On Broadway she originated roles in Disney’s Aladdin and Something Rotten! and toured the U.S. Wallace joined the London cast of Dreamgirls earlier this year. The three actors will share the role at different performances throughout the week. The award-winning production has also revealed that Riley, who won an Olivier Award for her work, will play her final performance November 18.īeginning November 20, Moya Angela will join Marisha Wallace and Karen Mav to play Effie. premiere of Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger’s Dreamgirls, which opened in December 2016 at the Savoy Theatre starring Glee's Amber Riley as Effie White, has extended its booking through June 2, 2018.
It’s such a warm feeling up there, let me tell you.Sonia Friedman Productions announced that the U.K. “But something different happens when I’m on that stage. “I always try to be passionate when I’m on any stage,” she says. 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. Hitting the Road: Angela is heading out on the road with a stack of star-is-born reviews from New York’s toughest critics. I was like, ‘Wait, that’s the end of Act One. 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.
“During the first couple of weeks of rehearsals, I couldn’t get through ‘And I’m Telling You’ without crying really hard.
#DREAMGIRLS EFFIE HOW TO#
“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.Įffie, 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. 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. 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 was struggling emotionally and financially. 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. You’d be crying every day if you didn’t!” This just isn’t my moment.' You have to think like that in this business. “I knew they would bring it back to the stage,” she says. 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.
She first set her sights on playing Effie when she endured several auditions for the role in the 2006 big screen adaptation of Dreamgirls.
#DREAMGIRLS EFFIE PROFESSIONAL#
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. “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. 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.īecoming 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.
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