“Dreamgirls” comes to DVD on May 1st. Check out more on the upcoming release:

Paramount Home Entertainment has announced single ($29.99) and double-disc ($34.99) editions of Dreamgirls which stars Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé Knowles, and Eddie Murphy. Each will be available to own from the 1st May. Extras on the single-disc will include an exclusive never before seen performance from Jennifer Hudson, 12 extended musical numbers/alternate scenes, and a Beyonce “Listen” music video. The two-disc “Showstopper” edition will include that along with 12 never before seen musical numbers, behind the scenes footage, a “Building the Dream” featurette, Beyonce, Jennifer and Anika auditions/screen tests, and much more. HD DVD and Blu-ray releases will be available seperately with identical features.

Her facial expressions were pure comedy. Why is it that people seem to sing better when they’re fat?

Jennifer Holliday, the powerhouse who originated the role of Effie White in “Dreamgirls’” original 1982 run, will return to the role that won her a Best Actress Tony Award and may win Jennifer Hudson an Oscar on Sunday night.

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J.H will be starring in a staging of the musical at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre.

A seemingly bitter Jennifer has been rather vocal about her lack of involvement and input she has had in the recent film adaptation and promotional buildup to its release.

The revival of the Henry Krieger-Tom Eyen musical at Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars (TOTS), from July 19 through 29, will be produced in association with this year’s National Black Arts Festival this summer.

For season information, call (404) 252-8960 or visit www.theaterofthestars.com.

Legendary Motown songstress Diana Ross has been asked to perform at the Academy Awards later this month.

Lady Di hasn’t even bothered to check out Dreamgirls, which is heavily based on her rise to fame with as the headline of the Supremes, but she has reportedly been approached to sing a number from the Golden Globe Award-winning musicial.

D.R hasn’t responded to the request.

Despite disappointing numbers overseas, the most celebrated musical of the year walked away with six Foudation For the Advancement of African-Americans In Film’s Black Reel Awards.

Dreamgirls won Best Supporting Actress and Best Breakthrough Performance for Jennifer Hudson, Best Original Score, Best Original Soundtrack and Best Song for “And I’m Telling You.” It was the most nominated film in the history of the Black Reel Awards landing ten nods for the 2007 ceremony.

Check out the complete list of winners:

THEATRICAL

Best Actor – Forest Whitaker In The Last King Of Scotland
Best Actress – Keke Palmer In Akeelah And The Bee
Best Supporting Actor – Djimon Hounsou In Blood Diamond
Best Supporting Actress – Jennifer Hudson In Dreamgirls
Best Director – Spike Lee For Inside Man
Best Screenplay, Original Or Adapted – Kriss Turner For Something New
Best Film – Dreamgirls
Best Breakthrough Performance – Jennifer Hudson In Dreamgirls
Best Original Score – Dreamgirls By Harvey Mason Jr. And Damon Thomas
Best Original Soundtrack – Dreamgirls
Best Song, Original Or Adapted – And I’m Telling You By Henry Krieger And Tom
Eyen From Dreamgirls
Best Documentary – The Heart Of The Game

INDEPENDENT

Best Independent Feature – Traci Townsend
Best Independent Documentary – Ithueng
Best Independent Mini Feature – Snapshot
Best Independent Mini Documentary – God Sleeps In Rwanda

TELEVISION

Best Actor – Andre Braugher In Thief
Best Actress – Alex Vega In Walkout
Best Supporting Actor – Michael Pena In Walkout
Best Supporting Actress – Alfre Woodard In The Water Is Wide
Best Television Director – Edward James Olmos For Walkout
Best Television Film – Walkout
Best Television Documentary – When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts

Academy Award nominee Jennifer Hudson is preparing her debut album for a Fall 2007 release.

“I will be getting started really soon on that album,” Jennifer told Access host Nancy O’Dell yesterday. “We are still trying to, on the creative side, work it out and pick that right music because I hope to be as successful in music [as I have been in acting].”

“It will be different because I want to show Jennifer in the music,” she said. “I do have a love for [Effie's] vocal style in the music that she sings but I want to incorporate that with the style of today.”

“My style has a lot of soul. [It's] soulful,” she said. “I would like to take that and incorporate it with the music of today and give you those hits that [are] out now but incorporate a lot of soul with vocal singing in it.”

