March 2022 at Musical Cyberspace is all about songs with people’s names in the title.

People forget just how much music there is in Dreamgirls. That’s largely thanks to the film, which substituted some of the soul-influenced recitatives with dialogue, never quite managing to get the relationship between the spoken word and the singing right.

“The Firing of Jimmy” is one of those parts of brutal singing that was pared down significantly, although the lines that remain, sung by Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell are incredibly effective. It’s a great character piece for both Curtis (who is doing the firing) and Jimmy, showing us just how out of control both of them have spun and it’s allows the actress playing Lorrell to show the considerable growth in her character since the start of the show. It’s raw and invasive and, simply put, fantastic.

Keen to share your thoughts on “The Firing of Jimmy”? Head on to the comment box at the end of this post.