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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2002
A supreme Broadway singer
Jennifer Holliday was one of the Dreamgirls, Broadway's answer to the Supremes in the hit 1981 musical by Henry Krieger (music) and Tom Eyen (book and lyrics). She played the Florence Ballard character, the lead singer who was dropped in favor of the Diana Ross counterpart. Unlike Ballard, who was never heard from again, Holliday's Effie Melody White went on to triumph in the show. So did Holliday, who won a Tony Award.
She stars in the first annual Stars on the Bay Gala, a fundraiser for the Mahaffey Theater Foundation, at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Mahaffey. Tickets: $35 and $50. (727) 892-5767.
Robert McDuffie, the pride of Macon, Ga., is the soloist this weekend with the Florida Orchestra. He plays the Violin Concerto of Miklos Rozsa, best known as a Hollywood composer for Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, Eye of the Needle, King of Kings and many more. Thomas Wilkins conducts an eclectic program that also includes Schumann's Rhenish Symphony and Honegger's Pacific 231, which depicts a locomotive "thundering through the silence of the night," according to the composer. Concerts are 8 p.m. Friday in Ferguson Hall of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m. Saturday in Mahaffey Theater and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Tickets: $20-$38. Call (813) 286-2403.