Tuesday, December 12, 2006

"Dreamgirls" A Nightmare For Holliday

The LA Times has a sad profile of Jennifer Holliday, the original star of "Dreamgirls." Both Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph feel shunted aside by the movie publicity. (Their original costar Loretta Devine has a cameo in the movie.) I'm not sure if their expectations were unrealistic: obviously, the people promoting the movie want everyone to talk about the movie, not the titanic, legendary performances Holliday and Ralph gave back in the early 80s. Holliday says she was "uninvited" to the movie's premiere at the Ziegfeld. Were they worried she and Ralph would get bigger applause than Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce? Maybe they were, but given the wild enthusiasm for the film, that seems unncessary. What could have been a nice passing of the torch has turned into something unpleasant. Hopefully, Hudson will think to send out thanks to the original Effie if and when she wins any award -- it would be a nice acknowledgement and soothe some wounds.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jennifer Holiday was playing a role. She was not a Supreme. She needs to sit her ass down.

Michael in New York said...

And of course Diana Ross wouldn't have gone to the film's premiere even if she HAD been invited. But that would have been fun if they had and she accepted.

priv8pete said...

I heard that Juluis Rock got Rochelle tickets from Risky, but instead of front row seats they were in seats with a partially obstructed view.

Michael in New York said...

Huh? Missing the reference.

priv8pete said...

Everybody Hay-ates Chris.

Michael in New York said...

Oh darn, I missed that episode.