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  1. #1
    smark21 Guest

    Leads, Director of Motown the Musical visit Hitsville


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    The actor playing Mr Berry Gordy and the actress playing Miss Diane Ross also stopped by the Motown museum yesterday.

    http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...|Entertainment

    Roberta

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    November 28, 2012 at 1:00 am
    Stars of Broadway's 'Motown' research roles at museum
    By Susan Whitall
    The Detroit News
    1Comments

    Purchase Image Zoom Brandon Victor Dixon and Valisia LeKae will portray Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Supreme Diana Ross in the coming musical. The two peppered Motown Historical Museum chief curator Lina Stephens with questions in a visit Tuesday. [[Daniel Mears / The Detroit News)It's not every day that Berry Gordy Jr. and Diana Ross stop by the Motown Historical Museum.

    OK, it was Broadway's Berry Gordy and Diana Ross who posed arm in arm for photos on the steps of 2648 W. Grand Blvd.

    Their real names are Brandon Victor Dixon [[playing Motown founder Gordy) and Valisia LeKae [[portraying Ross, the projects girl who became Motown's supreme diva).

    Dixon and LeKae were on their first visit to the museum to research their roles in "Motown: The Musical," which starts previews on Broadway March 11. [[Tickets are available at motownthemusical.com, or by calling 877-250-2929).

    "It's just been a very natural and easy process," says Dixon, of preparations for his role. "One of the main tenets of Motown is the family and the love," which the actor was finding out about in his conversations with Motown artists, staff and Gordy family members.

    At the museum, Dixon and LeKae peppered chief curator Lina Stephens with questions, and LeKae gushed over a sequined top and silver boots belonging to Martha Reeves.

    Director Charles Randolph-Wright was also at the museum Tuesday, in town to supervise second call-backs for auditions that were held in early November. "It was important that I come to Detroit because it happened here, and I wanted to show this community how important it is that the musical is authentic," Randolph-Wright says. "Mr. Gordy couldn't be here, so I had to be."

    It's been a longtime dream of Gordy's to have a Broadway musical based upon his life, starting with his early years on Detroit's east side as part of the large, striving Gordy clan, but also tracing the story of Motown, a worldwide phenomenon that started in that little west side house that is now the Motown museum.

    "Everybody from Motown has their view of what happened there, this is Berry Gordy's view," says the director.

    Gordy has been very hands-on, "which is wonderful for me," Randolph-Wright says. "I've never enjoyed working on anything as much as this. This is my idol! This is the person who gave me permission to dream big."

    Compressing so much history into an evening of musical theater has been a daunting task, especially winnowing down the vast Motown catalog to an evening of music. "When people ask me how long it is, I say '15 hours,' " he quips.

    The main characters — Gordy, Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, etc. — have been cast, but Randolph-Wright is looking for boys to understudy the actor who will play Gordy, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson as children.

    One singer the director hasn't found yet is a Melvin Franklin-type bass. The Temptations singer's voice was particularly low.

    In auditions, Randolph-Wright just cuts to the chase. "I just say OK, sing the line 'And the band plays on' from 'Ball of Confusion,' " Randolph says. "If they can do that …"

    swhitall@detnews.com

    twitter.com/swhitall


    From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2DXYVLKaA

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