An extra walking across the street in her period clothing with the "Detroit Theatre" in the background. It's a photo from Ed Fuentes on Flickr.
The film stars Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, Sharon Leal and Hinton Battle. The cinematography was by Tobias A. Schliessler. Bill Condon directed and wrote the screenplay. It's based on the Broadway musical with book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Kreiger.
The Stepp Sisters open the Detroit Theatre talent show with their number "I'm Lookin' For Something."
A balcony shot at the Palace during the Stepp Sisters number.
A look into the house.
Another Stepp Sisters view across the footlights.
The show has hardly begun and we're already in trouble. The two backup singers for the main act, James Thunder Early, are quitting. The singers, played by Sybyl Walker and JoNell Kennedy, said he should stop fooling around and go back to his wife. Danny Glover, Early's manager, is trying to talk them into staying. Eddie Murphy plays Early.
A shot from up on the fire escape in the passage on the south side of the Palace.
Up on the landing it's Jamie Foxx. He'll end up as the manager of both Early and the Dreams.
The MC for the show.
A view into the house before the next number.
Little Albert and the Tru-Tones come on for "Goin' Downtown." Note that the proscenium
boxes are a setpiece constructed for the film -- the actual ones were
removed years ago and replaced by murals.
Another shot with the Tru-Tones onstage.
Tiny Joe Dixon, played by Michael-Leon Wooley, is the last act before the Dreamettes. They were supposed to be second but Effie, played by Jennifer Hudson, was late.
Keith Robinson heads to the dressing rooms. It's almost time for the Dreamettes to go on. Robinson plays C.C. White, a songwriter and Effie's brother. We're in the basement corridor of the Palace at the bottom of the stairs near the main lounge.
The main basement lounge fitted up as a dressing room area for the film.
Tiny Joe Dixon finishing his number "Takin' The Long Way Home."
The Dreamettes are on for their number called "Move."
A shot in the audience during their number.
Offstage right after the act.
"Local Talent Revue." It's a scene in the ticket lobby with Jamie Foxx. He's rigging the contest so the Dreamettes lose. He wants to hire them as backup singers for Eddie Murphy's act.
The Dreamettes are approached with the job offer. Effie, on the right, insists that she doesn't sing backup but later relents. Eddie only wanted two but when he sees the Dreamettes he's quick to say that three will work.
The talent show is just the warmup for the real act of the evening, James Thunder Early.
Eddie Murphy, as James Thunder Early, in his dressing room. The space they used is nowhere near the stage. It's the ladies lounge on the mezzanine. The windows behind Eddie look down on the ticket lobby.
A moment later Eddie is under the stage walking through the trap room with Danny Glover and Jamie Foxx.
The three rising up from the basement on the Palace Theatre's lift. It's a repurposed sidewalk elevator installed backstage when Metropolitan Theatres was using the basement as a repair shop for projection equipment.
We're looking across to stage right. Eddie is teaching the "Fake Your Way To The Top" number to his new backup singers, the Dreamettes - Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose.
They go on tour and we get the "Fake Your Way" number performed in several theatres with different costumes and drapes. Here we're at the Orpheum, 842 S. Broadway.
A look into the Orpheum's auditorium during the number.
"Fake Your Way To The Top" ends up back at the Palace.
We're not done with the Orpheum. It's supposedly New York's Apollo Theatre for the later number "Steppin' To The Bad Side."
A view off left at the Orpheum.
A peek toward stage right.
A view from the balcony near the end of "Bad Side" number with the dancers upstage coming up on lifts. On the sides of the image note the Orpheum's distinctive proscenium boxes.
A voiceover tells us that it's "Live from the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion" for a network telecast of "Sounds of Tomorrow," a celebration
of ten years of hits from Jamie Foxx's company Rainbow Records. In
color! First up is a Jackson 5 kind of act. Then it's time for the "mellow sounds of Jimmy Early." Here he's onstage for "I Meant You No Harm," a
tame ballad intended to give him a new softer image.
A look over at Beyoncé and Jamie Foxx in a private box. It's evidently a set piece brought in for the film. Wherever we are. They certainly didn't use the Dorothy Chandler for this scene.
A look up toward the balcony. At this point Eddie is still with the song -- and still with his jacket and pants on. The song quickly bores him and it turns into a rap with the announcement "Jimmy's got soul!"
Jamie's had enough and leaves the auditorium to head backstage.
Dropping his pants on network television. After a brief pause the show continues with the Dreams doing "We Are Family." We then have a scene backstage where Jamie tells Eddie they're through. A bit later we learn that Eddie's character is dead from a heroin overdose.
Jennifer Hudson, no longer part of the rebranded "Dreams," is seen singing "One Night Only" in a recording studio. We then go to this shot of the beginning of the disco version of the song with Beyoncé as the lead singer. Sharon Leal has replaced Jennifer Hudson as the third Dream. Thanks to Mike Hume for noting that this number was shot at the Tower Theatre, 8th and Broadway.
Another shot of the Dreams at the Tower.
Dancers on one of the Tower's side balconies. This area serves as an exit path from the front of the balcony.
Looking back toward the house right side of the balcony. Note the black drapes on the right hiding the seats.
Another sidewall view during "One Night Only." Lots of strobes and quick cuts on this one.
A shot to the rear of the house with a bit of the area under the balcony visible.
A later shot in the number, again to the rear of the house.
We pan up and this time it's Jamie Foxx rather than dancers that we see. He's become the manager of the Dreams, easing out Danny Glover.
Getting near the end of the number. It's disco, right? So we have the guys sliding down poles to join the Dreams onstage.
A closer look at some of the "One Night Only" pole action.
Not all these shots made it into the theatrical version of the film. Some can be seen in the extended versions of several of the musical numbers that are on the film's original DVD. Extended or alternate versions of many numbers can also be seen on the 2017 "Director's Extended Edition" DVD.
We come back to the Palace hours later for the farewell appearance of the Dreams. We get this view of the signage reflected in car hoods.
The red carpet view.
Another look at the marquee.
The Dreams rising up on a lift.
The farewell performance with a mirrored set -- a bit more elaborate than the first appearance.
A shot showing a bit more of the Palace auditorium.
Effie joins the group for the last number of the show - the title song "Dreamgirls."
A January 2006 photo taken when the marquee was getting its Palace letters back after being redone to appear as the Detroit Theatre. Note that the man on the scissor lift is taking down an "R" from "Detroit" on the front. Thanks to Ed Fuentes for sharing his photo on Flickr.
For the history of these venues see the pages about the Tower, Orpheum, Palace and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on the Los Angeles Theatres site.
On IMDb: "Dreamgirls"
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