Motown Musical: Official Thread

[smark21]

She is on vacation for six weeks. Funny how Miss Ross once said she had no understudy, and now an understudy is assuming the role of Miss Ross for six weeks in Motown the Musical:

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/171176/felicia-boswell-to-dazzle-audiences-as-diana-ross-in-motown-for-six-week-run/

[supremester]

We saw the new Miss Ross last Thursday - she has some work to do but did, in one scene, kind of look like her and there were a couple moves. Other than that, ........well, she had a rehearsal scheduled for the next day at 1pm. If I were Berry, I'd replace her with Syreeta.

[snakepit]

I saw the show on July 2nd...
enjoyed it , good story pitched at the right level for casual fan...
All the cast were excellent except for the Diana Ross ......she was awful

[jobeterob]

I saw the show on July 2nd...
enjoyed it , good story pitched at the right level for casual fan...
All the cast were excellent except for the Diana Ross ......she was awful

Interesting take Snakepit; because that lady got one of the few Tony Nominations that Motown the Musical garnered.

[snakepit]

Well she didn't impress our party......sounded off key and at times sounded nothing like Ross, which I assume she was meant to, to some degree.
Still it was a good show

[marymary]

I hope that this musical tours since it will probably get to me on the west coast before I ever get back to NY!

Can someone tell me what "book" everyone is referring to, is it To Be Loved or was there another book specifically written to be the basis of this musical?

And I saw upthread that there was an interview w/ Shelly Berger and Otis Williams re: a Temptations musical...now I would love to see that! No lack of drama or back catalog of music to draw from. Whenever the TV movie is re-run I have to stop what I'm doing to watch. It's obviously a pipe dream considering that the Motown musical is so fresh but I'd love to see that happen eventually.

[smark21]

For a musical, the “book” refers to the story or script of the show. It doesn’t necessarily have to be based on a book. But Motown the Musical is primarily based on Berry Gordy’s autobiography “To Be Loved”.

[jobeterob]

I read that it had to run for a year or so before it makes any money. Can those of you who know about Broadway explain.

[smark21]

Simple---very high expenses for the theater and all the labor involved. Broadway is unionized and Broadway shows have to have a certain number of employees who are there to do a very specific task at union rates and nothing else as there are very strict labor rules in the contract. Throw in advertising costs and it takes a long time for a Broadway show to make it into the black. Most Broadway shows lose money, even if they are hits.

[milven]

Revisited Motown The Musical last night and it remained just as entertaining for me as the first time that I saw it in previews. I noticed some changes. Gladys Knight & The Pips sang a song this time, The Jackson 5 did a medley that wasn't there in previews and the ending of the play which took place at the Motown 25 gala was different.

There was not even a hint of a Supremes Reunion. And someone had to whisper in Diana's ear that Berry was in the audience. She acted surprised and it is then that she called him up on stage. He then made a little speech. None of this was in the previews.

Also, Diana was played by a stand in last night. She was very good, but I did like the original actress better.

Every seat was full, and during the intermission, I heard people saying only good things about the show.

As a fan of Motown, I can see that they used quite a bit of poetic license, [[like the finale of Motown 25 being MOUNTAIN instead of SOMEDAY,) but the show was entertaining to Motown fans and Broadway fans. I am both.

[jobeterob]

That makes me wish I could go see it. A daughter in law went to NYC this summer and went to one of the other hit shows! Bah...................