Wednesday, November 28, 2007

They're (Not) Your Dreamgirls

We've all seen "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" performed by the two Jennifers, Holiday and Hudson (and even Jake Gyllenhaal), but how about Katherine Hepburn, Rosie O'Donnell and Little Edie? Those three and more are embodied by the multi-talented mimic, Christine Pedi in this performance of the classic Dreamgirls showstopper. (Not to spoil it for you, the full list of women Pedi performs as is listed in the comments section below).

Not to be outdone, Hugh Jackman channels both Sheryl Lee Ralph and Peter Allen in his high-kickin' take on "One Night Only" at the 2004 Tony Awards. Watch for appearances by the casts of Avenue Q, Wicked and even Fiddler on the Roof, gettin' down with their Anatevkian bad selves.

However, by far the most surreal of Dreamgirls covers is this little number from the NBC 60th anniversary special circa 1986, wherein such then-current network stars as Nell Carter, Bea Arthur and Charlotte Rae croon "Family". Even little Punky Brewster shows up.

Click here to buy Dreamgirlson DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via ChristinePedi.com and YouTube.com.

7 comments:

Kirby Holt said...

Judy Garland
Joan Rivers
Ethel Merman
Katharine Hepburn
Julie Andrews
Carol Channing
Little Edie Beale
Rosie O'Donnell
Bernadette Peters

d said...

I got them all, except I didn't recognize Rosie and Bernadette until I read your list and watched again.

thanks for posting this... this is awesome! I so want to see her perform live!

Kirby Holt said...

The only reason I could tell it was Rosie was because she threw in a "cutie-patootie", otherwise, she doesn't really sound like her. But she nails all the others. I especially love her Julie Andrews.

d said...

I didn't catch the "cutie-patootie", and her Bernadette did not sound like the Bernadette that I've heard. Perhaps if I knew her mannerisms I would have caught it.

You're right, she did nail the others. Loved her Judy, Julie, and Little Edie.

How did you discover her? And right after I posted the video of the two Jennifers singing it on my homepage.

Kirby Holt said...

Yeah, she was channeling Bernadette as Mamma Rose.

And I honestly don't remember how I found that video ... it was the second to the last in "my favorites" list, which means it has been in there for awhile!

Anonymous said...

I "discovered" her on Sirius radio. She does the Broadway station, sometimes with Seth Rudetsky. She's great!

Kirby Holt said...

That's it, I think the clip was mentioned in Seth Rudetsky's Playbill column. Thanks, anon!