Dreams come to life; as their soul-stirring 2001 conceal version arrives on CD, Audra McDonald and Lillias White sing the praises of Dreamgirls. (music).

"It was like a childhood fantasy come true," says three-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald of performing the Diana Ross-inspired role of Deena Jones in the new two-CD concert recording of the musical Dreamgirls. "`Cause as a kid, I used to put on the album and act out the whole thing in my living room." McDonald wasn't alone. As immortalized in the hilarious lip-synching scene in the 1990 film Longtime Companian, the sleek, sexy, soaring score of Dreamgirls has been many a gay man's secret indulgence ever since David Geffen first coproduced the show on Broadway in 1981.

Only 12 years old when Dreamgirls debuted, McDonald says she was "devastated" upon first seeing it. "`Cause I thought, here it is--`the one'--the show that I could be in. And it's going to be gone by the time I'm old enough to be in it!" Fortunately, the expansion of roles for African-American women on Broadway has allowed McDonald's star to shine in such shows as Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime. When musical director Seth Rudetsky approached her about doing a benefit concert performance of Dreamgirls, McDonald says that with the combination of the score, the cause, and the cast that Rudetsky had enlisted, "he only needed to ask me once."

Telling the story of the Supremes-like girl group the Dreams and their rocky road to stardom, the concert of Dreamgirls (recorded by Nonesuch Records) was performed at the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts on September 24. The event raised over $1 million for the Actors' Fund of America, which provides social services to those in the entertainment industry, including housing projects for people with HIV/AIDS. Along with McDonald, the performers who committed to the benefit included Norm Lewis, Billy Porter, Darius de Haas, and the Tony-winning star of Aida, Heather Headley.

In the pivotal role of Effie, which made Jennifer Holliday an overnight sensation, Rudetsky snared Lillias White. Prior to winning the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards for her performance in the 1997 Broadway musical The Life, White had tackled Effie before--she was even guided by Dreamgirls' original director, the late Michael Bennett, in the early-'80s L.A. production. "I got the hands-on with him," White recalls. "And it was magnificent. I mean, it's your dream to do a role to the fullest capacity. And in my experience with Michael, I feel like we built a major foundation."

And you can hear it in the performance. The new double-CD Dreamgirls differs from the selections heard on the original-cast album, in that here you're getting the complete, unabridged show: dialogue, cross-overs, the works. And while each member of the company is given a chance to go for broke--Lewis in "When I First Saw You," Headley in "Ain't No Party," and in particular, McDonald in the title song--there is an unsuspecting cumulative power with White's performance. By the time she explodes with pathos and rafter-raising vocality in the showstopping "I Am Changing," one has no doubt that the combination of Bennett's directoral foundation and White's formidable talent have brought forth a deeply seasoned performance and an indelible new recording.

Drake's new solo show, Son of Drakula, premieres at New York City's Dance Theater Workshop in October.