Diana Ross News

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy have announced that MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL original Broadway cast member Jesse Nager has joined the First National Tour in the leading role of Smokey Robinson.

MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, the smash hit musical featuring the music of the legendary Motown catalogue and a book by Berry Gordy, will play its final performance of its current Broadway engagement this Sunday, January 18, 2015 at The Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46 Street) and will return to Broadway in a Nederlander theatre to be announced in Summer 2016.

This just in! Tony winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel will sing the National Anthem and John Legend will sing 'America The Beautiful' as part of Super Bowl XLIX pregame festivities at University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona on Sunday, February 1, the NFL and NBC announced today. The performances will be televised live on NBC prior to kickoff.

Grammy and Oscar award-winning vocalist ?Patti Austin returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a performance devoted to the brilliance of Washington, DC native Duke Ellington and 'The First Lady of Song,' Ella Fitzgerald, Thursday, February 19 at 8 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore, and Friday, February 20 at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 22 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, the hit musical featuring the music of the legendary Motown catalogue and a book by Berry Gordy, ends its Broadway run today, January 18 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. MOTOWN is set to return to Broadway at a Nederlander theatre to be announced in July 2016. Last spring, the first National Tour of Motown the Musical opened to critical acclaim, grossing an impressive $20 Million dollars during a packed sixteen-week run, and is now heading to major markets across the US. MOTOWN will also head to London's West End this summer.

The Amazing Max, bursting with striking visual magic, comedy and loads of audience participation, will be on-stage at the White Plains Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 24 at 2:00 pm. Magician Max Darwin makes objects appear out of thin air, defies the laws of physics, and performs miracles inches from spectator's faces. 'An awesome and hilarious live magic show' PBS Kids. 'Max Darwin is indeed amazing' Time Out Kids. This show is the wackiest, most interactive, highest energy magic show for families today. The Amazing Max selects all of his assistants at random from the audience, and each adds a unique element to the show. 'His ability to astound is something to see.' (The Huffington Post).

While in Minneapolis, MN company members from Motown the Musical, under the direction of cast member Christian Dante White, worked with celebrity photographer Brent Dundore to capture the essence of the Motown artists they portray every night onstage in a high fashion shoot. Scroll down for photos!

The Kings Theatre announced today programming for its inaugural 2015 year, as the newly revitalized entertainment palace reopens in February.

Music legend Andraé Crouch has died. The Grammy and Dove Award winner passed away on Thursday, January 8, 2015

Actor and comedian Howie Mandel performs his stand-up act at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts today, Saturday, Jan. 10, at 5 and 8 p.m.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will return to JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater on Sunday, January 18 at 9:30 PM to open the Winter/Spring 2015 Season. The Meeting* has been called 'delicious and delightfully droll' by The New York Post and 'hilarious and sardonic' by The Village Voice. A story for Slate.com called the evening 'so deliciously icy that it left me shivering with fear and delight.' The Fall 2014 shows sold out after a New York Times 'Arts & Leisure' piece ran in September. The January show will include a tribute to Broadway legend Ethel Merman, with special guests Klea Blackhurst, Erin Markey, Nora Mae Lyng, Molly Pope and Ben Rimalower. Tracy Stark serves as the show's Music Director.

Any long-time theatregoer will have horror stories of audiences that got too enthusiastic at a show with well-known music, especially jukebox musicals made up of mostly pre-existing pop tunes. I've known people to hum or outright sing along, whoop, cheer and scream like they're at a concert, or even get up and dance in the aisles. At most shows, this behavior is frowned upon by other audience members, or suppressed by ushers. However, at 'Motown,' the Berry Gordy bio-musical, this engaged behavior is encouraged- hell, it's part of the show. You see, audiences at 'Motown' fill a triplicate role: first, the traditional audience at a play, watching the events unfold through the fourth wall; second, the (in-world) audience watching a Motown retrospective show; finally, the various real, historical audiences at performances by Motown artists, from Parisians getting to hear the first international performances by The Supremes, to a spontaneously integrated audience in the Deep South, at a Motown show interrupted by gunshots.

Motown legends, THE TEMPTATIONS and THE FOUR TOPS, begin their special one-week engagement on Broadway from tonight, December 29, 2014. The show runs through January 4, 2015.

Electric Youth (EY) 2015, the international touring ensemble of talented singer-dancers trained at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA), will debut at THE BLACK BOX in downtown Franklin on Saturday, January 10, performing two shows at 7:00 and 9:30 p.m. Backed by an eight-piece band of world-class musicians, Electric Youth delivers a fun, high-energy evening of family entertainment with an extensive range of contemporary pop, classic rock, Broadway and country hits for audiences all ages. The EY shows at THE BLACK BOX will feature fully choreographed performances of Adele, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz, Frank Sinatra, Styx and more.

A slew of plays and musicals will open on Broadway in Spring 2015, but where there is good news, there is also sad. To make room for highly-anticipated new productions such as Finding Neverland, On the Twentieth Century and Doctor Zhivago, some of our most beloved shows must close for good. Below, BroadwayWorld salutes the shows that will soon be taking their final Broadway bows. Get your tickets now to catch them while you still can!

The Palace Theatre Box Office (1564 Broadway @ 47th street) opens today at 12 noon for the original Motown legends, THE TEMPTATIONS and THE FOUR TOPS, special one-week engagement on Broadway from December 29, 2014 - January 4, 2015. Tickets, priced from $52 - $142, are also available at ticketmaster.com/tnt. This special limited engagement is presented by Robert Ahrens, Eva Price, Manny Kladitis, A Broadway Concert Event and Live Nation Entertainment.

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and The Orpheum Theatre, are proud to announce that single tickets for MOTOWN THE MUSICAL will go on sale today, December 19th at 10:00 AM.

Singer, writer, entertainer and founder of The Supremes Mary Wilson comes to the Suncoast Showroom January 17 and 18.

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and Hennepin Theatre Trust are proud to welcome Motown The Musical, tonight, December 16, through the 28th at Hennepin Theatre Trust's Orpheum Theatre (910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis) as part of the 2014-2015 Thrivent Financial Broadway on Hennepin Season.