The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Broadway’s Holliday to perform at gala
Tony and Grammy winner to headline at Goodspeed Musicals’ 60th anniversary gala
Broadway’s Jennifer Holliday will be the headliner at Goodspeed Musicals’ 60th anniversary gala in East Haddam on June 12.
The Tony and Grammy-winning actress is best known for originating the role of Effie “Melody” White in the 1981 smash hit, “Dreamgirls,” in which she delivered the showstopping ballad “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going.”
Holliday was part of the 2016 Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” as sultry singer Shug Avery. Other Broadway credits include playing Mama Morton in “Chicago,” Teen Angel in “Grease” and the Angel of God in “Black Nativity.”
“It’s going to be more reminiscent of a cabaret show than my regular concerts,” Holliday said. “Of course, I’ll have to do my songs from ‘Dreamgirls’ — because I could never not do my main signature songs — and then I’ll be doing some other Broadway tunes and jazz standards.”
With Goodspeed performing “Dreamgirls” this November, artistic director Donna Lynn Hilton reached out to Holliday feeling she would be the ideal performer for the gala.
The gala will take place under a tent on the Goodspeed lawn, alongside the Connecticut River with meteorologist Matt Scott serving as the emcee for the evening. Susan Link, Goodspeed Musicals’ trustee and longtime resident of East Haddam, will serve as gala chair. The festivities include a four-course dinner and an auction to support Goodspeed’s diamond anniversary. Holliday’s concert will also feature Goodspeed’s resident music director Adam Souza and a seven-piece band.
Growing up, Holliday started singing with the choir at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, and it was evident early on that her voice was something special.
As a 17-year-old, one of Holliday’s church solos was heard by
visiting theater performer Jamie Patterson, who was touring in the national company of “A Chorus Line” at the time.
So impressed, Patterson bought Holliday a ticket to New York City and arranged a Broadway audition for her, which she landed thanks to a heartwarming version of “God Will Take Care of You.” Holliday would make her Broadway debut in 1980 in the revival of “Your Arms Are Too Short To Box With God.”
Away from the theater world, Holliday also found success on the music charts, winning her second Grammy for her rendition of Duke Ellington’s classic, “Come Sunday” off the album, “Say You Love Me.” During the period between 1985 to 1992, Holliday had five Top 10 singles on the R&B and Dance charts.
Holliday said she is always happy to support theater anyway she can and is thrilled that she was asked to be part of this gala.
“I am a Broadway baby, as I went straight from the Baptist church to the Broadway stage, so I owe theater in terms of it was not something I knew of growing up or something I was aspiring to be part of,” Holliday said.
“It is the reason I am who I am and how people know me. And I’ve gotten to know a lot about theater through Michael Bennett while we were working on ‘Dreamgirls,’ and that poured into me.”
During the pandemic, Holliday feels she was “rediscovered” as a new generation of fans learned about her music and she was suddenly all over Spotify and YouTube.
“I’m glad they all fell in love with me and I was newly loved,” the 62-year-old said. “Most of my diehard fans are around my age and we don’t really do social media or all these other things. I never even heard of Shazam before, but I’m being Shazamed around the world. Now, I have become more internationally known just through the music.”
Because of that, Holliday hopes to do a world tour by the time she’s 65 and came out of the pandemic with a whole new lease on her career and what her options for the future are.
Holliday was a contestant on “The Masked Singer” last year and feels fortunate to have the recognition that has come in recent years.
“I’m feeling really encouraged in how an older star can navigate the course of where you want to be in the next 10 years, and I do have dreams of projecting forward,” she said. “I feel like I am in my third act of life and I feel it can be my greatest one.”
For more information, visit goodspeed.org/gala.