Jennifer Holliday to Star as Effie White in Dreamgirls for the ‘Last’ Time at St. Louis' Muny

Thirty years after scoring a Tony Award for her role as Effie White in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, Jennifer Holliday is telling you she is going. The actress will reprise her role this summer at St. Louis' Muny from July 16 through July 22, for what she vows will be her last time, according to the Saint Louis Today.

"I am pretty sure that at 51, this will be my last performance as Effie," Holliday said. "I don't want to turn into Norma Desmond. Or remember that scene in Mommie Dearest, when Joan Crawford's grown daughter is in the hospital and she sees her mother on TV, playing her role in a soap opera? That's scary! But I have played Effie every five years or so and I think I can just get away with it one more time."

Dreamgirls, which centers on the rise of a Supremes-like singing trio, tells the story of a popular singing group torn apart by fame, fortune and inner group dynamics. The show features music by Henry Krieger and book and lyrics by Tom Eyen.

Holliday made her Broadway debut in Your Arms Too Short To Box With God at the age of 19. Two years later she won the 1982 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Dreamgirls. In 1983 she was awarded the Grammy Award for Best R&B Female Performance for her rendition of "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)." Her other Broadway credits include Grease and Chicago.