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Jennifer Hudson and Jenifer Lewis Unite for a Powerful ‘Dreamgirls’ Duet on The Jennifer Hudson Show
Jennifer Hudson and Jenifer Lewis sing a moving 'Dreamgirls' duet on The Jennifer Hudson Show in a preview clip ahead of Lewis' May 12 appearance.
When two women who’ve both worn the crown of Effie White get in the same room, the result is bound to feel like a moment. Jennifer Hudson and Jenifer Lewis do exactly that in a new preview from The Jennifer Hudson Show, where the pair deliver a stirring duet of the Dreamgirls favorite “I Am Changing.”
The clip arrives ahead of Lewis’ appearance on the Tuesday, May 12 episode of Hudson’s talk show, and Billboard has an exclusive look at the exchange that leads up to the performance. The episode opens with Hudson reminding Lewis that they’ve sung together before, only for Lewis to jump in with a bit of musical history of her own. She explains that after college, when she moved to New York, she stepped into the workshop production of Dreamgirls in place of Tony Award winner Jennifer Holliday before the show made its way to Broadway.
“I’m telling y’all right now, I could sing my ‘a’ off back then,” Lewis says. “But nobody could sing like Jennifer Holliday. Of course, she took it to Broadway.”
Lewis then draws the lineage out even further, noting, “It was Jenifer Lewis that developed the role of Effie. Jennifer Holliday took it Broadway. And Jennifer Hudson did the movie. That’s a lot of ‘Jennifer’ going on.”
From there, the setup practically writes itself. Lewis tells Hudson, who won an Oscar for playing Effie White in the 2006 film adaptation, that they should sing together and offers up “I Am Changing” as the obvious choice. It’s the sort of pick that makes total sense, and Lewis makes sure the audience knows how long it’s been since she last sang it. “I want y’all to know, and this is true, I haven’t sung this song since I was 19 years old,” the 69-year-old says as the song begins.
What follows is the kind of duet fans were hoping for: two veteran performers trading lines, then rising from their seats and leaning into each other as the song builds to its close. By the end, they’re wrapped in a hug, exchanging “I love you” as the room clearly catches up to what just happened.
Hudson, for her part, doesn’t bother pretending to be calm about it. “I got to sing with Jenifer Lewis, yo!” she tells the audience. “I’m living a dream right now.”
