Sydney Morton, Valisia LeKae and Ariana DeBose as The Supremes in the Broadway production of Motown the Musical. Picture: Joan Marcus
Tickets for the West End production of Motown the Musical, opening at the Shaftesbury Theatre in February 2016, are released for sale today (15 May 2015). With music and lyrics from the legendary Motown catalogue and book by Motown founder Berry Gordy, Motown the Musical is directed by Charles Randolph-Wright. London previews will begin on 11 February 2016 with press night on 8 March 2016 with the show booking to 22 October 2016. Casting and further information about Motown the Musical will be released shortly.
Berry Gordy said: “I am thrilled to be bringing Motown back to the UK 50 years after our first visit back in 1965 when Diana Ross and The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and I came to London for our very first UK tour. Half a century later we are delighted to be returning, this time bringing our story and the Motown sound on stage at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the legendary West End.”
With just $800 borrowed from his family, Motown founder Berry Gordy, goes from featherweight boxer to heavyweight music mogul, discovering and launching the careers of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and many more. Motown the Musical uncovers the true story of the legendary record label that changed music history and created the soundtrack of a generation.
Featuring a 16-piece orchestra playing 50 Motown tracks including ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, ‘I’ll Be There’, ‘Dancing in the Street’, ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’, ‘My Girl’, ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ and ‘For Once in My Life’, Charles Randolph-Wright’s production tells the story behind the classic hits.
Tony-nominated Motown the Musical received its world premiere in April 2013 in New York at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre andrecouped its $18 million investment by the end of 2014. The first US national tour opened to critical acclaim last spring in Chicago, grossing $20 million dollars during its standing room only 16-week run, and continues to play to packed house across America.
Motown the Musical has music supervision is by orchestrations and arrangements by Ethan Popp, co-orchestrations and additional arrangements by Bryan Cook, dance arrangements by Zane Mark and music direction by Gareth Weedon. Choreography is by Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams, scenic design by David Korins, costumes by Esosa, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound by Peter Hylenski and projections by Daniel Brodie.
Motown the Musical will be produced in the West End by Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris, Berry Gordy and Adam Spiegel.
Berry Gordy is the founder of Motown, the enterprise that nurtured the careers of, amongst others, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5. Gordy is also a songwriter, producer, director, boxer, entrepreneur and teacher. Actively involved in the Civil Rights movement, he also released the recorded speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His films include Lady Sings the Blues, which received five Academy Award nominations, and Mahogany. In 2011, President Barack Obama honoured Gordy with a Salute to Motown evening at the White House. Gordy’s contribution to music and popular culture is chronicled in his autobiography, To Be Loved: The Music, The Magic, The Memories of Motown.
Charles Randolph-Wright is a director, writer and producer for theatre, film, and television. His theatre directing credits include Sophisticated Ladies and the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined at Arena Stage, the 75th Anniversary international tour of Porgy and Bess, Love/Life at Lincoln Center with Brian Stokes Mitchell, the national tour of Guys and Dolls, Blood Knot at ACT in San Francisco and The Diva is Dismissed at the Public Theater. Randolph-Wright wrote the plays Blue, The Night is a Child, Cuttin’ Up, and co-wrote Just Between Friends on Broadway.
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Motown the Musical – Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York – Review
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