Jennifer Holliday was dazzling during weekend “Broadway!” concerts with Gay Men’s Chorus of LA

Somebody pinch me, please. Just days after watching Patti LuPone belt out Everything’s Coming Up Roses and Don’t Cry for Me Argentina at the Ahmanson, I got to see Jennifer Holliday – the original Effie in Dreamgirls – sing And I’m Tellin’ You I’m Telling You I’m Not Going, One Night Only and We Are a Family.

It was a gay man’s nirvana.

Tony winner Holliday was the featured performer at the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles summer concert: Broadway! Gay men singing showtunes, imagine that!

I invited my pal Trevor Daley to be my guest for the Saturday night performance at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. (There were two more performances on Sunday).

Trevor was a great sport as I was running late and as we sped out way from his apartment in Hollywood to Glendale, I asked if he wouldn’t mind ordering my mom’s birthday cake (her party was the next day) from the bakery before it closed for the night! So I’m driving, he’s on the cell, and he’s repeating my instructions into the phone: “Yes, that’s a quarter-sheet with strawberry filling.”

Classic.

Anyway, the show.

I missed the comedy of Coco Peru that had tied the spring concert together so wonderfully but this show had plenty of highlights including a South Pacific medley that had a buncha hot guys on stage – clad only in towels – during Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair.

That went over quite well.

It was pretty astonishing how terrific the group’s Getting Married Today (from Company) was. There are so many lyrics sung so quickly and for a group that large to do it so perfectly in sync is very impressive.

Holliday strolled out and got an ovation before she had sung  single note of One Night Only – the perfect way to end the first act.

The most ambitious number, Circle of Life, kicked off the second act and there were dancers placed all around the theater, including the upstairs balcony where we moved to watch the second half. We didn’t like our row L seats down below during the first half.

A pair of songs from Aida followed and were sensational with soloist Jessay Martin just blowing the roof off the joint during The Gods of Nubia. Then Holliday returned to sing And I’m Tellin’ You I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.

The evening’s encore was We Are a Family with Holliday singing with the chorus and leaving us all feeling warm and fuzzy as we headed for the exits. While most people were leaving the theater, Trevor and I were among a small group invited to go backstage to meet with Holliday.

She was lovely and looks amazing. We found ourselves standing in a backstage area and Miss Holliday was concerned with the bad lighting. Trevor suggested we take the photo on the stage! So to the stage we went! Jennifer checked my camera after the first photo was snapped and agreed that we should take another.

We said our goodbyes and headed out. Trevor was very hungry so we tried to find a restaurant near the theater. Slim pickings. We decide to the car and find dinner in West Hollywood. We were parked at the top level of the slowest moving parking structure ever made. It took about a half hour to reach the exit and Trevor is hallucinating about food. By the time we get back to our part of town, it’s almost 11:30 and we can’t find parking near the restaurant we had chosen (Bossa Nova on Sunset) so we just head into Ralphs so Trevor can get food from the deli before he collapses.

As Trevor was doing the self checkout thing, I spotted the hottest guy walking in.

Turns out his name is name is Jimmy Heck and he’s Trevor’s trainer! He came over and gabbed with us for a minute and I was basically trying to keep my jaw from dropping to the ground. What. A. Babe. Here’s a LINK to his site where you can find out more about this hottie and see more pics!