NewsRecurring Dream: Jennifer Holliday Will Play Effie Again in DreamgirlsChristopher B. Manos, producer of Theater of the Stars in Atlanta, announced that the troupe's 2007 season will feature original Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday playing the role that made her famous.
By
Kenneth Jones
February 20, 2007
Jennifer Holliday
Holliday won a Best Actress Tony Award playing Effie, the troubled star of a legendary female singing group in Michael Bennett's dazzling, legendary 1981 production about fame in the Motown era.
The revival of the Henry Krieger-Tom Eyen musical (now a popular Golden Globe-winning film) will be produced in association with this year's National Black Arts Festival this summer. All TOTS shows play the grand Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Dreamgirls will run July 19-29.
Holliday previously appeared in Dreamgirls for TOTS in 1994 and 2002.
Also on the TOTS 2007 schedule:
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the high-spirited comedy set in 1850s Oregon Territory and based on the M-G-M film and the story "The Sobbin’ Women" by Stephen Vincent Benet. Scott Schwartz directs this revised version of the stage property seen in earlier versions on Broadway, in London and regionally. "When eldest brother Adam Pontipee goes into town and gets himself a bride, his six backwoods brothers set out to capture their own." June 26-July 1.
The Wizard of Oz, musical stage version of the beloved film. Aug. 4-11.
West Side Story, the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet and set in Manhattan's West Side, where Puerto Rican and American gangs clash. Aug. 21-26.
Stomp, the international percussion sensation. Sept. 18-23.
White Christmas, a TOTS-produced production of the recently released stage version of the 1954 musical film, with songs by Irving Berlin. Nov. 6-11. For season information, call (404) 252-8960 or visit www.theaterofthestars.com.
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Theater of the Stars is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year as one of the nation's major regional theatre companies. A civic non-profit cultural organization, Theater of the Stars is dedicated to presenting and producing "the best in musical theatre."
