Marvin Gaye News

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and Broadway San Jose, a Nederlander Presentation, are proud to present MOTOWN THE MUSICAL in a one-week engagement at San Jose's Center for the Performing Arts (255 Almaden Blvd.) from tonight, June 21, through June 26, 2016.

The 2016 Tony Awards are in the history books, so now it's time to look ahead at the 2016-2017 Broadway season. With new musicals and plays about to descend to Broadway and amazing revivals of classic plays and musicals ready to entrance a new audience, BroadwayWorld has rounded up everything arriving next season!

Where better to escape the New York City heat than in the comfort of a theatre? Below, we're rounding up some of the hottest shows of the summer- brought to you by The New York City Spectacular!

Black Ensemble Theater Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor continues the 40th Anniversary Season (The Season of Greatest Hits) with The Marvin Gaye Story (Don't Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend), written by Jackie Taylor and directed by Daryl D. Brooks. The Marvin GayeStory (Don't Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend) will be performed at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street in Chicago, June 12 - July 10, 2016. The official press opening is Sunday, June 12 at 3:00 pm. Preview dates for the production are June 4, 5, 10 and 11.

The West End production of Motown the Musical has proven its popularity in London.

Verve/UMe is proud to announce, as part of Verve's 60 th anniversary celebration, new vinyl reissues on June 24 for two long unavailable live performance classics by a pair of jazz legends the peerless Ella Fitzgerald's Mack The Knife: Ella In Berlin and funk-master Jimmy Smith's Root Down: Jimmy Smith Live!.

The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Theatre, is proud to announce the addition of four new productions, all with strictly-limited engagements, during the 2016/2017 Winter season. The new lineup will include three Hollywood Pantages return engagements and one L.A. Premiere.

Kevin Black's The Soul of Motor City, which will open at Stage Door Theatre on June 10th and run through July 17th, is the happy realization of a personal goal for the multi-talented director/choreographer.

That old idiom, "History is written by the victors" kept ringing in my head last night as I watched the National Touring Company of "Motown: The Musical" at the Paramount Theatre. Or rather one could say, "History is written by the one telling it." This retelling of the life of Berry Gordy and his creation of Motown Records with a book written by Berry Gordy based on the autobiography by Berry Gordy comes across like a jock in the locker room bragging about all his conquests. But with such bad writing and storytelling coupled with an overabundance of half songs the show feels like a bunch of skewed half-truths and amounts to a tepid and forced evening.

Once again, Bryant Park will be a destination for film buffs on summer nights in New York City, with an incredible line up for the 24thyear of the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival

?New shows on sale this week at bergenPAC: Kix-Friday, August 26, 2016 at 8PM; Tommy James and The Shondells and Felix Cavaliere's Rascals-September 16, 2016 at 8PM; and Mutts Gone Nuts: Canine Cabaret-Sunday November 6, 2016 at 1PM. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 3, 2016 at 11AM at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling bergenPAC's Box Office at 201.227.1030.

SOUL is billed as the untold story of Marvin Gaye - but it's really a dysfunctional family drama, with one participant who happens to be famous.

?The Kennedy Center today announced R&B singer Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds and Broadway star Leslie Odom, Jr. will replace Michael Buble as the headline talent for its upcoming Spring Gala, How Sweet It Is: A Tribute to Marvin Gaye, on Sunday, June 5, 2016 in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Due to required vocal cord surgery, Buble has withdrawn from this performance.

Black Ensemble Theater Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor continues the 40th Anniversary Season (The Season of Greatest Hits) withThe Marvin Gaye Story (Don't Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend), written by Jackie Taylor and directed by Daryl D. Brooks. The Marvin Gaye Story (Don't Talk About My Father Because God Is My Friend) will be performed at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street in Chicago, June 12 - July 10, 2016. The official press opening is Sunday, June 12 at 3:00 pm. Preview dates for the production are June 4, 5, 10 and 11.

MOTOWN is getting a new Smokey! Not only that, but the Daily Mail writes that the West End production of Motown the Musical is extending through October 2017. Obioma Ugoala will join the cast as 'Smokey Robinson' starting July 4, 2016.

The ultimate '60s music battle!  Who will reign supreme in this amazing night of music?! Join the Motones and Jerseys for an evening of '60s song, dance and crowd interaction. At the end of the show, YOU decide the winner!

It's been 45 years since the release of Marvin Gaye's momentous album, What's Going On, May 21, 1971, on the Motown subsidiary Tamla Records.

The Apollo Theater today announced the appointment of Kamilah Forbes as the Theater's new Executive Producer. A director, producer, and co­founder of Hi­ARTS/Hip Hop Theater Festival, Forbes will join the Apollo in September 2016.

It's getting warmer! You know what that means, right? Cookouts, sports, parties, and Shadowbox Live's annual greatest hits show, The Best of Shadowbox Live opening at the Shadowbox Live Building at 503 S. Front Street on May 26th!

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and Broadway Sacramento, are proud to announce that MOTOWN THE MUSICAL will play at Community Center Theater for a two-week engagement May 18 - 29. Tickets start at $24 and are available now at the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H Street, Sacramento, or by calling (916) 557-1999; they are also available at the Convention Center Box Office, 1301 L Street, Sacramento, or by calling (916) 808-5181, or online at Tickets.com. Sacramento Community Center Theater is located at 1301 L Street in Sacramento.