Singing we’ll be there!
Dreamgirls is officially returning to Broadway this fall, and Jennifer Hudson announced on her talk show that she’s on the producing team. We love this for her.
The original 1981 cast gave us Sheryl Lee Ralph as Deena Jones, Loretta Devine as Lorrell Robinson, and Jennifer Holliday as Effie White. Back then Jennifer Holliday’s performance of “And I Am Telling You” became one of the most iconic moments in Broadway history. Earning her a Tony at 21 years old. The show earned 13 Tony nominations, won six, and ran for nearly four years. Those three Black women changed musical theater forever.
Then in 2006, the film adaptation gave us Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Anika Noni Rose, and Jennifer Hudson, who had finished seventh on American Idol just two years earlier. She beat out over 700 people to land the role of Effie White and her performance won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at just 25.
Since then, Hudson has become an EGOT winner, the youngest woman and only the second Black woman in history to hold all four major entertainment awards. She’s also produced two Broadway shows, A Strange Loop and Smash, and portrayed Aretha Franklin in Respect. Now she’s helping to bring Dreamgirls back to the stage.
The revival will be directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, making it the first completely new staging in 45 years. Casting hasn’t been announced yet, but the producers said they’ll hold open auditions worldwide.
