What becomes a legend most? Well, if you are Berry Gordy, a Broadway show about your life and rise to the top of the music industry ought to do the trick. On Thursday, April 18th BroadwayBlack attended a showing of Motown: The Musical at the Lunt-Fontane Theater. In an age where everyone from superhero characters (Spiderman) to infamous reality stars (Anna Nicole Smith) are being granted stage adaptations, one simply does not know what to expect when attending a show based on a person who is a household name.
Berry Gordy is one of the premier legends of the music industry. There most likely isn’t a musical icon from the 50’s-90’s that he has not had some hand in shaping and inspiring. He’s given us Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder – just to name a few. We, at Broadway Black, were curious to see which one of these legends would show up in this telling, and how the story behind the creation and success of Motown would unravel itself to us.
The show began with Gordy, who is played by Brandon Victor Dixon, appearing annoyed over the planning of Motown 25, a show dedicated to the label and its stars on its 25th anniversary. His reason for feeling this way being that most of the stars he created have pretty much all left Motown for bigger record labels. And with this beginning audience members are catapulted back in time to see a young Berry Gordy be inspired by Joe Louis’ defeat of Max Schmeling, an adult Gordy borrowing money from his family to start his record label, and a seasoned Gordy being in charge of the most popular acts of his time — as well as the heart of Supremes’ lead singer — Diana Ross.
Although Motown: The Musical is meant to tell the story of Motown and its founder, it is also a love story on several levels. It tells of the love between a man and his family, the love artists have for their craft, and the love between a man and a woman as well as a man and his friend. It is no secret that one of the most successful singers to come from under Berry Gordy’s tutelage is Diana Ross, but what may not be known to most is that Gordy and Ross once shared an intimate, romantic relationship. The show pays homage and honors this love as well as Diana Ross (Valisia LeKae) as one of the most successful female singers of her generation. Gordy’s friendship with Smokey Robinson (Charl Brown) also takes centerstage . Smokey has been one of Gordy’s greatest friends throughout the years, and the audience gets to see how success and low-points helped solidify their relationship.
Of course, one of the main highlights of the show is the music. We could not help but clap our hands and tap our feet to the rhythms of the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops and Gladys Knight and the Pips. There are over fifty hits in the show proving that at one point in time Gordy was a musical Midas. Motown: The Musical provides not only a well-needed musical education for the current and upcoming generation, but also allows us to get to know the man who helped set up the foundation for the black musicians of today and years to come.
