Heather Headley to take over for J.Hud in THE COLOR PURPLE — Page 3

Thanks Cupid Boy2 and Smidge.

Headley sounded like a bag of cats in The Bodyguard. Out of tune throughout. Plus her attendance record was infamous.. That's why lots of producers won't touch her anymore.

Broadway Star. You put your statement about Jennifer absolutely not taking over for Audra in quotes. Leading people to believe you were specifically quoting someone.

which I why I doubt the producers will want her for the Broadway run of THE BODYGUARD next year.

Are there any days J Hud doesn't perform?

I wouldn't be shocked to hear that she is doing hairspray live after she leaves the color purple



Surprised I didn't think of that. I somehow just assumed producers would ask Queen Latifa to come back seeing how she did The Wiz to good reception. That's a great idea, and a good role for Hudson.



Whay role are you guys talking about? Motormouth Maybelle? Jennifer Hudson is awfully young to be playing that role, don't you think?

I just would not buy Miss Hudson as the mother of a 16ish year-old.

Yeah, exactly. But I do agree that it would be a great role for her someday. And she certainly sings the crap out of Shaiman/Wittman songs.

Tichina Arnold was one of the actresses who auditioned to replace Jennifer. I hope she is tapped to play the role after Heather.

Valentina3 said: "Tichina Arnold's insta post about the audition made me really upset, though. Not only were her flourishes so wrong for this current production, she was mildly disrespectful of "whoever they ended up casting" (Jennifer). I think that was in poor taste.

That being said, she will need to tone wayyy down to be a good addition to this production, which is very simplistic compared to the original.



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OMG!! I made a whole post about this when Tichina posted her audition clip on instagram. And I agree with you whole heartedly that it was done in very poor taste. Not that she was singing the song, nothing wrong with that. But the caption led me to think that she felt that she was robbed for the role in favor of Jennifer, and that it should've been hers.Which confuses me a bit because I thought that Jennifer was the first person cast in the show outside of Cynthia. They marketed the show based off of Jennifer's Broadway debut. I think Tichina's interpretation would've worked for the obc version of the show. She would've played Shug as a aggressive masculine lesbian like all actresses before the revival. This production requires a new interpretation of Shug that I believe Jennifer nails on the head.

I honestly think Jennifer Hudson is the object of much jealousy by other singer/actresses. This reminds me of the Dreamgirls days, when Frenchie Davis seemed very butt hurt and snarky about losing the part to Jennifer, she wrote a very rude and tasteless letter about it on her myspace years ago, just as the casting was announced. She probably felt that since she gave the song new popularity by singing it in her season of American Idol, and that she played Effie in the national tour a year or two before the movie, the part was going to be guaranteed to her.

I'm just happy that Jennifer continues to book work and do the good work to the best of her ability. She's a rare talent and gem, and she'll continue to shine bright and defy everybody's expectations.

broadwayboy223 said: "I would love to see Ledisi involved with this production at some point. Wasn't involved in the original workshops?



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I think Ledisi is going to be the summer replacement for Audra in Shuffle along

to have a 16 year old son, she'd have to had had him at 19....hardly unheard of in the 50s/60s.