Spin. Slide. Snap your fingers. Sing along!
Each of these are instinctive responses when Brandon Victor Dixon, Valisia LeKae and Charl Brown serve us a dose of their very best Berry Gordy, Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson, respectively, in Broadway’s Motown: The Musical.
Now playing at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Motown: The Musical opens with a battle of the bands between Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer’s: The Temptations and The Four Tops. These were two groups signed to Detroit’s own Motown Records in the 1960’s that shaped the “Motown Sound” with such as, hits My Girl and Baby, I Need Your Loving.
Next, we transition to Gordy’s Los Angeles home where he’s having a moment of introspection. It’s the taping of Motown’s 25th Anniversary television special (March 25, 1983) and Gordy is bitter about losing the acts he groomed for the big leagues, his lost love, Diana Ross, and he’s unsure if he will attend.
The casting for the musical, adapted from Gordy’s 1994 autobiography, To Be Love: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown, is not short on talented singers and actors. They range from the Jackson 5 and The Supremes to Rick James and Teena Marie Motown is entertaining, edifying and compelling.
Abbreviated versions of some of Motown’s platinum and gold hits are weaved throughout the storytelling including Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and I Heard it Through the Grapevine, sang by both Gaye (Bryan Terrell Clark) and Glady’s Knight and the Pips.
We take a trip down Gordy’s memory lane to witness the beginning and sadly the end of Gordy and Ross’ relationship, the lawsuits, and snippet’s of Gaye’s marriage to Gordy’s elder sister, Anna. But it’s Charl Brown’s soft-spoken, curly-haired impersonation 0f Smokey Robinson that throws you off just a little – the wig is too shiny and too much. Raymond Luke Jr. deserves a round of applause for convincing us with his roles as a young Michael Jackson, a young version Berry and a young Stevie Wonder.
A great deal of storytelling is squeezed into 2 ½ hours of show time, with a 15-minute intermission. Mission accomplished: The love story ends with Motown’s founder making a surprising guest appearance.
