You're Gonna Love Her! Moya Angela Is a Dream as Effie in Dreamgirls

Age: 26

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana

Currently: Following the sizable footsteps of the the great divas who came before her (Jennifer Holliday, Lillias White, Jennifer Hudson et al.) as Effie White in the sizzling new national tour of Dreamgirls, at New York’s Apollo Theatre through Sunday, December 13.

Becoming a Dream: Having grown up around the music of Motown more than showtunes, Angela’s first exposure to Dreamgirls came while studying music education at Kentucky State University. “When I was in show choir—it was very Glee—we wanted to get a group together, and one of the guys in the choir said, ‘You should do Dreamgirls.’ So me and two other girls made a kind of Dreamgirls cover band and traveled around with a drummer and a piano player.” Although Angela sang Effie’s signature heartbreaker “(And I Am Telling You) I’m Not Going” with the group, she couldn’t foresee her current gig: “I never thought it’d turn into me actually playing the role at the Apollo. It’s crazy!”

Not Her Moment: Angela balanced opera (singing Hansel in Hansel and Gretel) at school with musical theater roles (Sarah in Ragtime, Addapearle in The Wiz) during summers back in Indianapolis, landing her first professional job in two national tours of The Lion King. She first set her sights on playing Effie when she endured several auditions for the role in the 2006 big screen adaptation of Dreamgirls. Although she lost that opportunity out to Jennifer Hudson (who she’s now met and calls “a sweetheart”), Angela knew she’d have more opportunities down the road. “I knew they would bring it back to the stage,” she says. “I was like, 'It will come around. This just isn’t my moment.' You have to think like that in this business. You’d be crying every day if you didn’t!”

Hostess with the Leastest: After two and a half years on the road with The Lion King, Angela settled back into life in Indianapolis, working as a hostess at O’Charley’s and leaning on her family for financial help. “It was just a rough time,” she says. “I was struggling emotionally and financially. My phone was even shut off and my mother said, ‘You need to get this phone back on,’ and I said, ‘I don’t have any money. I’m Skyping!’” Thanks to Mom’s help, Angela’s phone service was reinstated just in time for a call from Binder Casting inviting the down-and-out diva to New York for a private audition for the national tour of Dreamgirls. “I was like, ‘’First of all, how did you guys get this number?!’” Many months of callbacks later, Dreamgirls found its Effie and O’Charley’s had to find a new hostess.

Effie, We've All Got Pains: On top of singing the platter of Effie’s power-belt songs (including the newly added “Listen” duet), Angela had to learn how to pace herself to get through the emotional rollercoaster of Effie White’s rocky journey through the music business. “During the first couple of weeks of rehearsals, I couldn’t get through ‘And I’m Telling You’ without crying really hard. Our director, Robert Longbottom, said, ‘Keep going!’ When I got to the end of the song, I almost passed out because I was so exhausted emotionally. I was like, ‘Wait, that’s the end of Act One. There’s a whole other act to go!”

Hitting the Road: Angela is heading out on the road with a stack of star-is-born reviews from New York’s toughest critics. Although she’s excited for the seven-month tour, which will take her to top theater cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, Minneapolis and Seattle, she’s savoring her final days on the stage of the Apollo. “I always try to be passionate when I’m on any stage,” she says. “But something different happens when I’m on that stage. It’s such a warm feeling up there, let me tell you. To know all the people that came before you? I’m looking out thinking, ‘I’m at the Apollo and I’m Effie in Dreamgirls! It just blows my mind!”

Watch Video of Moya in Dreamgirls