Where is Jennifer Holliday when you need her?

Okay, when I heard that the proverbial "they" were going to be making a film version of the Broadway Musical, Dreamgirls, my immediate thought was, "How are they going to replace Jennifer Holliday?" How could anyone fill her shoes? She won a much deserved Tony Award for her performance in 1982 and single handedly tore the roof down, every night, singing And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going (you can watch her perform this on YouTube.com by clicking here).

Well, I've been following the precedings on-and-off, and today I learned who would be playing Miss Holliday's role; apparently an American Idol contestant, Jennifer Hudson, is taking on the challenge. As I have never in my life ever watched American Idol, I have no idea how this girl can sing. But after seeing some photos of her I'm rather skeptical about this casting choice. The character of Effie White is supposed to be over-weight (much of the conflict within the story comes from this) , and unless they are strapping her into a "fat suit", I don't see how this is going to make any sense.

Of course, I am completely biased, since I think that Jennifer Holliday may very well be descended from God himself; but I am going to try to look to this new film with uncharacteristic optimism. I look forward to seeing this in the movie theatre, but I will say this: if Jennifer Hudson was cast based entirely on her American Idol stint, and not on any acting ability - "I'm telling you, I'm not going."