Holliday played Teen Angel in the GREASE revival and Mama Morton in CHICAGO on Broadway since DREAMGIRLS and starred as Bessie Smith in a self-penned Off-Broadway show called DOWNHEARTED BLUES. She also toured a couple of shows (SING MAHALIA SING and Maurice Hines' HARLEM SUITE) back in the 80s that never made it to Broadway (the former because Bennett told her that the Mahalia Jackson vehicle wasn't a good enough show for her to make her return to Broadway in -- true, perhaps, but she was incredible in it and she'd have at least gotten a Tony nod for her performance that was, if anything, more impressive vocally than her Effie was). She's also done Effie a few other times and will be doing it again next July in Atlanta at the Black Arts Festival.
She's made a lot of mistakes, had some bad breaks and also gotten some terrible advice throughout the years that has prevented her from achieving the level of fame that her talent deserved. Damn right she's bitter -- though, sadly, her failed career is as much her fault as anyone else's.
It'd be nice if she got another shot at the big time one of these days. The woman still gets a standing ovation every time she opens her mouth and can stop a show faster than almost anyone in the business. Perhaps, if THE WIZ revival happens (or if the producers of HAIRPSRAY want to give her a chance at Motormouth Mabel), she'll get a shot at moving out the shadow of DREAMGIRLS for a little while (though she'll never fully escape it).
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 12/12/06 at 01:53 PM