Jennifer Holliday to join THE COLOR PURPLE — Page 6

Thanks Whizzer for that review, and good to hear that Holliday is doing great in the role.

I last saw Jennifer Holliday at her final Broadway performance of Dreamgirls. It was an incredible night in the theatre...one of the more memorable ones in a lifetime of theatergoing. I have been amazed that she has not appeared on Broadway since (unless there was something I forgot about).

Tonight, I saw her in Color Purple. She was in great voice and gave a solid performance, a member of a team. Here is my issue, though.

This is the first time I have seen the revisal and I loved it. I had previously seen and been totally indifferent to the bloated original production and, to be honest, I did not even remember the Shug Avery role from the musical. (I read the novel and saw the movie, so I was clearly aware of Shug Avery...just could not remember anything interesting about the role in the musical). I was relatively underwhelmed by the role again tonight --I thought the Celie, Sofia and Nettie roles were all better. Based on the incredible recent love for Heather Headley, I assume it is a great role????? So, (1) did I just miss something or (2) did Jennifer make too large an effort to be part of the ensemble and not stand out or (3) am I too impacted by my incredible memories from 35 years ago...after all, the Shug Avery role is not Effie?

I am not saying that she was not solid...just that her performance did not seem to be in the same league as the incredible feedback about Headley.

Saw the matinee yesterday. I'll admit I was completely skeptical of Holliday's casting. Headley was simply inspired and Holliday, to me, just doesn't exude the regal beauty and sexuality that Headley does. Still, I went in with an open mind. While I was not completely won over by her performance, I'll concede that Holliday is absolutely working hard and if someone were seeing the show for the first time, I think they would be quite impressed with her performance. Unfortunately, at this early stage in her run, I would say she is passable, but she has a ways to go. I do expect, though, that in a few weeks she will have found her footing more and will be a little more engaged with and connected to the rest of the cast.

As it is, I found she and Cynthia lacked any chemistry, to me, it really seemed as though they were performing in two completely different shows, they never seemed to truly connect with on another. Vocally, Holliday shows incredibly restraint and only slips in a couple of those little tics that have sort of become "Holliday-isms." By and large, she does sound quite good. The book scenes, though, were a little shakier, it just didn't seem completely natural and she appeared to be trying a bit too hard at some points. I look forward to seeing her further in her run to see how her performance has progressed.

Costume-wise, all of her costumes are similar to those of previous Shugs, but there have been a few alterations. Her slip is significantly longer than the others have been, and she wears a bolero jacket over it. She no longer changes into her "Push Da Button" dress onstage. Instead, the staging has been altered, with her and Cynthia walking behind one of the upstage panels and changing up there. As Whizzer mentioned, her dress also has sleeves.

The blue skirt costume is largely the same, though the sleeves on the blouse are longer and there is a sort of peplum that comes over the top of the skirt. He Celie's Pants costume is, again, almost identical, but with a similar peplum over the top of the pants.

Staging-wise, Shug has been removed from appearing in "Miss Celie's Pants," and has been replaced by the Olivia track (Carla Stewart). The staging for "Push Da Button" is slightly different, with Shug no longer walking on the chairs, instead the church ladies do this while Shug sings in front of them. Holliday also does not join the rest of the cast in sitting on the ground for the final scene. While a bit awkward at first, her aforementioned health concerns explain these small alterations.

Overall, it was a very different experience and while I can't say I was overly impressed with Holliday's performance, I do think she has the makings of something, it just needs a little more fine tuning.

Jarethan, what was so remarkable about Heather is that she transformed the role. She made it important. Not everyone can be Heather Headley, and we shouldn't expect them to be.

Admittedly I found the incarnation with Erivo and HH to be one of the great theater-going experiences of my life. To my mind, Holliday is miscast physically and vocally and exudes none of the damaged fierceness and sensuality HH brought to the role. HH lifted what was already a very strong production and elevated it into something truly special. I hope that Holliday improves and is able to lift her game to the level of the other cast members - but for me the show now lacks the spectacular chemistry it had. As someone noted above, we shouldn't expect anyone to do what HH was able to do...and I have great love and great memories for what JH did in Dreamgirls - it was a defining moment of my college years - so to see her struggling as much as she is was sad for me.

I have no Broadway memory of Jennifer Holliday. I looked her up from Dreamgirls, it is phenomenal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCDDx2JFnaQ

But I DO remember her at the Dem Nat Convention in 1988 singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I hadn't ever heard of her before.(what does that say about my college interests???) I never forgot her thereafter!! (Hint: if you want to listen, I advise just listening and NOT watching as the images of all those politicians 'singing' along mars her phenomenal rendition)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2yxX56leFA

Loved HH performances in TCP; I DO look forward to seeing JH. No expectations. She will be different! I am open to it.

What a great interview.

That was a great interview. She looks great and she's so sweet!

I'm sad I missed Heather Headley but I do want to go back and revisit this revival.

Just out of curiosity, since they altered the costumes, what's the protocol on changing the wig/hairstyle? It looks more severe on Jennifer Holliday and it seems unnecessary to keep a hairstyle that isn't integral to the story or character. Are they allowed to at least style it to be a little more flattering?

https://twitter.com/thedanieb/status/787132561021632512

Serena Williams (current World no. 2 in women's tennis) visits Danielle and the cast backstage

To those who have been back to the show recently, do they have any new merchandise with Ms. Holliday? Thanks!

JeffDaEgg2 said: "I saw it last night and they don't seem to have any Holliday merchandise. The window card is still the one with Heather Headley.

Talk about 3 very different Shugs throughout this run! No one can top what Headley did in my opinion and Jennifer Holliday wasn't bad, but I do agree that there was absolutely no connection between her and Cynthia. I barely believed they were friends, let alone anything more. Still love me some Color Purple, though, and enjoy it no matter who's in it (as long as it's Cynthia, hehe).



The lack of connection is so disappointing to hear. I miss Heather so much.