How did a giant teddy bear costume help this Broadway legend after COVID?

What did Broadway legend Jennifer Holliday do during the pandemic? Write a book? Start a podcast?

Be inspired to dress in a giant teddy bear costume, singing Demi Lovato songs on primetime TV?

"I never expected to do 'The Masked Singer,' " said Holliday, best known for her Tony Award-winning performance as Effie "Melody" White in Broadway's "Dreamgirls" and its immortal song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," for which she also won a Grammy.

Ironically, it was another "Dreamgirls" song, "I Am Changing," that gave her the push to say yes to the show when asked by music producer David Foster, who had performed on "Singer" with wife Katharine McPhee.

She'll be singing both of those songs, along with more pieces that touch her heart, as she headlines Feinstein's/54 Below's Diamond Series in Manhattan this week.

Holliday, now 62, was just 19 when she sang "I Am Changing" for the first time, and 21 when the show opened on Broadway in 1981.

"At that time, I can't really say that I knew exactly what I was singing about. To me, one thing I felt during the pandemic is that I hadn't really reached enough, as they say, to go for the gusto in life. I think that I allowed myself to just be a voice and a singer, and take life as it comes. Now that we got out on the other side of the pandemic, I (thought to myself), 'What if I died during the pandemic?' 'What if I didn't really try to live more?'

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"I'm like, 'I need to change,' " she continued. "I need to grow. I need to reach more, to get more out of life."

Enter "The Masked Singer."

"They showed me the costume and and then you get the chance to pick the songs," she said. "It was a process and I did enjoy myself. That's not something that I do a lot, and that goes with the part about 'I Am Changing.' I'm not a person that likes to do silly stuff, but now I laugh a lot more than I ever have before. And I try to not be so intense all the time."

The Diamond Series at Feinstein's/54 Below features concert-length performances paired with specially curated menus, with limited seating.

Expect to hear her own renditions of popular tunes and jazz standards from Broadway musicals, paying tribute to some of her favorite composers, including George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington. She will be accompanied by six musicians.

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"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," like "I Am Changing," also has taken on new meaning for Holliday.

"When I first sang the song ... there's no way I could have been in that kind of love or known that kind of love, especially in a relationship," she said. "As we go through the years or I would experience my own personal growth or my own love relationships, it would take on a different meaning.

"At 62, ... it's a song of survival now," she continued. "Show business is a rough business, especially as you age. You get pushed back, so to fight, to have a place to still stand, that's where it is for me. ... I'm still here, still trying to have my place in this industry."

Go: Jennifer Holliday, 8:30 p.m Tuesday, Feb. 21, to Sunday, Feb. 26, Feinstein's/54 Below, 354 W. 54th St., Manhattan, tickets start at $300; 54below.com/events/diamond-series-jennifer-holliday.

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; ikeller@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jennifer Holliday: Masked Singer role helped her change after COVID