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Motown - The Musical

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Has anyone seen this yet?

Worth a trip to NY?

Looks like a quality production, apart from the bone comments by the 'Rev' Jackson, everyone certainly seems to'get it'.

Regards,

Dave

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  • mark castle
    mark castle

    Whist not wanting to detract from what should be a great show, just have to say what a typical politician jesse jackson comes across as: ''This is our culture, this is our music'. Yeah th

  • Alison H
    Alison H

    Out of the window are "Jersey Boys" & "Wicked" (two of the musicals I want to see the most on Broadway) Move over for Motown I can't help feeling sad that it will most likely make

  • Weingarden
    Weingarden

    Saw the show. Pretty lame script, but they really found some incredibly talented folks for the cast. Standouts were the guy who plays Smokey, the young lad doing Michael Jackson, and the Diana lady. H

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NEVER BEEN TO NEW YORK BUT WHAT AN EXCUSE TO GO,NO DOUBT LONDON WILL FOLLOW AFTERWARDS,BUT I JUST FANCY A TRIP NEXT YEAR

KEV

Has anyone seen this yet?

Worth a trip to NY?

Looks like a quality production, apart from the bone comments by the 'Rev' Jackson, everyone certainly seems to'get it'.

Regards,

Dave

https://youtu.be/vAJFno2ijo0

Got really excited when I saw this as I am hoping to go to NY next month. But having dug a bit deeper I think this was just a review and the Musical doesn't launch till next spring. At least I think that is what this article says! Can anyone confirm?

tinyurl.com/Motown-the-musical

  • Author

Got really excited when I saw this as I am hoping to go to NY next month. But having dug a bit deeper I think this was just a review and the Musical doesn't launch till next spring. At least I think that is what this article says! Can anyone confirm?

tinyurl.com/Motown-the-musical

I think they have previews every now and then as the show develops. Don't quote me but I think it actually opens properly in March 2013.

Regards,

Dave

Whist not wanting to detract from what should be a great show, just have to say what a typical politician jesse jackson comes across as:

''This is our culture, this is our music'. Yeah there's a bandwagon to be jumped on.

This music defined a generation, black or white.

  • Author

Whist not wanting to detract from what should be a great show, just have to say what a typical politician jesse jackson comes across as:

''This is our culture, this is our music'. Yeah there's a bandwagon to be jumped on.

This music defined a generation, black or white.

Hence my original reference the 'The Rev'.

Regards,

Dave

I know John Otway is doing a musical too, called "John Otway The Musical" , amazes me where he comes up with the names for the things .....

Out of the window are "Jersey Boys" & "Wicked" (two of the musicals I want to see the most on Broadway) Move over for Motown :thumbup:

I can't help feeling sad that it will most likely make millions in New York, on the back of something that started in Detroit, a place that could really do with money :(

It's nice how Rhonda Ross Kendricks is the double of her dad, and when she smiles, is the spit of her mum.

Regards

Ali

Edited by Alison H

Looks like next years holiday could be NY! :D

I posted this photo up on a soul related web site a couple of weeks ago ..............

... wouldn't mind a couple of those show ad hangings for my record room (if they'd fit in that is, they look quite tall) ............

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Edited by Roburt

  • 4 weeks later...

No doubt Berry will be plugging the musical on this upcoming TV show .....

.... An Evening With Berry Gordy will take place on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at The Art Institute of Chicago.

This one-on-one interview, hosted by PBS-TV journalist Gwen Ifill, will follow Berry Gordy's journey through Motown and beyond.

The evening will also feature performances by special guests in tribute to the music mogul.

Tickets are $1000.00 each and RSVPs are required. Tickets must be purchased in advance and cannot be purchased at the door.

There is ALSO a TJ Lubinsky related 'best-of past Motown' US PBS TV show being broadcast in America on 24th November at 9pm.

This show has a new CD set tied in with it (to be released at the same time as the TV show goes out).

Lots of publicity for Berry, his label & the upcoming musical due in the near future. Can't be bad.

Edited by Roburt

Sweet, I will be back in NY buying 45s in April, this could be an evening distraction :)

Mama Mia Motown?

No thanks. :P

Was looking at the website yesterday, they are currently running auditions. I believe it starts in March and we are planning to go down to see it.

  • Author

Was looking at the website yesterday, they are currently running auditions. I believe it starts in March and we are planning to go down to see it.

Look forward to a review then Kev.

Bev is hassling me for trip to NY, the last time we were there I dragged her round Trenton and Newark looking for Joe Evan's old house! So, this may be the answer, plus if I can time it with a visit to Dig Deeper, all the better! :wicked::lol:

Regards,

Dave

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

A pic of the people playing Diana Ross & Berry Gordy in the musical (which opens in NY soon) ....

...... the lady certainly has caught the 'Diana Ross' look quite well .....

don't know about the guy (I know its about his acting ability, but they don't seem to bother about him looking anything like BG)

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Edited by Roburt

Looks better than I thought it would be. I was worried they would take the songs and shoe-horn them into a story that bore no relation to what was being sung (like Mama Mia, We Will Rock You etc...). At least they seem to tell the story of Motown and use the songs in performance as much as anything else, rather than the narrative.

