Weather 
Jennifer Holliday is offering her advice for the next Effie White, the Dreamgirls character that launched her career. While visiting The Jennifer Hudson Show, Holliday reflected on what she would tell the performer who will be taking on the role in the upcoming Broadway revival.
During the interview, Hudson, who took on the role in the film adaptation, asked Holliday what she would tell the actress who will play the iconic role in the new Broadway production.
“I would say for a future Effie that you have to find a place in your mind and your center to keep Effie fresh,” Holliday suggested. “Every night can be different because you can feel it every night. You have to feel it.”
She went on to encourage the performer, who is yet to be announced, that they should also be able to “take Effie off” once it’s over,
“Enjoy your newfound success. Enjoy whatever Effie has become, but also make sure that you get to shine in your own home, just in your own life, on your own self so that you know that you are worthy and don’t have to suffer Effie’s fate.”
Holliday originated the role of Effie White in the original 1981 Broadway production of Dreamgirls. Her single ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,’ released on the Dreamgirls: Original Broadway Cast Album, became a number-one R&B hit and remains her iconic hit decades later.
Watch the pair duet on “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” during the episode here.
