Michael Lovesmith

This weekend in Detroit, the birthplace of Motown records, celebrations are being held for Motown's diamond anniversary, marking 60 years of the label founded by Berry Gordy. Motown shares its legacy in the UK with the legendary Motown catalogue which is bought to life in MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, a story by Berry Gordy which uncovers how MOTOWN changed music history and created the soundtrack of a generation.

I always felt that the Beatles' songS of peace and love had as much to do with the fall of communism as much as Pres. Reagan's 1987 Berlin prouncement, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall".

Motown The Musical, the Tony Award-nominated tribute to the musical greats of the 1960s and '70s, brings its signature sound and American dream story to Starlight Theatre for six performances August 22-27. The acclaimed musical follows the true life story of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. on his journey from featherweight boxer to heavyweight music mogul. The man who founded Motown records in Detroit in 1959 went on to launch the careers of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and so many more.

Despite clunky writing, Berry Gordy's autobiographical musical is packed with great songs and terrific performances.

MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL is a jukebox musical that premiered on Broadway in April 2013, receiving four Tony Award nominations. Based on Berry Gordy's 1994 autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown, it tells the story of how he founded and ran the Motown record label. It also touches on his relationships with Diana Ross (Allison Semmes), Marvin Gaye (Jarran Muse), and Smokey Robinson (Jesse Nager). Digging deep into the Motown catalog, the show contains over 60 songs. With that many songs one would expect a pretty thin book; however, by wisely placing most of the focus on Gordy (Chester Gregory) and Ross' relationship and the rise and fall of Motown, we are given a compelling portrait of both Gordy and the music industry. MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL is a celebration of the Motown sound… that sound that joined black and white America in ways nothing else has equaled before or since...that magical period in our past when we were invited to go dancing in the street to a brand new beat.

MOTOWN the Musical could've been a hokey disaster that tried to cobble great hits together in some strained reach of a storyline, but it isn't. MOTOWN's plot is not contrived but completely realistic and heart-warmingly human. Baltimore and Motor City may be more like strained siblings than kissing cousins, but in some deep sense, Detroit IS Baltimore and this musical will resonate most particularly here, most particularly now. MOTOWN deserves to be not just a Broadway phenomenon but a part of our collective culture. It's fun, it's funny, it's sexy and it's full of the sort of hopeful commitment to brighter futures that used to be part of the American Dream.

How do you cram 50 hit songs, over 90 characters, and 25 years of history from one of music's most important companies into a dramatically satisfying, two hour and 45 minute musical? The answer is, you don't; but based on the enthusiastic response to MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, playing at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through March 15th, that really doesn't matter. What does matter is that the music of Motown (the record company and the musical) is here to make people happy. That mantra is repeated multiple times during the show's most difficult situations by its central figure, Berry Gordy. According to the musical, Motown's founder created the most successful independent record label of all-time on little more than determination and a desire to spread joy. As anyone familiar with Motown's mile-long string of hits, or the stage show that they inspired, can attest to, Gordy, Hitsville U.S.A., and MOTOWN THE MUSICAL more than delivered on creating joy for countless generations of music fans.

Hal Leonard will release a piano/vocal selections book for Motown: The Musical at the end of this month, it was announced today.

It was the best of musicals, it was the worst of musicals.  It was a score of wisdom, it was a book of foolishness.  It was the epoch of belief in the entertainment value of songs like 'Dancing In The Streets' and 'My Girl,' it was the epoch of incredulity in hearing lines like 'Your little Stevie is a wonder' and 'You built a legacy of love.'  We had everything before us, we had nothing before us.