Twenty years after “Dreamgirls” debuted on the big screen, the film is returning to Detroit this weekend for an anniversary event that combines a full screening with a live performance by one of the musical’s most iconic voices.
The “Dreamgirls: 20th Anniversary Movie Experience” will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 4–5, at Detroit’s Music Hall. It will bring the 2006 film back to the city whose music history includes a chapter that closely mirrors the story told on the screen. The limited-run event is part of a national series designed to reintroduce classic films as shared, in-person experiences.
Following each screening, Jennifer Holliday — the Tony- and Grammy Award-winning performer who originated the “Dreamgirls” role of Effie White on Broadway — will sing her iconic “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” live onstage.
The Detroit screenings will be hosted by actress and producer Raven-Symoné. They also mark the local launch of ODX Studios, an entertainment company focused on presenting immersive movie experiences that pair film screenings with live elements. Detroit is the first city to host an ODX event. Other stops are planned across the U.S.
“Because of the stature and bloodline that the ‘Dreamgirls’ franchise has … we are doing this experience in Detroit,” Raven- Symoné told the Free Press via Zoom. “The great thing about the One Drop Experience (ODX) is that you walk into your theater and you are immersed in the movie and the culture.
“We are here together to celebrate the anniversary of the movie, and you’re … going to be blanketed with talent and beauty and glitter and Cadillacs. We’re going to dress up the whole experience like it’s the ‘60s so that we can fully immerse everyone in ‘Dreamgirls’ fantastic-ness. I’m excited for it.”
Screenings are scheduled for Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, giving audiences two opportunities to revisit a film that explores ambition, loyalty and the personal costs of fame through the rise of a Motown-inspired girl group.
When “Dreamgirls” hit theaters in 2006, it introduced a new generation of viewers to a story first told on Broadway decades earlier. The film featured performances by Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy, with Hudson earning an Academy Award for her portrayal of Effie. The movie has since become a staple of modern Black cinema.
Detroit’s role in the anniversary event carries added significance. While “Dreamgirls” is a fictional story, its themes are rooted in the history of American popular music — particularly the Motown era, which positioned Detroit as a global cultural force. That connection makes the city a natural setting for the film’s return.
Jennifer Holliday, Effie and the long road back
Holliday’s live appearance also adds a historical dimension to the screening. Her performance of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” remains one of the most recognized moments in Broadway history, and the anniversary event gives audiences a chance to experience it firsthand.
In a telephone interview, Holliday noted that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the original Broadway production, which opened in December 1981.
She recalled helping shape the character of Effie and co-writing one of her signature songs.
“It wasn’t really like it was just for hire, where Effie was already finished,” said Holliday. “The director allowed me to make Effie the one that everybody is experiencing today. She wasn’t originally in the second act. She was supposed to be on drugs and kind of on real hard times. I was really able to make Effie mine and add some of myself to it.”
And, she said, a Broadway icon gave her distinct blessing to her interpretation.
“My favorite moment,” she recalled, “was meeting Barbra Streisand. I had watched her videos, in terms of learning how to act a song. In theater, a song can contain so many relevant parts of the upcoming scene or dialogue that needs to happen, so I learned that through watching all her movies. I also learned how to hold a note very long from her. I was just so happy to meet her. There are lots of stories, but that one is definitely my most favorite.”
Streisand remembered Holliday’s vocal pyrotechnics fondly: In 1984, when her film “Yentl” was nominated for five Oscars but Streisand herself found herself snubbed for her directorial work, she refused to perform either of its nominated songs at the Academy Awards ceremony. Instead, she tapped Black women artists to perform the film’s best original song nominees on her behalf. Disco diva Donna Summer sang “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” and Holliday worked her magic on “The Way He Makes Me Feel.”
Despite winning a Tony and a Grammy for her “Dreamgirls” work and releasing some high-quality albums in the 1980s, Holliday found herself floundering as her singing career stalled out.
“I just really didn’t have label support,” she confessed. “I was with Geffen Records, and they really just did not know what to do with my voice. And, to be honest with you, I was very, very overweight back then, and they were moving into the age of music videos and that sort of thing, and they felt that I was not attractive enough to make music videos or anything like that. I had to fight David Geffen and David Foster to get the song (‘And I Am Telling You’) released as a single. They felt that radio would never play the song because it was too slow, and because I held the note in the middle of the song too long.
“David Foster talks about it in his documentary (2019’s ‘David Foster: Off the Record’), about how he did not see that ‘And I Am Telling You’ could be a hit. I didn’t know anything about hits. I just knew that I had to stay my authentic self, even back then, even though I was only 21 years old. I knew that whatever I was singing in the show, I shouldn’t change or water it down for the people.”
Recently, Holliday has been back in the studio, recording an album called — aptly — “Dream Woman.”
“A lot of people,” she said, “don’t realize I was only 19 years old when I started working on ‘Dreamgirls.’ I had to grow up very fast – but now I’m a woman. And, at 65, I’ve got a lot to say, a lot to sing about. I’m an original Dreamgirl, but with a new twist, you know?”
Holliday said she’s excited to return to Detroit for the weekend’s performances.
“I want to thank Detroit, [which] has been a part of my whole life since [the 1980 touring revival of the stage musical] ‘Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.’ Back in those days, you could play a city several times, and we were held over [in Detroit] quite a bit. That was my very first show before I went to Broadway.
“I want to thank Detroit for always being there with me, and my beloved [late Detroit-based gospel titan] Thomas Whitfield, who I spent a lot of time with there before he died. I have lots of great memories in Detroit.”
For Detroit audiences, the weekend offers more than nostalgia. It’s a chance to experience “Dreamgirls” in a way that mirrors the music’s original communal power: on a big screen, in a historic theater, with a living link to Broadway history standing just a few feet away.
As Holliday returns to the city that supported her early career, the anniversary event underscores the enduring relationship between Detroit and the Black musical traditions that shaped the story of “Dreamgirls” and continue to shape American popular culture today.
‘Dreamgirls: 20th Anniversary Movie Experience’
7 p.m. April 4, 3 p.m. April 5
Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts
350 Madison St., Detroit
musichall.org
$67.90 & up
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ‘Dreamgirls’ event bringing Jennifer Holliday to Detroit this weekend
Reporting by Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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