You’re Gonna Love Shug: Tony-Winning Dreamgirls Star Jennifer Holliday to Join The Color Purple on Broadway

A new Shug Avery’s comin’ to town, and she is not goin’. Tony and Grammy winner Jennifer Holliday will step into the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. The Dreamgirls favorite is scheduled to take her first bow at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on October 4.

Fellow Tony and Grammy winner Heather Headley will play her final performance as Shug Avery on October 2. Holliday is the third actress to take on the role in the Tony-winning revival; Jennifer Hudson, who won an Oscar for playing Effie (whom Holliday originated on stage) in the Dreamgirls film adaptation, headlined the show when it opened last fall.

Holliday last starred on Broadway back in 2001 in Chicago; she appeared in a three-city-tour of The Color Purple as Sofia in 2014. Since winning the Tony in 1982 for her performance in Dreamgirls—as well as a Grammy for her pop cover of the anthem “And I Am Telling You”—Holliday has gone on to reprise her performance as Effie White numerous times, including on tour and at the Muny in 2012. She has also released a number of gospel and R&B albums.

"I was deeply moved by this truly uplifting production of The Color Purple," Holliday said in a statement. "I am highly honored and absolutely thrilled to be joining this extraordinary cast. Nothing compares to performing before a Broadway audience and I can't wait to return to the Broadway stage, where I started my career over 35 years ago.”

Holliday joins a cast that includes Tony winner Cynthia Erivo and Tony nominee Danielle Brooks (both in their Broadway debuts) as Celie and Sofia, respectively, Isaiah Johnson as Mister, Joaquina Kalukango as Nettie, Kyle Scatliffe as Harpo and Patrice Covington as Squeak.

Based on the Alice Walker novel, the musical follows Celie, a young black woman in Georgia who, through her friendship with her daughter-in-law and friend Sofia, relationship with the extravagant and troubled Shug Avery and her own self-acceptance, triumphs over adversity and learns to love herself.

Holliday and Hudson—the two Effie Whites/Shug Averys—belted it out together in Atlanta in 2009. The video is worth watching.