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EGOT Winner Jennifer Hudson Joins “Dreamgirls” Revival as Producer
Two decades after belting “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” onto the Oscar stage and into pop-culture history, Jennifer Hudson is coming home to Dreamgirls—this time, as a producer. The EGOT winner has joined the producing team of the first newly directed and choreographed Broadway revival of the landmark musical, set to open in New York this fall.
The revival will be directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, marking the first time Dreamgirls has been reimagined on Broadway with a fresh creative helm since its original 1981 production staged by Michael Bennett. With a book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger, the show traces the rise of a 1960s girl group and the costs of ambition, loyalty, and fame—material that has long resonated across generations of performers and audiences.
For Hudson, the news is both a professional milestone and a full-circle moment. She won the Academy Award for her portrayal of Effie White in the 2006 Bill Condon film adaptation, a performance that redefined her career and cemented “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” as her signature. Calling the musical an “ever-present force” in her life, Hudson said she is “beyond honored” to help bring a newly reimagined Dreamgirls back to Broadway under Brown’s “visionary” guidance, adding, “This fall cannot come soon enough.”
Hudson joins producers Sonia Friedman Productions, Sue Wagner, and John Johnson on a title that already carries the weight of Broadway history. When Dreamgirls premiered at the Imperial Theatre in 1981, critics hailed it as a seismic cultural event, a propulsive fusion of R&B, soul, and backstage drama that introduced what would become canon-level showstoppers: “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” “One Night Only,” and the title song “Dreamgirls.” The original production earned 13 Tony Award nominations and won six, including honors for its book and featured performances, and catapulted Jennifer Holliday to stardom with an Act I aria so explosive that audiences reportedly leapt to their feet before intermission.
More details about casting, design, and dates for the new revival are still to come, but the combination of Hudson’s EGOT clout, Brown’s choreographic firepower, and a score that has never left the musical-theater bloodstream suggests that Dreamgirls is poised to reassert itself not just as a nostalgic favorite, but as a contemporary statement about artistry, agency, and who gets to own the spotlight.
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