The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Dreamgirls” is rarely staged by local community theaters because its musical complexity, casting demands and vocal challenges can easily turn into a director’s nightmare.

It’s not so easy on the performers, either.

That didn’t stop Northampton Community College Summer Theatre Director Bill Mutimer from choosing the Motown-inspired musical as the last show of his impressive summer season where “Dreamgirls” continues through Aug. 5.

Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, and winner of seven, “Dreamgirls” chronicles the show-business ambitions of a fictitious 1960s’ female singing group, The Dreamers. Their experiences are based on the successes of real-life groups, such as The Supremes and The Shirelles.

With book and lyrics by Tom Eyen, and music by Henry Krieger, “Dreamgirls” on one level is about telling the story of how women followed their dreams and began to break through the then male-dominated record business. But It’s grittier and more complicated than that, and Mutimer’s ability to capture those nuances are reflected in his actors’ exceptional performances.

When “Dreamgirls” premiered on Broadway in 1981, its cast was almost entirely African-American. Mutimer looked to local Freddy Award winners and New York Equity actors in casting some of the talented performers needed to fill eight African-American principal roles. Each and every one of the principals sings with remarkably well-trained, powerful voices, and all have exceptional acting ability.

At the July 26 performance, seen for this review, the cast of 33 singers, actors and dancers rocked the house with seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm.

By far, the most demanding role is that of The Dreamers’ lead singer Effie White, played marvelously by Karen Richards, whose on-stage maturity belies the fact that she is a college senior.

Krieger’s musical score consists of 26 original songs, ranging from soul and rhythm and blues to rock and cross-over pop right out of the 1960s and ‘70s. The score’s surprise, though, is that not unlike George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” which started life as an opera, much of “Dreamgirls” dialogue is sung in an operatic convention known as recitative. In this technique, the singer adopts the rhythms of ordinary speech. It’s no easy task for the director, who must help his singers understand the content of the lines, and how to sing them in a way that brings the words to life.

Music director Lucille Kincaid and the musicians in the nine-piece orchestra also deserve praise for the superior job they do in coping with the demands of the score and the singers’ vocal types. However, because the orchestra is playing from above the stage and not in a pit, there is a tendency for the musicians to sometimes drown out the singers.

Tabatha Robinson-Scott’s choreography adds the necessary variety and vitality to the production. In one scene, the stage is bursting with 17 dancers, all in perfect coordination.

Costumes were borrowed from another community theater and altered by Brenda McGuire. There is a lot to deal with, including various sets of men’s tuxedos and suits, and a large number of flashy outfits for The Dreamers to wear. Notable are scorching red satin outfits and classy green sparkly sheath dresses.

Scenic design by Brett Oliveira is basic, but with a clever touch of wooden platforms shaped and painted to resemble 78, 45 and 33 rpm records.

Tickets: Lipkin Theatre Box Office, Northampton Community College, Main Campus, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township; ncctix.org; 484-484-3412