March 29, 2026, 12:01 a.m. ET
Once a “Dreamgirl,” always a “Dreamgirl.”
Jennifer Holliday — the original Effie White — will be a part of the “Dreamgirls: ODX Immersive Movie Experience” Saturday and Sunday at Orsa Music Hall in Detroit, where the hit 2006 movie about a Motown-esque ’60s girl group will be shown on a big screen at the downtown theater. (The Detroit-set story is loosely, or maybe not so loosely, based on the Supremes.)
The event, which will be hosted by actress, singer and “That’s So Raven” star Raven-Symoné, comes during the 20th anniversary of “Dreamgirls,” which itself came on the 25th anniversary of the Broadway musical — and the role — that Holliday made famous.
At the event, Holliday will be singing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” her signature “Dreamgirls” showstopper, and at 65, the Tony- and Grammy-winner is thrilled to still be delivering it to audiences.
“For me, it’s about me wanting to make sure (fans) know I still care about this song and what it means individually to the listener,” says Holliday, on the phone from her home in Atlanta. “Because the song means a lot to a lot of different people. It depends on if you were going through a breakup when you heard the song, if you were just having a hard time, if your relationship was going through a little moment, or if you just love somebody so much that you want to feel like begging them and saying, ‘listen, don’t ever leave me!’
“Or, if you’re like me at this age — I’m in the third act of my life and career — it’s a song of survival, where you’re not only telling the world that you’re not going, but you’re telling yourself that you’re staying,” Holliday says. “Because your business is our business, so you have to really keep convincing yourself that it’s worth it all to take all of this stuff.”
Holliday knows all about stuff, as she’s gone through a lot of it over the course of her life and career, and she is happy to have come out in one piece.
“A lot of people don’t realize when I first started working on ‘Dreamgirls,’ I was only 19 years old. And when we opened on Broadway, I had just turned 21 years old. So I had to go from a teenager to becoming a young lady and then becoming a woman, and I did ‘Dreamgirls’ all the way up until I was 25 years old,” Holliday says.
“So (“And I Am Telling You…”) had different meaning back then, in a sense where I was not involved in any kind of relationship where I had to, you know, feel that I had to beg or plead or any of those kind of things. I had to draw from other sources and I had to act the song, you know?” she says.
“Well, now I’ve lived the song, so I know very well exactly what this song means to a person who is pleading for the love of their life to stay in a relationship. It’s an anthem of sorts, not of my own doing, but because of where people were at during that moment in their life when the song hit them. It meets them where they are.”
Dreaming up ODX
The Detroit event is serving as the launch of ODX, or One Drop Experience, which was founded by Nia T. Hill, a writer, director and producer who has worked with Tyler Perry, Chaka Khan and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, among others.
ODX seeks to present beloved films with added experiential elements — live performances, interactive spaces — to make them pop off the screen.
It’s more than just a movie, says Symoné, who in addition to being the host of the Detroit event is also a member of the ODX board, along with Tony Award-winner Rob O’Neill and actor Blair Underwood.
“We have been in the lab cooking up ODX for a while now, and we’re so excited to be able to share all of our dreams and hopes and desires with everyone,” says Symoné, on a recent Zoom call from Los Angeles. “ODX is to allow content, creation, talent, businesses and culture to come together and celebrate us, to celebrate our history in the industry, and to allow for filmmakers and talented people to have a place to shine.”
Future events are expected to take place in New York, Newark, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami, according to a statement from the company. Symoné says the idea is to “immerse” viewers in the world of a film and give audiences something they wouldn’t be able to get from streaming a movie at home.
“For instance with ‘Dreamgirls,’ there’s going to be a glitter gold carpet. People are going to be dressing up in their favorite attire. You’re going to be seeing Cadillacs all over. We’re creating that mood,” she says. “When people come in, they’re transported to the world of the movie.”
Symoné has a bit of history with “Dreamgirls” herself: She auditioned for the role of Effie, which eventually went to Jennifer Hudson and netted her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Symoné says she hit every note in her audition but the role just wasn’t a fit, in part because “I look 12,” she says.
“The right person got it,” Symoné says with a laugh, “so we’re not going to dwell on the past, and I’m not going to audition for Effie ever again.”
And she is telling you
Holliday didn’t have a rosy relationship with “Dreamgirls” when it was released in 2006, and at the time she publicly stated her frustration with not being asked to be a part of the production, even in a cameo role. In addition to Hudson, it also stars Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and Anika Noni Rose.
Holliday’s involvement with the Detroit “Dreamgirls” event is tied to her history with the role, not the movie, she says.
“My relationship to the movie has changed at all, mainly because I don’t have a relationship with the movie. I only have a relationship with the character of Effie,” Holliday says. “So the character of Effie and my thought and process with Jennifer Hudson has made its own life, mainly because of Jennifer Hudson, who has been a constant in terms of always reaching out. And so I’ve performed with her quite a few times, publicly and privately,” Holliday says.
“A lot of people would love that the story would be that, you know, I had sour grapes or I was jealous or whatever, but I wasn’t. I created Effie. It’s not like I was hired to do it, I had to create Effie, and that’s a whole ‘nother thing than being hired to do something,” she says. “And having watched (Hudson) in the movie, you just can’t deny that not only is she an amazing talent, but the moment that she was able to create could not have been created if I had not created it. And that’s no diss of her, but she didn’t have any other reference except from where I was. So that moment that garnered her the award, I can’t help but be proud, because that is what I helped to create. You understand what I’m saying?”
Holliday — who performed in Detroit with her first show, “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God,” when she was 18 — is currently back in the studio working on her first album of new material since 2014’s “The Song is You.” The title is “Dream Woman,” a play on “Dreamgirls,” and she’s been recording in Copenhagen with an eye on a fall release, and possibly a single in summer.
“I have become a woman who is still dreaming,” Holliday says. “And these young people have helped me to still be relevant. I feel very fortunate and very excited about what the future could hold for me. I mean, I’m 65, but I’m gonna be out here singing until about 85, so we’re gonna see what’s gonna happen. Let’s do it!”
And she’s got no problem if “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” — which she can pick up a microphone and sing cold if she needs to, she notes — makes the journey alongside her.
“Well,” she says, “I know people who have had worse songs that they’ve still got to sing into their 60s and 70s!”
agraham@detroitnews.com
Dreamgirls: ODX Immersive Movie Experience
7 p.m. April 4, 3 p.m. April 5
Orsa Music Hall Detroit, 350 Madison St., Detroit
Tickets $67-$130