Review: Jennifer Holliday Gives 54 Below Audience Truly Intimate DIAMOND SERIES Show

There are legends among us. They walk the streets we walk, they breathe the air we breathe, they see the sights we see. And then one day, from time to time, they step up onto a stage and they show us why they are the legends to whose side we flock, to whose music we dance, to whose artistry we exist.

Jennifer Holliday is just such a legend.

The singing actress who achieved worldwide fame as the woman who brought to life Effie White in the Broadway musical DREAMGIRLS some forty-one years ago is back in New York City to play a week of shows at 54 Below. This week of shows is the final program in the second season of the prestigious DIAMOND SERIES, a season that has brought dedicated 54B patrons and devoted fans of the artists glamorous and intimate nights with Brian Stokes Mitchell, Vanessa Williams, and, now, Jennifer Holliday. The Diamond Series is one of the most exciting things to happen to the cabaret and concert industry in recent years, and although the shows it produces have a ticket price that might make some pause to think, this writer would encourage potential guests to take a deep breath and consider that which is to be gained with a ticket to the Diamond Series: the experience of a lifetime.

The Diamond Series is an extended nightclub event with a gorgeous, delicious, multiple-course prix fixe meal that has been designed by the 54 Below chefs, some free bubbles, elbow room (they remove tables from the venue for a more spacious evening), and an up close and personal audience with a legend. This writer attended one show during season one and all three shows of season two, and these really are intimate gatherings with a legend, each show individual and authentic to the artist, and each one worth the price paid. At the Brian Stokes Mitchell show it was all jovial, playful, and joyful. Clubgoers seeing Vanessa Williams were sometimes prone to getting up to dance. And last night's lucky 54 Below guests were given the rare, the fair, the incomparable experience of one of the most intimate shows this reporter has ever seen.

After her opening number (a dance tune made famous by Diana Ross), Jennifer Holliday took a moment to get real with the audience, thanking them in the most genuinely heartfelt manner for coming and telling them that, by mere virtue of the fact that they had chosen to spend this time with her, they are her friends. She meant it and we felt that. And from that moment until the end of the nearly two-hour evening (one hour, forty-five minutes), every word spoken, every note sung, every feeling felt was steeped in absolute honesty, crystal clarity, and total vulnerability. Last night Jennifer Holliday did that to which every live entertainer should aspire: she went out on the stage and opened a vein. A raw nerve, an open heart, a welcoming vessel, Jennifer Holliday is telling it all, she is telling it like it is, like it was, and like she wishes it could be. This isn't a memoir show, per se, but, as a legend, Jennifer Holliday has been subject to speculation, talk, and the rumor mill. So the woman who, in 1982, won a Tony Award won all our hearts (again) last night by being her true and authentic self.

And that self is as beautiful as the dawning sun.

Throughout her evening of sharing stories about her life as a woman (twice divorced and currently dating), as an actress (willingly consenting to audition to replace in The Color Purple on Broadway), and as a student of life and her profession (being taught the business of survival by fellow legend Marvin Hamlisch), Jennifer Holliday lavishes upon her audience a natural humor that is inimitable and irresistible. She shares stories about the painful sides of show business and being a woman in the industry, and she recounts the hilarious happenings of being a young black woman raised on black artists who was working on Broadway (pre-Dreamgirls) without an assistive acquaintance of some of the more famous white artists, and how she came to know them (one in particular). Off the cuff, Jennifer Holliday jokes about fan reactions to "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and how her signature song (which she loves, to this day) helped the fans through dark times, but not herself. And her rhetoric overflows with reality-informed gratitude. Jennifer Holliday is clearly thankful for the life she has been given, the opportunities she has had, the chances she gets, the colleagues who have stood beside her, and the band that is playing with her - and what a band it is.

The musical programming of the Jennifer Holliday show is not to be believed. Musical Director Rashad McPherson has created arrangements that cover a variety of styles and genres but that fit Ms. Holliday like a ten thousand dollar gown, whether she is performing a famed rock and roll song by another legend for the first time (Spoiler alert: it's a Tina Turner tune) or putting her own spin on Etta James's most famous recording (no words could suffice in describing it). McPherson and Holliday have gathered around them a band of such exquisite gifts as to render an audience breathless, and the smile that plays across Jennifer's face when she stands aside for the band solos is enough proof of love to tell anyone that each craftsman has her full trust - they have her back, and she knows it: she can relax into the storytelling while they carry her on a cloud of musical mastery. There is an r&b arrangement of a Kern & Fields tune that harkens back to the sultry jazz of the Nineties, and there is a jazz treatment of some Cole Porter tunes that leans into the Latin... and there is blues, there is blues, there is blues. The sexy, saucy, even dirty and naughty tune that Jennifer Holliday sang in The Color Purple gave our Diva in Residence a chance to remind everyone that a woman is vibrant and sensual at any age ("People always tell me age is just a number... no, your AGE is your AGE"), and an extremely personal take on Billie Holiday's most famous song left an entire room full of people devastated and dedicated to this artist who, in her own words, is still growing.

And speaking of Jennifer Holliday's words... Hearing Jennifer Holliday sing live is essential. It is one of life's great pleasures, not to be missed, for the Lady is an original, a true original, a one and only - no one is like her, and all should take advantage of the chance to see and hear her sing live. But being in the room to listen to her tell stories in her own way, in her own voice, is to really know her. There is not one false moment, not one instance when Jennifer appears coy or unwilling to tell her truth, and she does it all with candor and comedy and an open heart. She told last night's audience that this intimate Diamond Series concert was a chance for her to share herself with the audience ("You are my friends") and an opportunity to "let you know me" and the Lady succeeded at her mission with grace and gratitude. More than once, Jennifer Holliday had to take a moment because she was so overcome by emotion that the tears flowed freely, especially during an earth-shattering tribute number to her friends and mentors Michael Bennett and Marvin Hamlisch, a number that seemed to represent a whole life in one song - she really felt that one.

The truth is, though, that Jennifer Holliday felt everything last night. It showed in every powerful musical monologue, in every personal discussion with the audience, and in every beautiful, open, honest expression that played across her lovely, lovely face.

At one point during her show, Jennifer Holliday remarked that she has spent some time in her life and career trying to "figure out where I belong."

Jennifer Holliday, you belong with us. We love you, we value you, we appreciate you, and we wish never to be away from you.

Jennifer Holliday's DIAMOND SERIES concerts play nightly at 8:30 (doors open at 6 pm for dinner) through February 26th. For information and reservations visit the 54 Below website HERE.

THIS is the Jennifer Holliday Instagram page and HERE is Jennifer's Facebook page.

The Jennifer Holliday band is Music Director/Piano: Rashad McPherson, Bass Guitar: Criston Oates, Drums: Shawn Dustin, Lead Guitar: Andrew Jagannath, Saxophone: Craig Hill, Trumpet: Ryan Easter, Trombone: Javon Johnson

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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