Holiday VS Hudson

I know thi shas probably been asked before, but I missed it and don't feel like looking it up, so here goes:

Jennifer Hudson or Jennifer Holiday in Dreamgirls, who do you like better?

Although Holiday is amazing, I liked Hudson better!

Any thoughts?

Did you see them both Spacedog? How do you factor in the fact that one is giving a live performance, 8 times a week and one is singing on film with as many retakes and edits as needed? Why do people have to compare? A film is not a Broadway show.

the t2o performances i have seen from holiday...one is from the tonys and the other is from the broadway leading ladies video. the second one was just a little too over the top for me.

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*Holliday

and yes, my answer is Holliday.

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I hate comparing performers - especially comparing movie v. originating the role on Broadway.

- Exactly. Like comparing Renee Zellweger to Gwen Verdon would be one the sickest things ever!

Holliday's voice barrels rapidly up and down the notes in AIATY in such a way that that I get a sense that she's truly feeling something powerful and emotional course through her body while she's singing. I find her singing on all of the other songs to be quite stirring also.

While Hudson's voice is astounding to me, she comes off more like she's decided how she wants to sing the song from the start and that's also how her singing on most of the soundtrack feels to me. However, I'm not exactly sure whose vocals I prefer. I love the way Hudson sings "that would be just fine" in I Am Changing.

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Updated On: 1/2/07 at 10:04 PM

"Did you see them both Spacedog? How do you factor in the fact that one is giving a live performance, 8 times a week and one is singing on film with as many retakes and edits as needed? Why do people have to compare? A film is not a Broadway show."

yes i actually have seen both the actresses perform live and that is where I got my opinion from. PLUS I am not just talking about their singing but their acting too. I do not think that Jennifer Holliday was a very good actress and soley won the tony for her amazing singing in the part. Hudson, on the other hand, blew me away as a first time actress and her rendition of the songs, I felt, were more emotionally charged and controled. PLUS they could have done 1000 retakes of the songs while filming, but the soudtrack was pre-recorded, in a studio, as all soundtracks are (so they all could be touched up, not just movie soundtracks), and her performance of "And I am Telling You" was fabulous.

Also Hudson is a SINGER first and then an actress!

I hope she does the revival!

Is this happening? i have to agree with MrMidwest...but seriously, i am mildly over this discussion. i think...

This topic annoys me....why is there such a need to compare everything, especially something that is imcomparable. Just like evyone lese said on this thread....Jennifer Holliday is untouchable.....what she did will always be hers....what Jennifer Hudson did will always be hers. So there isn't a comparison.

at least hudson is overwhelmed and grateful of her reception... In the Holliday VS Hudson battle over being a good PERSON Hudson wins, whether her Effie is as good or not... I prefer Hudson's voice but was born long after Holliday took her final bow so I can't say who was better....

BUT I think Hudson would be VERY capable of doing this 8 times a week... I mean she sounds just as wonderful in all of the live promo performances AND even back on American Idol

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Holliday was a force of nature on stage. I would venture to say her sheer power and vocal energy can never be topped. She can't even get to that level herself anymore. She was 21 back then, and heavier, and both helped her to explode with the unmatchable excitement of "And I'm Tellin' You." It was as if she was self-destructing in front of you. Tearing out her voice like that, every time. It worked in a HUGE way, but it also took its toll on her.

Hudson is fantastic on that song too, but she doesn't reach Holliday's power. Close! But no cigar. She doesn't push off the deep end into self-destruction.

However, Hudson gets my vote OVERALL, because her acting is much better than Holliday's ever was. Later in Holliday's run you even got the sense that she was almost "marking" the show to save herself for "And I'm Telling You" and "I Am Changing." She kinda walked through the rest of it, a bit. And it's understandable. She was like an athlete pacing herself for the triple somersault.

Hudson's work is on film, and I don't think she could do any better sustaining Effie on stage than Holliday did, plus she already can't deliver the song with THAT much power (nobody can). She had multiple takes, and didn't have to worry about pacing herself for the rest of the show. So I'm already "discounting" my choice...

But since I'm basing my ultimate decision on the impact of the entire performance, I'm picking Hudson (qualifiers and all).

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There's really no need for a comparison given that the demands of the two mediums are completely different, but......

I saw Holliday in DREAMGIRLS back in 1982 for me (and most others who saw her) there's really no comparison between the two performances -- Holliday owns that role. She embodies Effie like no other and the passion, pain and sheer power she brought to her performance is unparalleled. She was a force of nature and her raw intensity was so emotionally overwhelming, I can recall literally shaking afterwards (several people around me were actually in tears). No performance by anyone I've ever seen (and I've seen over 1000 shows) has had the same impact.

Hudson was fine -- quite solid in fact -- and gave the sort of very committed, but scaled down kind of performance that the screen demands. It's an appropriately strong Effie, but not an overwhelming one, which works well for the film. But, out of the dozen or so Effies that I've seen (including about 5 during the original Broadway run, another two for the '87 revival, and the others during the various national tours and regional productions), I'm not sure she'd even be in my top 5 -- and again, I say that realizing that making comparisons between stage and film can be rather unfair.

Nevertheless, Hudson deserves all the accolades she has received and I, for one, would be happy for her if she ends up nabbing an Oscar for her performance. But, at the same time, I would never begin to compare her performance to Holliday's which was the stuff of legend and in a different category altogether.

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Saw them both, loved them both. Was moved by both, and I cried both times. Pushover.