Jennifer Holliday, who won a Tony Award for creating the role of Effie White in the original 1982 production of “Dreamgirls,” is going into the current Broadway revival of “The Color Purple,” beginning on October 4. There is a certain synchronicity in this. After all, Holliday will be playing Shug Avery — the glamorous, highly-sexed club singer in Alice Walker’s classic tale — who was created in this John Doyle-directed revival by Jennifer Hudson. And Hudson, of course, shot to international fame by winning an Oscar for playing Effie White in Bill Condon’s 2006 film version of “Dreamgirls.”Holliday followed up her Effie White triumph with an unmemorable stint in a revival of “Grease” and then a notable turn in 2001 as the Matron in “Chicago.” But the two-time Grammy Award winner, who felt snubbed when she wasn’t offered the film of “Dreamgirls,” has shied away from Broadway since then, content to make records and concert appearances.Holliday’s return in “The Color Purple” should add some green to the box-office receipts. The show opened to rave reviews last fall, especially for the waifish Celie of Cynthia Erivo, who won a Tony Award last June, as did the production, for Best Musical Revival. It also earned another raft of strong notices when Heather Headley stepped into the role of Shug after Hudson departed last May. But despite the well-deserved acclaim, the awards, and the star-is-born performance of Erivo, the show has managed adequate but not brilliant business. For the week ending August 21, it grossed just over $600,000, 75 percent of its capacity and just under 59 percent of its potential take. This has been a little surprising since audience response, from all reports, has consistently been rapturous. As Drew Hodges points out in his fascinating new book, “On Broadway: From ‘Rent’ to Revolution,” surviving in the hotly competitive arena of New York means that a show must be elevated into an “event.” As the founder and creative director of the advertising agency Spotco, he points out that the “non-event” of “The Color Purple” is: “Does this need to be a musical?” For Spotco’s campaign, the “event” became “Oprah (quality) presents triumphant joy and sisterhood.”Holliday says the show delivers on that score. In a statement, the actress noted, “I was deeply moved by this truly uplifting production of ‘The Color Purple’ and I am highly honored and absolutely thrilled to be joining this extraordinary cast…. I can’t wait to return to the Broadway stage, where I started my career over 35 years ago.”
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