Portland Center Stage’s 2014-2015 11-play season opens with “Dreamgirls,” (Sept. 20-Nov. 2) and concludes with “Three Days of Rain” (May 17-June 21, 2015).
“Dreamgirls,” loosely based on the career of The Supremes, takes the audience to a revolutionary time in American music history when rhythm and blues blended with other styles of popular music and created a new American sound – Motown. In the 1960s, three friends form The Dreamettes and get their big break at an amateur competition, and begin singing backup vocals for a major star. As their own fame grows, however, things begin to spin out of control when their agent’s business maneuvers trump their friendship, and fortune and success take them down a path of heartbreak and turmoil.
“People really seem to like to find the similarities and differences between the true story and the play,” says PCS Public Relations Manager Claudie Fisher. For instance, “Dreamgirls” doesn’t reference Diana Ross’s first husband Robert Silberstein. In the play, the character who is loosely based on Diana Ross marries the character loosely based on Barry Gordy – who Diana did have a relationship with but didn’t marry in real life.
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education will use the Oct. 26 performance of “Dreamgirls” as a fundraiser for the museum.
PCS changed its original season lineup to include “Three Days of Rain,” a show with two cast members from Grimm, including Sasha Roiz who was born in Israel to Russian Jewish parents, and Silas Weir Mitchell.
“Grimm is filmed in Portland, and has been a welcome addition to the city’s creative landscape,” says PCS Artistic Director Chris Coleman. “Since they arrived in town, both Sasha and Silas have been visitors to Portland Center Stage, and so I’ve come to know them. We’ve been waiting for the right timing, and the right project, to work together. And the planets – also known as Grimm’s shooting schedule and our season calendar – finally aligned.”
In “Three Days of Rain,” three New Yorkers grapple with the puzzles of family history and the nature of creativity.
For information on tickets or the full season, call the PCS box office at 503-445-3700 or visit pcs.org.
DREAMGIRLS
WHEN: Previews begin Sept. 20; Opening Night Sept. 26
WHERE: Main Stage at PCS’s Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave., Portland
SCHEDULE: pcs.org/dreamgirls
TICKETS: $41-74 at pcs.org or 503-445-3700
