Amber Riley stars as Effie White in London production of Dreamgirls

Amber Riley will make her West End debut in 2016 in the UK premiere of the Tony-Award® winning musical Dreamgirls. The American actress and singer best known for her role as ‘Mercedes Jones’ in the Golden Globe Award winning television musical comedy Glee, will play soulful singer ‘Effie White’ in the production which will open at the Savoy Theatre with performances from November 2016. Tickets will go on sale this spring with further dates, casting and creative team to be announced soon.

Amber Riley says: “I am so honoured and excited to not only be playing such an iconic role, but also to be working with Sonia Friedman and Casey Nicholaw. Working on the West End is now a dream realised, I just feel like this is going to be something special!”

Olivier and Tony-Award® winning Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Aladdin and Something Rotten!) will direct and choreograph Dreamgirls and says: “I am beyond thrilled to be directing and choreographing Dreamgirls in the West End. It was one of the first shows I saw when I moved to New York in 1982 and has been my favourite show ever since. We’ve begun to assemble a terrific cast of actors here in the UK. We also have a terrific design team lined up – it’s going to be a smart and sexy production. I’m so excited about working with Amber. I loved her on Glee and when her name came up for this, I thought – Wow, I think she could be incredible – and then when she came in to audition for us, she blew us away!”

Inspired by R&B music acts in 1960s America, Dreamgirls transports you to a revolutionary time in American music history. Dreamgirls charts the tumultuous journey of a young female singing trio, from Chicago, Illinois called ‘The Dreams’, as they learn the hard lesson that show business is as tough as it is fabulous and features the classic songs ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’, ‘I Am Changing’ and ‘One Night Only’.