J.H also expressed an interest in performing a duet with Ray J’s rumored lover Whitney Houston:

“I would love to do a duet with Whitney Houston that would be a dream for me,” the Dreamgirl gushed. “Oh my god, Whitney! Where you at Whitney? I want a duet! Please! I would love to work with Whitney Houston.”

Fresh off of her acting debut in “Smokin Aces,” songstress Alicia Keys is eyeing a role in Disney’s upcoming animated musical, “The Frog Princess.”

A. Keys called Disney’s studio chief, Dick Cook, directly to let him know how much she wanted the gig, according to a well-placed source. “She did it all herself,” the snitch dishes. “She got one of his personal numbers and just called him up.”

Alicia is up for the role of Mandy, a young southern girl living in New Orleans during the roaring ’20s Jazz Age. “One of the big questions is if Alicia can do a Southern accent, because she has such that New York voice,” the source goes on.

Dreamgirls Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson are also reported contenders.

If chosen, A.K could be the first Black Disney princess.

R&B legend Smokey Robinson has joined Diana Ross and the rest of the “Children of Motown” is slamming Dreamgirls, nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Check out S.R’s interview with Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson:

Shaun: You took issue with Jamie Foxx and with Beyonce and with Eddie Murphy for even taking this role?

Smokey: I love all of them I admire them you know and I said Motown is also their legacy, they’re young black people. Motown is also their legacy. It’s your legacy. It’s every black person’s legacy in America. The creators of the “Dreamgirls” movie have blatantly indicated that they are depicting Berry Gordy and Diana Ross and the Supremes and Motown and they have done it with a lot of false information and negativity.

Shaun: Well, wait a minute…where have they ever said that this is the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes and Barry Gordy?

Smokey: You’ve seen the movie right?

Shaun: Yes.

Smokey: So you know what they’re saying.

It is Smokey’s belief that Jamie Foxx’s character, Curtis Taylor, Jr., is supposed to be a not-too-well-disguised version of Motown founder Berry Gordy, who first signed The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Jackson 5, just to name a few.

Shaun: What was it about that portrayal that offended you?

Smokey: Berry Gordy created something with his dream that allowed a lot of other dreams to come true and he did it with integrity, he did it honesty…

Shaun: As opposed to taking money from organized crime figures?

Smokey: Absolutely! As opposed to doing that…

Shaun: As to paying DJs under the table?

Smokey: As opposed to doing that.

Shaun: That never happened?

Smokey: That never happened. As a member of the Motown family, it’s insulting to me…I think that they owe Barry Gordy a public apology and they should do it rapidly.

Now, for the record, in spite of what Smokey believes, Foxx told Shaun that he did not base his performance on Gordy, claiming, “I got my character from all the record executives that I have ever met in the past four years. Not Berry Gordy at all.”

British critics have some idea why Dreamgirls was snubbed for a Best Picture nomination at this month’s Academy Awards-it sucks.

:Bill Condon’s brash, flashy Dreamgirls has received eight Oscar nominations, but none of them for Best Picture. The reason is simple: despite two outstanding performances and dazzling production values, it isn’t much good,” says Daily Mail reviewer Chris Tookey.

…”It’s no wonder that the stage show never made it to our West End, or that it has taken 25 years to reach the screen.

Not only is the book jerky and the characters cardboard, the music is uninspired and the lyrics -however passionately they are sung – banal.

“…The script is generic, rags-to-riches stuff, the critic goes on. Ill-served by a screenplay that doesn’t give her much to work with, Beyonce Knowles as the Ross character looks beautiful but acts weakly, and Jamie Foxx, usually a powerhouse, is bland and uncomfortable as their under-written manager. ”

Similar to Americans, the Brits are standing in acclaim over the stirring supporting performances:

“The movie is stolen by two supporting performers. Newcomer Jennifer Hudson (an American Idol contestant) has the show’s plum role as a difficult, self-destructive diva who is fired from the group and has the best number (And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going).”

“Even better – and an even more likely Oscar-winner – is Eddie Murphy, who’s often a lazy performer but here reminds us of what a mercurial talent he is by playing the doomed James ‘Thunder’ Early, a James Brown-style soul singer who sells out to commercialism and finds solace in drugs.”