Loretta Devine Reveals the 2 ‘Big Fights’ She and Sheryl Lee Ralph Had During Their Dreamgirls Broadway Run

• Loretta Devine reflected on her decades of friendship with Sheryl Lee Ralph, as Ralph was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 16
• The pair starred together in the original 1981 production of ‘Dreamgirls’ on Broadway
• Devine shared how she and Ralph had two “big fights” during the Broadway show’s run

Loretta Devine is reflecting on her decades of friendship with Sheryl Lee Ralph — and opening up about some of the only times when the pair ever argued.

Speaking at Ralph’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony in Los Angeles on Wednesday, April 16, Devine, 75, told the story of the two “big fights” the longtime friends had during their four years of performing together in Dreamgirls on Broadway in the early 1980s.

“Sheryl and I were roommates on Broadway, 1981, for four years,” Devine told the audience, before opening up about why the pair got into a fight. “The first one was because I kept getting hit in the head by a flat [a wooden piece of scenery used in a play] because Sheryl Lee, I thought, wasn’t moving fast enough. We were in the line and she had to go [onstage] and she wasn’t going!”

“I was like, ‘She’s trying to kill me!’ ” Devine joked. “Only to find out later that it was Zane the stage hand. He would fall asleep and just let the flat fall wherever.”

According to Devine, their second-ever fight came when Ralph opted to have her dressing room painted “Pepto-Bismol pink.”

“They had taken these new girls to L.A. here. They would not bring us,” Devine recalled of one promotional trip for the musical, before referencing their other Dreamgirls castmates. “Jennifer Holliday came. Debbie Burrell. They wouldn’t even let us come.”

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“On top of that, they sent pictures of this beautiful dressing room with a sofa that was pink, and Sheryl was determined to upgrade,” the actress continued. “And on top of that, every night we had to go down to the basement, downstairs to the basement, cross the basement stairs, go back up the stairs to the stage, and they had put a huge poster of the new girls in these skimpy outfits on the door.”

According to Devine, Ralph was not a fan of the “skimpy” promotional photos.

“The picture vanished. Nobody knew what happened to the picture,” she said. “One day, Sheryl Lee said, ‘Loretta, you wanna know what happened to the poster?’ ”

“I was like, ‘Where’s the poster?’ There was a brick on the floor in front of the door. She moved the brick and there it was. It was like rolling away the stone in the Bible!” Devine continued. “I was amazed at how creative she was and to this day, I’m amazed at her ability to get things done. That’s Sheryl Lee Ralph: she was strong then, and she still is strong.”

Decades before Devine and her Abbott Elementary costar Quinta Brunson helped to award Ralph with her Hollywood Walk of Fame star, Ralph starred in Dreamgirls as Deena Jones and Devine as Lorrell Robinson, the best friends and backup singers of Effie White (played by Jennifer Holliday) as they form a girl group known as the Dreamettes in the early 1960s through the 1970s.

The original Broadway production — which featured a book and lyrics from Tom Eyen and music from Henry Krieger — ran from December 1981 to August 1985, and it earned Ralph a Tony Award nomination in 1982, launching her career.

The musical was later turned into a hit movie in 2006, with Beyoncé taking over the role of Deena, Jennifer Hudson stepping into the role of Effie and Anika Noni Rose playing Lorrell. Jamie Foxx also starred in the film as the Dreamettes’ ambitious manager Curtis Taylor Jr., replacing Ben Harney from the original production.

Speaking at her Walk of Fame ceremony, Ralph said that the honor represented “every artist who has ever felt unseen, every woman who was told to wait her turn” — especially her 24-year-old self, who was just starting out in Dreamgirls.

“I walked this path with purpose because I know young people are watching and representation matters, and when I am able to, I step on the set of Abbott Elementary every day with the same joy and enthusiasm,” Ralph said. “I felt that when I was 24 years old in Dreamgirls, and it’s because I want generations to see what’s possible. That their dreams are valid, that their voice is powerful and their potential limitless.”