For the next two weeks, George Wallace will have an unusual co-star for his show at the Flamingo, the original Dreamgirl, Jennifer Holliday. Decades before Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar for playing the role of big-voiced girl-band reject Effie White in the 2006 film, Holliday won a Tony for creating the same part on stage. She also landed a Grammy for the signature hit, “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going.”  But Holliday’s life in the interim has been tragic, with bouts of depression, battles with her weight and an inability to replicate her earlier success. She spoke to Steve in advance of her opening for Wallace from Aug. 19 to Aug 30, relating stories of opening for George Burns at Caesars Palace in the 1980s, about a disastrous outing in the same showroom with Rosie O’Donnell in the 1990s and about how she reconciles her religion with her status as a gay icon.

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