MOTOWN Plays Final Broadway Performance Today

The Broadway return engagement of Motown the Musical, the last stop on the First National Tour, will play its final performance today at The Nederlander Theatre.

The production had been planned as an 18-week limited run, but the grosses for the return never took off.

The Motown the Musical producers said, "We promised that the hit show would return to New York following the profitable engagement that finished on Broadway in January 2015. Now, after the launch of a record-breaking London company and a hugely successful, sold-out First National Tour, we are delighted that this amazing company of actors and musicians has been able to bring the production full circle back to Broadway where the production began, for the final stop of the tour."

Motown The Musical features the music of the legendary Motown catalogue and a book by Berry Gordy, stars Chester Gregory as Berry Gordy, Allison Semmes as Diana Ross, Jesse Nager as Smokey Robinson, Jarran Muse as Marvin Gaye, and J.J. Batteast and Leon Outlaw, Jr. as Young Berry Gordy/Stevie Wonder/Michael Jackson.

The ensemble features Nik Alexander, Erick Buckley, Chante Carmel, Chadaé, Lynorris Evans, Anissa Felix, Talya Groves, Rod Harrelson, Robert Hartwell, Rodney Earl Jackson, Jr.,Trisha Jeffrey, Jamie LaVerdiere, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Loren Lott, Jarvis B. Manning, Jr., Krisha Marcano, Marq Moss, Rashad Naylor, Ramone Owens, Olivia Puckett, Nicholas Ryan, Jamison Scott, Joey Stone, Doug Storm, Martina Sykes, Nik Walker and Galen J. Williams.

Motown The Musical concluded its original world premiere Broadway engagement in January 2015 following 775 performances at The Lunt Fontanne Theatre.

The first National Tour opened to critical acclaim in Chicago in April 2014, and played a standing room only sixteen-week run before going on to break box office records and receive rave reviews in major cities across the country for the last three years and over 900 performances.

The London production of Motown the Musical opened in February to critical acclaim and has extended into 2017 at The Shaftsbury Theatre. In only three short years since its first performance, Motown the Musical has already, around the world, grossed over $300 million at the box office and sold 2.5 million tickets.

Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, Motown the Musical is the real story of the one-of-a-kind sound that hit the airwaves in 1959 and changed our culture forever. This exhilarating show charts Motown Founder Berry Gordy's incredible journey from featherweight boxer to the heavyweight music mogul who launched the careers of Diana Ross, The Supremes, Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and many more. Motown The Musical's creative team features choreography by Patricia Wilcox (A Night with Janis Joplin) and Warren Adams (Toy Story), scenic design by David Korins (Hamilton), costume design by Tony Award nominee ESosa (On Your Feet!) lighting design by Tony Award winner Natasha Katz (An American in Paris), sound design by Tony Award nominee Peter Hylenski (Something Rotten!) and projection design by Daniel Brodie (Aladdin).

Motown The Musical features arrangements and orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award nominee Ethan Popp (School of Rock, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), who also serves as musical supervisor for the orchestra that reproduces the classic "Sound of Young America" for the stage, with co-orchestrations and additional arrangements by Tony Award nominee Bryan Crook("Smash"), dance arrangements by Zane Mark (Holler if Ya Hear Me) and music direction by Joseph Joubert (The Color Purple).

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