I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to music theater – I’ll take  Sweeney Todd and Avenue Q over Wicked and Legally Blonde any day of the week . Having not seen the film version of Dreamgirls, I just assumed the show would fall into the latter category – fluff, fluff, and more fluff. Turns out I assumed wrong.

Yes, the musical does contain some fluff – mostly in the form of the stereotypical rags-to-riches rise to fame of the fictional Dreams, a 60s-era R&B group. Yes, the sparkly costumes and lightening fast quick changes are a sight to see, and yes, you will leave the theater humming some of the songs.

But you will also leave the theater having seen the darker side of the music industry, especially in the still-racist 60s and 70s.  We see characters selling out for the white man, and often selling their friends out as well. The characters are multi-dimensional and often surprising in their choices, which makes for some real, gut-wrenching emotion.

And the cast is superb, most notably in Moya Angela’s Effie and Chester Gregory’s Jimmy. Angela’s penultimate “And I Am Telling You” was the first time I've seen a standing ovation in the middle of a play, and Gregory’s Jimmy is hilarious, heartbreaking, and above all entertaining.

Of all of the Broadway shows to come to Chicago this season, I have to say this one is at the top of my list – right up there with Spring Awakening, and yes, even above both The Addams Family and Young Frankenstein. Definitely a can’t-miss.