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‘Dreamgirls’ gets a solo remix from a ‘Dreamboy’

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‘Dreamgirls’ the musical is getting a humorous send-up by ‘Dreamboy’ the fan.
Aspiring actor and performer Israel Cortez is excited by the huge reaction to his YouTube tour-de-farce rendition of ‘It’s All Over,’ the ensemble number from ‘Dreamgirls’ leading into the show’s most popular song, ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’ performed by Effie White, the overweight singer being kicked out of the Dreams, the girl group she fronted.

The 24-year-old La Palma, Calif., resident plays along with the film soundtrack as he switches identities, portraying the group’s manager Curtis (Jamie Foxx), songwriter C.C. (Keith Robinson) and the Dreams (Beyoncé Knowles, Anika Noni Rose and Sharon Leal) in their confrontation with the defiant Effie (Jennifer Hudson). We’re giving you a link to the video rather than embedding it because the song contains some colorful language that may offend some adults and is not suitable for children.

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Cortez’s Effie wears a yellow headdress and a striped wrap. He dons a long white towel as a substitute for the long hair of Deena (Knowles).

His lip-syncing is precise, and Cortez displays no shortage of neck-twisting diva ‘tude in channeling the strong-willed female characters.

‘I’m a huge fan of the movie,’ said Cortez, who juggles auditions for cabarets and theater productions with two jobs as a restaurant server and a department store cashier. ‘The emotion of that scene is rough, but I wanted to make it funny.’

He added, ‘Everybody covers ‘And I Am Telling You,’ so I wanted to do something out of the norm.’ He made the video about two months ago in his bedroom, filming each character individually. The entire process took about eight hours.

While he has done other videos, including a tribute to Lady Gaga and a version of ‘Defying Gravity’ from ‘Wicked,’ ‘It’s All Over’ has gotten the most attention from Web fans. ‘I’m really happy about it,’ Cortez said.

He also has a sense of synergy. The national tour of ‘Dreamgirls’ is currently playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. ‘I’ve never seen the stage version,’ Cortez says. ‘I’m really hoping to get out there and see it.’

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One of the key lines in ‘It’s All Over’ is ‘Effie, we all have pain.’ Culture Monster certainly has pain -- in our sides from laughing so hard at Cortez’s homage to ‘Dreamgirls.’

-- Greg Braxton

Top photo: Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé Knowles in the ‘It’s All Over’ scene from the film ‘Dreamgirls.’ Credit: David James / DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. Bottom photo: Chaz Lamar Shepherd and Moya Angela in the touring production of ‘Dreamgirls’ at the Ahmanson Theatre. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

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