VIDEO: DREAMGIRLS Star Jennifer Holliday Inspires Fans with A Social Media Performance

This week, the musical Dreamgirls is celebrating its 40th anniversary! To celebrate, the show's Tony-winning original star, Jennifer Holliday, stopped by Twitter to sing from the show's finale to help fans process the changes the pandemic has brought and to help them dream of a brighter future.

See her sweet performance here:

Jennifer Holliday catapulted to Broadway fame with the lead role as the iconic Effie "Melody" White in the 1981 smash hit Dreamgirls. Ms. Holliday immortalized Effie, forever creating a template for delivering gut-wrenching, timeless performances, as evidenced by the Grammy Award she won for the performance of the show-stopping ballad "And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going" and her Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.

Her second album, Say You Love Me, won her a second Grammy for her rendition of Duke Ellington's classic, "Come Sunday." From 1985 to 1992, she had five Top 10 singles on the R&B and Dance Charts and her star continued to shine brightly with collaborations and appearances with other megastars: Barbra Streisand, Luther Vandross, David Foster, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, Maurice White and Foreigner, with whom she performed on a special version of "I Want To Know What Love Is." Moviegoers and music lovers can also hear Ms. Holliday's voice on compilation albums for films such as In The Mood: The Sonny Wisecarver Story (1987), I'm Gonna Get You Sucka (1988), The Five Heartbeats (1991), Amazing Grace (2006) and Why Did I Get Married (2007). She also composed and sang the original songs for the soundtrack to The Rising Place (2001). In 2014, Ms. Holliday released her first album in two decades. This Song Is You stirred long-time fans and garnered a new generation of enthusiastic listeners landing Ms. Holliday back in the Top 20 R&B charts with rave reviews. Standout television appearances include David E. Kelley's "Ally McBeal," "American Idol," and "So You Think You Can Dance." In 2016, Ms. Holliday returned to the stage starring alongside Cynthia Erivo in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple as sultry singer Shug Avery. Her other recent theater credits include Sing Mahalia Sing: The Mahalia Jackson Story, Downhearted Blues: The Bessie Smith Story, Harlem Suite (as "Aretha Franklin"), Chicago (as "Mama Morton"), Grease (as "Teen Angel") and Black Nativity (as the "Angel of God"). She is a long-standing, dedicated supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention.