Sometimes, dreams do come true. Nicole Raquel Dennis was just ten years old when she knew she had to be a Dreamgirl.
And yesterday, producer Sonia Friedman revealed that North London’s Dennis, who just turned 26, will play the lead role of Effie Melody White, backbone of The Dreams (a girl group loosely based on the The Supremes), in the UK tour of Dreamgirls.
Dennis had been a cast member of the acclaimed musical Dear Evan Hansen at the Noel Coward Theatre until the curtain came down on entertainment venues last month.
Nicole Raquel Dennis, from North London, will play the lead role of Effie Melody White in the UK tour of Dreamgirls
Dennis became fixated on Dreamgirls as a kid after watching footage of the original 1981 Broadway production
And she will resume her role as tech-savvy student Alana Beck once it’s deemed safe to lift the quarantine.
The 13-date Dreamgirls tour is presently booked to start at the Bristol Hippodrome on September 12.
Dennis became fixated on Dreamgirls as a kid after watching footage of the original 1981 Broadway production, written by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, on YouTube. ‘The show has been a massive part of my life since then,’ she told me recently.
When the screen version, with Jennifer Hudson as Effie, was released in 2006, she was in ecstasy.
In 2015, when Friedman and casting director Pippa Ailion held open auditions for the London production, Dennis was there. She didn’t get the part.
But Ailion, admiring her talent, put her up for other jobs — a stint at Disneyland, Paris, and parts in West End shows such as The Book Of Mormon.
The actress and singer made her breakthrough when she ended up as a semi-finalist on The Voice
Her breakthrough, however, came when she ended up as a semi-finalist on The Voice.
A video of a duet she did with Hudson of the Dreamgirls’ show-stopper And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going has been viewed nearly five million times.
And Dennis did get to play her dream role — 13 times — when the lead was off during the latter part of the musical’s stint at the Savoy.
But playing Effie on tour means the part is, finally, officially hers.
‘She’s this powerhouse diva, but she’s insecure about the way she looks. She feels like she doesn’t fit in,’ said Dennis from the home where she’s isolating with her mother Sevda, a recently retired NHS health care assistant, and her younger brother and sister.
Like her heroine Effie, Dennis has had her knocks. ‘I didn’t end up going to drama school,’ she said.
Dennis is presently booked to start the tour at the Bristol Hippodrome on September 12
‘And I auditioned for shows for three years and didn’t get into anything. So I got a job as a waitress for two years,’ she said, adding that she put those skills to good use when she appeared in the musical Waitress for a while at the Adelphi.
Friedman sent me a video of Dennis singing Dreamgirls number I Am Changing, accompanied by music director Simon Tappin, and she’s sensational.
Not everybody’s so enthusiastic, though. ‘I’ve been training my voice up in readiness to return to work,’ she laughed. ‘My family is begging me to stop!’
Watch out for…
Cynthia Erivo, who plays private investigator Holly Gibney, the most potent force in The Outsider, the ten-part HBO adaptation of Stephen King’s dark mystery tale about supernatural elements connected to the murder of a young boy.
The thriller’s now available for digital purchase, and Oscar-nominated Erivo told me there have been discussions about a second series.
Cynthia Erivo (pictured at the American Black Film Festival at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 23) plays private investigator Holly Gibney in ten-part HBO drama The Outsider