Amber Riley on Finding Her Inner Beltress, Losing the Constraints of Glee & Broadway Plans for London's Dreamgirls

Onetime Glee star Amber Riley has caused a sensation in her first major theatrical role, winning this year's musical actress Olivier Award for her performance as Effie White in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre—a production said to be heading for Broadway. One recent evening found the performer sporting newly shorn locks and joining her colleagues for a late-night celebration of music and song at London's W Hotel in Leicester Square, the event part of a series known as West End Unplugged. So, it was impressive barely 12 hours after she had finished her roof-raising set (Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good" among the songs covered) to find Riley up for an early-afternoon chat embracing any number of topics, including the release this week of the new Dreamgirls cast album, which was recorded live. Riley was in fine, expansive form, as is evident below. 

How are you doing today after giving your all at the W Hotel into the wee hours last night?
You know, as soon as we finished, I was outta there, but it was so much fun. Doing things like West End Unplugged kind of recharges you because it can be a little bit difficult doing the same thing every night. 

How are you finding the show some six months or so into the run?
I can't believe I've actually been [in London] since last September! I really feel as if my job is to try to give something different each night but to also try to stay in the moment as the character every single night. The show, we hope, is exciting to the audience because they've never seen it, and because it's new for them, it's new for me.

Have you settled into a routine?
It's taken me a while to kind of come up with one, but it's really about going to the gym because when your body is warm then your voice is warm. I steam twice a day, do vocal exercises, and there are certain teas that I drink throughout the day. I came here to do a job, not to socialize or be on holiday, so everything I do during the day is for the show that evening. And I really enjoy being in the show, so for me it's not a burden to do those things. Singing is my life's joy.

Are you aware of your voice perhaps changing—even strengthening—as the run has gone on?
It has! The voice honestly does get stronger if you take care of it. [Maintaining it] requires a certain amount of cardio and energy, and I'm finding as I go on that there are different places in my voice that I didn't realize were there; I'd never initially thought of myself as a belter.

Is it useful having several alternate Effies [Marisha Wallace and Karen Mav] with whom you can trade notes?
I've seen both of them do [the part], which actually really helped me because when you're in a show, you don't really see it. So, I was able to go, "Oh that's a laugh there," or "I need to be turned out right there." What's fascinating is that all three of us do Effie completely differently and sing the songs differently. 

Was it weird for those audiences watching you watch the show?
[Laughs] I was hiding in the booth with the sound engineer. 

Was your very first experience of Dreamgirls the celebrated Tony Awards clip on YouTube of Jennifer Holliday from 1982?
That was it! I watched that online and then I saw the movie when it came out and that was when I was really, like, "Oh my God!" Dreamgirls has always been my favorite musical, and I have always been enamored with the music from it. I had been completely blown away by Jennifer Holliday and then to see Jennifer Hudson, who's like my generation, in this movie was, like, "Yes!"  I was obsessed with the movie and could recite the whole thing, word for word, lyric for lyric.

Were you counting the years until you could do it?
I truly never thought this show was in the realm of possibility. Number one, I never considered myself a belter: I don't sound like Jennifer Holliday or Jennifer Hudson; I don't sing like them, and I don't have that belt like they have. I remember toward the end of season one on Glee when Ryan Murphy said to me, "OK, you're going to sing `And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going,'" I said, "Please don't make me!" But he was, like, "Oh, it will be fine," and when I recorded it in the studio, my legs gave out. I had never sung like that in my life, so it was about kind of discovering that part of my voice on that show.

Was a stage version the obvious next step?
At the time, no one was talking about putting it back on Broadway; that wasn't the conversation. It was my agency who told me that they were doing Dreamgirls on the West End. My agent is [director-choreographer] Casey Nicholaw's agent, so I was asked if I would come to New York and audition. I had literally just had surgery and had to fly and my voice was not all the way there and they wanted me to sing "And I Am Telling You ..." and "I Am Changing," and I said that I couldn't sing both of them, so they said, "OK, do one or the other," and then they loved it. After that, I had to come to London to audition for the producers and I had to do both songs and had a cast on my foot and bronchitis, but somehow I got through them. That was one hell of a year!

What about the acting side of it, which must have been a separate issue?
I was actually a lot more concerned about the acting. I wanted to prove myself as an actor and get out of this pigeonhole realm of thought that I can only sing because on Glee I was considered a singer: I was the one that came on with a song and took it home. That's why Casey was, like, "Here's why we are having you do all these lines" [at the audition]. Effie has to be able to carry the acting part as well. 

How do you feel about the cast album coming out this week?
What's great is that they literally just recorded the show live at three different shows and then they put in whatever they felt was the best. I asked Sonia Friedman Productions if they could put a listening party together for everyone in the show so that they can hear it, and it was so amazing. There were so many tearful moments and so many laughs.

Do you like listening to yourself sing?
I don't hate it, but it's not like I go online to listen to myself sing or listen to myself in the car. At times, you do kind of cringe because you can hear things that maybe other people can't. When I listen to myself, I think I'm more likely to criticize it than enjoy it. 

What are your memories of this year's Olivier Awards, where you brought down the house as a performer—and won the musical actress trophy?
It was all just so surreal. My mom was here and my sister. I try to take every experience how it is and, of course, part of you knows that nobody is going to care in a couple of days, but, to me, that [night] is going to be something I remember for the rest of my life. I may get to sing at the Royal Albert Hall again or I may not, but it was about just taking in the moment while I was there. 

Any thoughts on Broadway, where this production is rumored to be heading?
I know the reception would be great if this production does go there and that it would be a great move. We've had so many people from America at the show here and when I go to the stage door to sign, there are people from New York or North Carolina, Texas and Florida and all over.

And you want to be part of it in New York?
If it goes, absolutely!