By Barbara Smith
Contributing Writer
As a young man, when Berry Gordy told his family he wanted to become a music mogul, they chided and laughed. After all, he had already run through a flurry of careers as a boxer, assembly line worker, record store owner, and a tour in the U.S. Army. In “Motown the Musical,” now packing audiences in at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway, Gordy’s against-all-odds rags to riches ride to the top is a joyous explosion of an unforgettable era in music that spawned the careers of such groundbreaking Motown artists as Smokey Robinson, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, and Stevie Wonder. All these and more fill the stage bringing back the magic in a 2 ½ hour slam dunk of Motown’s irresistibly rousing music and nostalgia.
The play opens in 1983 for the 25th anniversary celebration of Motown with a Battle of the Stars: the Temptations and The Four Tops one-up each other with dazzlingly choreographed iconic Motown hits: “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Can’t Get Next to You,” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” From there we flash back to 1938 at the Gordy family home in Detroit and then forward to seminal moments as Gordy established and grew Hitsville USA. Young stars-to-be, eyes filled with wonder and hope—talents like Smokey Robinson, who arrived with a notebook full of songs, 15-year-old Diana Ross, dedicating her after-school hours to Hitsville’s (and her career’s) growth, a young Stevie Wonder, accompanied by his mother who asks Berry, as part of her son’s contract, for instruments, new glasses and a washing machine–knock on his door and careers are launched.
As Gordy’s dream began to come to fruition, Motown became a cultural shape shifter: radio waves at white stations became filled with what was formerly thought of as “race music;” the barrier that separated white from black fans at concerts was bridged as screaming youngsters of all races moved and grooved together in a shared love of the new sound and the charismatic artists. We see all this in a bonanza of music and dance, with a showcase of artists who changed the face of music forever: Jackie Wilson, the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Contours (their dance number is not-to-be-missed), Mary Wells, the Commodores, Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Miracles, the Marvelettes, and yes, even Rick James and Teena Marie.
Oh, sure, the script and story line is a bit scattered (really, how do you fit the remarkable history of Motown into a 2 ½ hour show?), and there is a questionable choice or two, for instance when the Berry Gordy and Diana Ross characters sing, “You’re All I Need to Get By” (where were Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell??); and an offhand dismissal of original Supreme Florence Ballard, but the music, costumes, choreography and the artists who portray the real Motown stars is where the power and sparkle of this show is.
Charl Brown, a former San Diegan and graduate of our city’s School of Creative and Performing Arts stars as Smokey Robinson, for which he won a Tony nomination. His smooth good looks and even smoother honeyed renditions of favorites like “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” and “Shop Around,” captured the essence of the unmistakable Smokey purr and easy-to-love character. Donald Webber, Jr. (understudy for Brandon Victor Dixon) delivered the Gordy character spot on with a full range of emotion. Krystal Joy Brown’s Diana Ross grew appealingly from the skinny wide-eyed star-in-the-making into the glammed and glittery Supremes icon.
Raymond Luke, as the young Michael Jackson, (he also played the youthful Stevie Wonder and Berry Gordy) was a show stealer. Audible sighs filled the theatre as this gifted dynamo of energy and charisma belted and twirled his way through “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and more.
“Motown the Musical,” directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox & Warren Adams, and based on Berry Gordy’s book “To Be Loved: The Music, The Magic, The Memories of Motown,” has been wowing crowds at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York since its opening last April. San Diego audiences will have a chance to see it on its national tour at San Diego’s Civic Theatre June 9 – June 14, 2015. If you can’t wait that long, it begins a run at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre on August 15 of this year. Better yet, hop on a jet and catch this unforgettable show while it is still lighting up the stage in New York. For more information, visit www.motownthemusical.com
