Jennifer Hudson & Amber Riley Talk ‘Dreamgirls’ History, Duet on ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’
Jennifer Hudson and Amber Riley are bonding over their mutual experience of starring in Dreamgirls.
On the Monday (Dec. 5) episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, the Glee star and the EGOT winner bonded over both playing Effie White in the musical and its movie musical rendition, and gave the audience in attendance a taste of their vocal prowess by duetting on the bombastic track “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” originally performed by Jennifer Holliday.
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During the pair’s sit-down, Hudson — who starred as Effie in 2006’s Dreamgirls movie and won an Oscar for best supporting actress — revealed that she “made it a point” to see Riley during the 2016 run of the play on London’s West End.
“Playing Effie and you know that — I’m sure you became very close to that character like I [did]. Having her story be this gift and not being able to be out in the front, and I felt that,” the Glee actress said, adding that “Doing things like The Masked Singer, Dancing With the Stars, I get to triumph, be triumphant for those stories. I get to be the winner for those stories and it’s just full-circle for me.”
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Following their discussion, Hudson and Riley gave a live rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” belting the song’s endless high notes with ease.
“And I am tellin’ you I’m not goin’/ You’re best man I’ve ever known/ There’s no way I can ever go/ No, no, there’s no way/ No, no, no, no, way,” the pair took turns singing. “I’m not livin’ without you/ I’m not livin’ without you/ I don’t wanna be free/ I’m stayin’, I’m stayin’/ And you, and you/ You’re gonna love me.”
Watch Hudson and Riley’s performance in the video below.
