Joshua Liburd had his first night as C.C White in the London production of Dreamgirls tonight, replacing Tyrone Huntly who is off to reprise his Olivier Nominated performance of Judus in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park.
Joshua trained at Arts Educational School. His Theatre credits include Motown the Musical, West End original cast (Shaftesbury Theatre), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre), The Scottsboro Boys (The Young Vic). Film includes: Jus Soli. Workshops include: Twelfth Night (Paulette Randall).
The show stars Amber Riley as Effie White, Asmeret Ghebremichael as Lorrell Robinson, Liisi LaFontaine as Deena Jones, Nicholas Bailey as Marty, Adam J.Bernard as Jimmy Early and Jo Aaron Reid as Curtis Taylor Jr.
Marisha Wallace and Karen Mav both alternate the role of Effie White in the absence of Amber Riley.
The rest of the cast includes Michael Afemaré, Jocasta Almgill, Callum Aylott, Hugo Batista, Samara Casteallo, Chloe Chambers, Carly Mercedes Dyer, Joelle Dyson, Ashlee Irish, Kimmy Edwards, Candace Furbert, Nathan Graham, Ashley Luke Lloyd, Gabriel Mokake, Siân Nathaniel-James, Sean Parkins, Kirk Patterson, Ryan Reid, Rohan Richards, Noel Samuels, Durone Stokes and Tosh Wanogho-Maud.
Dreamgirls is Directed and Choreographed by Olivier and Tony Award®-winning Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Aladdin and Something Rotten!), with Set Design by Tim Hatley, Costume Design by Gregg Barnes, Lighting Design by Hugh Vanstone, Sound Design by Richard Brooker and Hair Design by Josh Marquette. The Musical Supervisor will be Nick Finlow, the Orchestrator will be Harold Wheeler, with Additional Material by Willie Reale.
Dreamgirls transports you to a revolutionary time in American music history. Dreamgirls charts the tumultuous journey of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called ‘The Dreams’, as they learn the hard lesson that show business is as tough as it is fabulous, and features the classic songs ‘And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going’, ‘I Am Changing’, ‘Listen’ and ‘One Night Only’ .
With Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen and Music by Henry Krieger, the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett opened in 1981 and subsequently won six Tony Awards®. The original cast recording won two Grammy awards for Best Musical Album and Best Vocal Performance for Jennifer Holliday’s ‘And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going.’ In 2006 it was adapted into an Oscar winning motion picture starring Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx.
The original Broadway version of Dreamgirls opened in 1981, 35 years later the show opens for the first time on the West End in November 2016.
