Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks- Page 2
Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
#25Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/18/11 at 11:22pmPRECISELY!
#27Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/18/11 at 11:29pm
Yeah, but Streisand can be a mean person. I don't like Channing very much, but only because I don't care for her talent. As a person I wouldn't wish Babs's wrath upon her if she did flip out on her.
Still, I'd love to see it too.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#31Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:03am
There is a reason why Loretta Devine had a career after Dreamgirls and Jennifer Holliday didn't. Devine was always a good actress. Holliday was never, ever a good actress. They had to give her line readings during Dreamgirls rehearsals. Her talent was to stand center stage and belt to the rafters. But now in the Beyonce/Whitney Houston age, every singer can belt to the rafters. So there was no place for Holliday.
Also, Jennifer Holliday still believes her own press. Yes, the original Dreamgirls was fantastic and Bennett created a hit show. But after it was over, I saw an interview with Sheryl Lee Ralph and she said "We were the toast of Broadway, but when we left the theater we couldn't find a cab." Her point was that fame was fleeting.
I think Jennifer should take a look at the original cast of A Chorus Line. Kelly Bishop snagged a good role in the movie "An Unmarried Woman" then bumped along getting jobs but not really getting major attention until Gilmore Girls. Donna McKechnie was continually asked to repeat Cassie. Bayoork Lee made a career out of ACL carbon copies. Robert LuPone worked and moved into teaching. And the rest settled for a life out of the spotlight.
#32Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:14amOh my. After reading this thread I had to watch the performance to see for myself. Has this woman seen the faces she makes? I laughed out loud.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#33Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:23am
I saw an interview with Sheryl Lee Ralph and she said "We were the toast of Broadway, but when we left the theater we couldn't find a cab." Her point was that fame was fleeting.
I'm not sure that's the point she was making.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#34Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:36am
"I'm not sure that's the point she was making."
Then dig up the interview and prove me wrong.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#35Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:40amNo, thanks, but I will say that this is the quote, according to the internet, "We spent all those hours as the toast of the town, and then, after the curtain, we'd get out on the corner--and do you think a cab would stop for us?" Updated On: 10/19/11 at 10:40 AM
#36Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:54am
"But now in the Beyonce/Whitney Houston age, every singer can belt to the rafters."
Not Whitney, though...
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#37Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:55am
Holliday was never, ever a good actress. They had to give her line readings during Dreamgirls rehearsals.
There are plenty of fan audios that prove that she was a lousy actress when she played Effie. And at some performances.... astonishingly lousy.
#38Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 10:57amAnd I would love to know exactly what "advice" she would have given Hudson, had she asked.
bwayfan7000
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/28/09
#39Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:03am"Hudson, now when you get to the bridge, make *this* face..."
#40Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:03am
Jennifer Holliday's acting:
SO. YOU IN THIS. WITH THEM. CC? SO. THEY BOUGHT. YOUR. BLACK ASS.......TOO?
#41Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:22am
Oddly, she almost seems to think that since they were making a film about her life (????), they should have contacted her:
"Most actors, even the most seasoned, when they're portraying someone's life, they go back to what the original source was."
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#42Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:22am
I have a friend that used to imitate Holliday's performance the night she saw Holliday. And I think this was on a tour or at least after Holliday had been in the role awhile.
No one (breath) can see her (breath) on RECORD.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#43Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 11:24am
"Most actors, even the most seasoned, when they're portraying someone's life, they go back to what the original source was."
They tried, but Flo Ballard didn't appear when they held the seance.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#44Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 12:24pm
Wow, totally weird. Is Ms. Holliday completely unaware that there is an equally acceptable tradition of not researching, even to the point of avoiding, an original interpreation when a performer takes on a role previously done? Especially when it comes to recreating a role as definitively inaugurated as Jennifer Holliday's Effie.
Could I be speaking for the millions who love Jennifer Holliday when I say it's a damn shame!
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#45Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 12:38pmI read this thread and then watched the clip expecting total insanity. But I thought she was kind of charming and funny. Especially when she said the bit about Oprah. Yes, I may not agree with her basic premise, but I can't say I fault her for hoping Effie would be her Dolly for life, no matter how age inappropriate the notion may be.
PattiLover
Stand-by Joined: 2/20/04
#46Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 3:59pm
Poor Jennifer. I have no idea what she feels she is owed by the entertainment industry. She had one big, legendary role, which is more than most Broadway actors ever get. But she's STUCK in that role. She can't move on. She thinks she IS Dreamgirls...She just never adapted to change. She thought fame would come to her with no work, just one lucky role. Fame is fleeting, but I still see Loretta Divine and Sheryl Lee Ralph working and leaving the past in the past. Even the movie version of Dreamgirls is yesterday's news. Patti LuPone never made a big stink about Madonna being in Evita. She thought the movie looked terrible (as far as I know, Patti retains that she's never seen the movie). What exactly does Jennifer Holliday want? Hudson even mentioned her in her Oscar speech as if Holliday was pointing a gun to her head. She had no reason to thank her for anything.
Inflated egos kill careers.
Last I heard Holliday doesn't even have an agent.
And I say this as a fan of Holliday. I saw her in concert at the Mann in Philadelphia a few years ago and it was truly bizarre. But she did sign my "Feel My Soul" record.
#47Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 6:04pm
I just can't get past those janky faces she makes when she sings. I burst into giggles every time. I'm sort of glad I never saw her in the show as I'd probably be thrown out of the theatre. I was actually supposed to see her perform, but was even luckier to see her understudy, Fuschia Walker, deliver a slam-dunk performance that received seven ovations during and after And I am Telling You.
And not once did Fuschia do that bizarrely placed laugh that got bigger and louder with each public performance:
"I'm not waking up tomorrow morning
HA!! HA!!
And finding that there's nobody there"
What IS that?!?! It probably made a lot more sense in context of the original performance, but then it just got all WEIRD. Throw in the facial gymnastics and she looks like she singing about not being institutionalized.
#48Jennifer Holliday's Up To Her Old Tricks
Posted: 10/19/11 at 7:07pm
Jennifer was a unique talent. She wasn't "like" anybody else. Ever. She didn't imitate anybody. Her energy at the age of 21 was palpable. Her voice raised the roof. It was a gift.
Most people around here have never and will never see something like that on a Broadway stage. You'll see good people. Even great people, once in a while. But truly unique talents come along so rarely.
That uniqueness has haunted her. She couldn't live up to it, keep up with it, or even understand it. She became an imitation and ultimately a parody of herself, in the end. Drowning in her own former achievement. Unable to reach the height she once achieved.
And yes, I'm speaking about her in past tense, because she isn't that person anymore.
But once upon a time, she was a rare jewel. A once-in-a-lifetime performer. She should be remembered for that and valued for it, regardless of what she has become.
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