theater

Dreamgirls is the quintessential show about black singing groups in the Motown era, but the composer, Henry Krieger, is white and Jewish.

"You know, Israel is right next to Africa," Krieger jokes. "As a Jewish boy in Ossining and Harrison and White Plains, N.Y., I grew up listening to Aretha and the Drifters and other black singers. Lots of white people were buying Motown records. We're from the same tribe."

His 1981 hit is being revived by the Prince Music Theater beginning Dec. 3, starring Nova Payton (herself a backup singer for Roberta Flack), Chauntée Schuler and CJay Hardy Philip (pictured, clockwise) as The Dreamettes, modeled after acts like The Supremes and The Shirelles. A motion picture version goes before cameras in January and will star Beyoncé Knowles, Anika Noni Rose, Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover and Eddie Murphy.

"I'm a self-taught composer and pianist," says Krieger, 61. "An international history major. Then I went to live in the East Village and hung out at Café La Mama and started playing piano, then writing songs for shows. Then [playwright] Tom Eyen and I got this idea for a musical about backup singers, which became Dreamgirls. Until then, black musicals had been about singing and dancing but not about real people's lives. Tom directed the workshop. Then Michael Bennett joined the project. He was a thunderstorm, fitful, intense." Directed and choreographed by Bennett, Dreamgirls opened on Broadway in December of 1981 and ran almost four years. He later wrote Tap Dance Kid and Side Show.

"I'm glad my shows make people happy," Krieger says. "It makes me happy too. The fact that people are coming to see Dreamgirls again after 24 years makes me grateful."

Dreamgirls, Sat., Dec. 3, 8 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 4, 3 p.m. (sold out); Tue., Dec. 6, 7 p.m. (sold out); Wed., Dec. 7, 7 p.m., $35-$50 ($75 for New Year's Eve), through Dec. 31, Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700, www.princemusictheater.org.