Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine and Jennifer Holliday, the stars of the original Broadway cast of "Dreamgirls," reunited at the 21st annual Divas Simply Singing benefit, an event Ralph founded to bring attention to and raise funds for HIV/AIDS. "Nothing breaks the silence better than big hair and attitude," said Ralph. "By having events like this it reminds us there was a time when people dropped dead in numbers too great to mention and when they needed people the most people turned their backs on them. AIDS affects all of us."

 

Held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, the event also marked the 30th anniversary of "Dreamgirls." Ralph, who's proud to say she never missed one of her 1,247 performances, vividly remembers the first time she heard Holliday sing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," the show-stopping number the "Divas" audience also got to hear. Walking the red carpet with her husband and daughter, she noted that all thee drive hybrid cars. "Mine is a Prius, one of the new ones," she said.

 

Admitting she's "not as green as I should be," Loretta Devine was happy to lend her voice to the event and celebrate "Dreamgirls." "You never expect something you do when you're so young to last so long. It's had such an incredible history," she acknowledged, revealing that the show was canceled during the workshop stage but producer Michael Bennett changed his mind once he heard his stars sing. Recurring on "Grey's Anatomy" with some episodes coming up, she'll star in "The Hive," about a woman who founded a boys' school in North Carolina, and will voice characters in two animated films, "Khumba" and "Norm of the North."

 

Playing host for the evening, Niecy Nash proudly wears the Diva moniker. "I think it means the things that you do, you do with passion and sequins!" she said. Having just returned from the Toronto set of a scary movie called "Nurse 3D," playing "the black girl who makes it to the end," she's hosting a Yahoo.com relationship show called "Let's Talk About Love," something the newlywed knows a bit about. "I want to invite people to have a different perspective when it comes to love," said Nash, who recycles at home and changed her light bulbs to energy-saving ones.

 

Frenchie Davis ("The Voice") covered Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" at her fourth "Divas" concert. "Sheryl Lee Ralph has been a mentor and a huge supporter of mine, and this is such an amazing cause. We have a responsibility to ourselves and the global community to do what we can to stop the spread of this disease, and if I can get on stage and do what I love to do in front of an audience and help raise money and awareness, why wouldn't I be here?" she said. 

 

Working non-stop since "The Voice," after which her 3,500 Twitter followers multiplied to 35,000, Davis called the show "a beautiful experience" that validated her dreams. She's writing material for what will be a dance-pop album designed to "inspire people and make them dance." The four-year "Rent" veteran wants to finish it before she returns to the stage. "I'm up for a couple of Broadway opportunities, but eight shows a week is a hard schedule and I want to get this album recorded before I go back," she explained. If she had her pick, she'd love to play Mama Morton in "Chicago," or star in revivals of "Ain't Misbehavin'" or "Dreamgirls," both of which she's appeared in on national tours.

 

At home, Davis is diligent about turning off lights and running water, and recycling. "My sister and I make a weekly trip to the recycling place," she said. She also shops vintage clothing stores. "Being a curvy girl who loves couture, I do a lot of vintage because women used to be curvier. I get pencil skirts and things like that."

 

"I carry a water bottle, I turn off the lights, I don't waste water. I experienced the drought here in California some years ago," said Jenifer Lewis. "And I don't flush the toilet every time." Having recently appeared in Lifetime's breast cancer film anthology "Five" and the short-lived "Playboy Club," she'll voice a character in the animated "Zambezia" and said she's "up for a couple of movies right now so things are good."

 

Performing in the Divas show for the third time, Shanice Wilson sang "Congratulations" in tribute to the late singer Vesta Williams. "We don't use plastic bags, I take my own bag to the grocery store, and I buy Melaleuca products, all organic stuff," she noted. Currently recording an album, she has a single out called "Tomorrow," available at iTunes and shaniceonline.com

 

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