Brookhouse School in Karen has opened its biannual musical with Dreamgirls, a production built around Brianna Koome’s voice and staged across three casts to widen student participation.
The show began on Wednesday night at the Brookhouse Auditorium and is scheduled to run through Saturday. Subina Oketch, who teaches drama and English literature at the school, said Koome’s singing helped settle the choice of musical and made the role a natural fit.
Oketch said she wanted as many of the students who auditioned as possible to appear in the production. That decision led to three separate casts sharing the performance, rather than turning away strong singers.
During a dress rehearsal attended by Ian Mbugua, Brookhouse’s other drama teacher, each cast was given a section of the show. Koome appeared throughout the rehearsal and is also performing in all four public shows.
The production is supported by a live band made up of professional musicians, including some who also teach at the school. Former Brookhouse students are part of the group as well, among them Eugene Kanyugo, who returned to play bass guitar and piano, especially to accompany Koome.
Dreamgirls draws on the sound of 1960s African American soul music and invites comparisons with the Supremes, Diana Ross and James Brown. Audiences are also likely to compare Koome’s voice with Jennifer Hudson’s, though that judgment can only be made in the auditorium.
