Holliday is best known for originating the role of “Effie White” in Dreamgirls in 1981 for which she won a Tony Award that catapulted her to stardom. Her performance in the role also earned her a Grammy Award for her recorded version of “And I Am Telling You” and Drama Desk and Theater World awards. She has since gone on to a successful acting and recording career, earning another Grammy Award for her recording of Ellington’s “Come Sunday.” She has also appeared in several theater productions, including Sing Mahalia Sing: The Mahalia Jackson Story, Chicago, Grease, and Black Nativity. Holiday also earned a 1981 Drama Desk nomination for her role in the musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.

Although audiences are accustomed to hearing her soulful voice belting out big show tunes, she’s also confident in her ability to wow jazz aficionados.

“Classic jazz music goes a little bit further than Broadway. Yes, I have a big voice and I’m able to do these great big bring-the-curtain-down songs. For jazz songs, though, you have to be able to bring a listener so close to you in terms of melody lines and lyrics, and those powerful haunting chords and progressions—it’s maybe not where everyone’s jumping to an immediate standing ovation, but they’re definitely moved to tears. It’s not always a standing ovation that lets you know you’ve delivered a number and moved people,” she said in a recent interview.

Sophisticated Ladies is a stylish musical celebration of Ellington’s greatest musical hits set in Harlem’s famed Cotton Club. The extravagant production features a full on-stage orchestra that backs outstanding jazz vocalists and amazing tap dancers. The show opened on Broadway in 1981 and the original cast included Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison, Phyllis Hyman, Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge, and Mercer Ellington. Battle won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The concept is credited to famed choreographer Donald McKayle. Lloyd Mayers and Malcolm Dodds originally produced the show on Broadway with musical and vocal arrangements under the musical direction of Duke’s son, Mercer Ellington. The cast brings Ellington classics like “Mood Indigo,” “Take the A Train,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” to life in this Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.

The Zach Theatre production is directed by Abe Reybold and is playing on the Topfer Stage from July 15 through August 23, 2015. Watch highlights from the show & an interview with Jennifer Holliday below

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SISTAS is produced by three-time Tony winner Hinton Battle and directed by Smash’s Kenneth Ferrone, and according to the show’s website, the musical “follows five women as they prepare to bury the matriarch of their family. The women discuss their family history and the history of African-American women through popular music spanning from Billie Holiday to Beyonce.”

The description continues to explain that “After the matriarch’s death, the women in the family clean Grandma’s attic and find love and old memories packed away, and in the process, hit tunes that trace the history of black women, from the trials of the 1930s through the Girl Groups of the 60s to the empowerment of the 90s. Songs include “Oh, Happy Day,” “Mama Said,” “I Will Survive,” “Tyrone,” “I am Not My Hair” and “A Woman’s Worth.”

Other shows that are scheduled for July 16 are Finding Neverland, CHICAGO (with Brandy Norwood as Roxie Hart), and MAMMA MIA!

So grab one of the chairs set up on the lawn, or bring your own blanket and picnic to relax on the grass, and for more information, visit bryantpark.org.

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