 Nell Carter's performance in that musical inspired Krieger and Eyen to craft a musical about black backup singers, which they workshopped for Joe Papp but shelved when Carter dropped out in 1978 to appear in "Ryan's Hope".A year later, the project caught the interest of Broadway director/producer/choreographer Michael Bennett, who sponsored a workshop production of "Big Dreams", as the musical was then known, with Devine and twenty-year-old gospel singer Jennifer Holliday as Carter's replacement.After several workshops, numerous rewrites and various roadblocks, the show, now called "Dreamgirls", came to Broadway in 1981.