This Christmas, 25 years after its historic Broadway debut, the film adaptation of the Tony Award winning musical “Dreamgirls” will hit the silver screen and is already hotly tipped to be one of THE films to beat come Oscar time next year. ‘Til now though the only official thing from the film that we’ve seen has been a graphics-only teaser trailer essentially announcing the project. Well, under the sky of a quite thoroughly rain-soaked Downtown Los Angeles last night, a group of several hundred press - including myself and several other net & print notables - got to attend a surprisingly large and swanky party Dreamworks held at the famed Orpheum Theatre. The object of the night was to give us all a sneak preview of the film and it sure was a treat.

Beyonce Knowles, Anika Noni Rose, and former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson assume the roles of Deena, Lorrell and Effie - The Dreamettes - in the film. The trio, along with Jamie Foxx who plays the group’s manager Curtis Taylor Jr. were all in attendance. Eddie Murphy didn’t appear though Foxx did treat the crowd to a pretty good impression of the actor.