie White with the slim Deena Jones as lead singer of the group. Taylor thinks Deena’s appeal to a larger pop audience will mean broader commercial success.

At the same time, Deena takes Effie’s place in Taylor’s bed.

Poo thinks of his character as “another normal human being overcome by his ambition. … He’s not evil, not the story’s Grinch.”

“Dreamgirls” came to the Broadway stage in 1981 and ran for more than three-and-a-half years; it received 13 Tony Award nominations.

Jennifer Holliday, who portrayed Effie, received a Grammy for Best Vocal Performance for the song “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going.” The song was also a Billboard R&B No. 1 single in 1982.

Longbottom, the touring production’s director/choreographer, said he was inspired by Michael Bennett’s work as the director and co-producer of the original Broadway show.

“Bennett’s show had huge towers around the stage that defined the space. They moved in time to the music,” Longbottom said.

“But I made it my business not to repeat it. Ours is more edgier … We needed to come up with a slightly different blueprint for the show.”

Still, the touring production, he said, doesn’t feel like a scaled-down show by any means.

The 2006 film “Dreamgirls” starred Beyoncé as Deena, Jennifer Hudson as Effie and Jamie Foxx as Taylor.

In South Africa after the run of “Dreamgirls” there, Poo had the honor and challenge of portraying Nelson Mandela in Cape Town Opera’s “Mandela Trilogy.” It is an operetta with three singers playing Mandela at different stages of the political figure’s life, he said.

“I played the middle Mandela – the political, the lawyer, the father, the husband,” Poo said.

“This is a particularly interesting part of his life. It revealed a troubled life. He is committed more to his (political) struggle than to his family.”