On Berry Gordy: 'He knows more about entertainment (money) than all of us combined.' :lol:

Edited by Matt Male

Not looking forward to the West End version...Gary Wilmott, Lenny Henry and maybe a couple of minor characters from Eastenders maybe? :wicked:

There's a new CD due out to coincide with the opening of the show next month .....

No track listing yet but It makes sense for it to include the songs featured in the show (though as the CD just states 'Songs that inspired the Broadway show' -- it may just be the big 60's hits again).

The guy who's playing Marvin looks much more like Smokey to me (especially if he has an Afro wig on stage).

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Edited by Roburt

Just looking on the websit at buying tickets and looking through the Ensemble cast I see one Marva Hicks?

Anybody planning on going to this from UK?

MARVA HICKS ................

She was signed to Infinity Records in 78/79/80 and had a single out ("Looking Over My Shoulder") that was big on the MS scene.

In 1985, Frankie Beverly was producing some tracks on her but they never came out. Signed with Polydor in 1991.

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Edited by Roburt

  • 4 weeks later...

The show has now opened on Broadway ( but it's still in the PREVIEW stage) ......

By all accounts it is over running its time slot and so some of the 60 or so song snippets are gonna have to be edited out.

Hope they don't edit out two of the new songs in the show -- “It’s In the Groove That Counts” or “Hail to the Beat”.

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I’m off to NY in June and fancy seeing this. The Ticketmaster link is working anymore. Any ideas of how I can find out more?

 

I’d love to see Marva Hicks.

Yes Kev. Cheers!

 

I see Ryan Shaw is in the cast too!

Edited by daved

I looked at this as well because I'm going to be in NY in late August early September, but I thought the ticket prices were absolutely horrendous !

I think they're standard Broadway prices Dave.

Saw the show. Pretty lame script, but they really found some incredibly talented folks for the cast. Standouts were the guy who plays Smokey, the young lad doing Michael Jackson, and the Diana lady. Highly entertaining and well worth seeing despite Berry-aggrandizing tone and clumsy dialogue. 

  • 3 months later...

Seems the show is still selling out every night and though the critics mauled it, the audience (in the whole) are loving it.

It's reported that the show's gross take each week is just under $1.5 million and its this years biggest hit on Broadway.

Tickets (via lastminute.com) are just over £80 each (including all fees)

Edited by Roburt

We're looking to go in April 2014, hope it's still going then. :)

I didn't make it when I visited in June but it was clear it was popular. Almost sold out every night, great reviews and no reduced tickets in the Times Square booth

Saw it last month, we were lucky to get tickets as it is sold out months in advance.

We got the tickets from the 'little' sports ticket outlet in Times Square $150 each. Not the TKTS one

post-242-0-13861200-1376175225_thumb.jpg

 

I really enjoyed it.

 

Didn't realise that the reason for there being so many Motown labels was that radio stations would only plug one record at a time from each label.

The audience was 50% black over the age of 60 so I would love to have known who they were (and whether they had any records at home)  

I haven't seen Jersey Boys yet so can't compare the two

 

  • 2 weeks later...

Seems that some of the present cast are getting a bit restless & are wanting to move on.

So the producers have organised 'open-casting' days at the NY theatre where the show is playing. Casting starts on Sept 13th.

.. ALSO ....... a touring version of the show hits the (US) road next year. Casting for the folk who will appear in that will take place in Chicago (Oriental Theatre) on Sept 14th. Touring show is expected to open next April.

  • 3 months later...

Saw it last month, we were lucky to get tickets as it is sold out months in advance.

 

Sales levels have been released for the show and it seems that for 35 of the 36 weeks it had been running so far it has taken over $1million. The 36th week it fell short by just over $40,000. One week it took 106% of potential gross (over $1.5million -- meaning every seat was sold + standing room sales on top)  

Has anyone seen this yet?

Worth a trip to NY?

Looks like a quality production, apart from the bone comments by the 'Rev' Jackson, everyone certainly seems to'get it'.

Regards,

Dave

https://youtu.be/vAJFno2ijo0

I was in New York last week, and decided I would go and see the motown musical, my 1st ever musical show. I didn't really know what to expect,but to be quite honest it was brilliant

I have always liked motown , but prefere the rarer unissued stuff as opposed to the commercial records that most people associate with motown .the two stand out artists for me were the Diana ross actress ,and the Michael Jackson actor (singer) who had everyone in the theatre standing to applaud him .he was special (Raymond luke ) and I ,m not really a Michael Jackson fan. Its the first time in a very long time that a few commercial motown songs have given me goose bumps , and even bought a slight tear to my eyes, so it must have been good .   I went to see the jersey boys, the next night ,but felt that it didn't give me nowhere near the same sort of buzz. the Frankie valli actor was a good singer ,but couldn't reach a lot of the notes that he needed to ,to make it really good

    I will post some images from the program when I get a minute

 

      regards paul

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