MOTOWN THE MUSICAL music by Motown artists, book by Berry Gordy (Mirvish). At Princess of Wales (300 King West). To November 1. $35-$200. mirvish.com. See listing. Rating: NNN
Berry Gordy was so bent on demonstrating his hit-making prowess that he forgot that Motown The Musical was supposed to be a fully formed Broadway musical, not a revue. As a result, this highly entertaining evening is emotionally hollow.
The show, based on Gordys 1994 memoir, To Be Loved, begins with a battle of the bands as the Temptations and the Four Tops rehearse for the televised 25th anniversary of Motown records. Then it moves to Gordys (Josh Tower) living room, where the record mogul is claiming to his staff that he wont be attending the event.
Flash back to how Gordy started his record company in the late 50s with $800 borrowed from his family and nurtured some of the greatest artists of the 60s, most of whom abandoned him for greener as in greenbacks pastures in the late 70s and early 80s.
A ton of tunes over 40 actually are mostly performed in snippets, but unlike another recent jukebox musical, Beautiful, theres no insight into how the songs were created or what inspired them, and so it winds up being a two-and-a-half-hour hit parade.
There is a mild attempt at finding a theme. One is the relationship between Gordy and Diana Ross (Allison Semmes), whom he meets when shes a teenager. Later, he becomes her romantic partner while he’s managing the Supremes and ushers her into her solo career. This narrative arc is all over the place Dreamgirls already dealt with Rosss ambition. An overlong sequence in which Ross, while performing in Vegas, comes into the audience oozing fake sentiment, looks almost like a takedown.
What could have been a fascinating probe of Gordys race politics is botched entirely. Motown was instrumental in bringing so-called race music to white audiences, and it didnt happen easily. The show reminds us how Gordy sent a revue featuring his growing stable of artists to the South, where they encountered racist threats. But suddenly, during this section, white and black fans are dancing together, with not a head bashed. Huh?
The race issue and Gordys political naivete are dealt with in such a slapdash way that when the first act ends with Marvin Gaye (Jarran Muse) and the ensemble, including Gordy, wondering Whats Goin On? after Martin Luther Kings assassinated, the emotion of the moment doesn’t register.
The performers are fine, but except for Tower, who does what he can with clunky dialogue, and Muse, superb as the troubled, politically animated Gaye, most are doing impressions instead of acting.
But those impressions are very canny, especially Elijah Ahmad Lewis as Stevie Wonder, Nathaniel Cullors as the young Michael Jackson and Semmes as Ross. Semmes shows some chops as she grows from shy teen to uber-diva, moving and sounding just like the superstar, but a few too many flicks of the hair make the performance descend into parody.
The show looks great, with mobile sets by David Korins and flashy costume by Esosa. The songs are glorious, for sure, but so many are packed in, with sometimes just a few lines between them, that the piece has no texture. Book writer Gordy may know pop tunes, but he knows nothing about pacing. You dont catch your breath until an hour in, when Gordy and Ross sing Youre All I Need To Get By, and then youre back gasping for air until Gordys well-performed show-stopper literally Can I Close The Store near the end.
That song was written especially for Motown The Musical. It suggests that, had Gordy not insisted on including practically every previous hit and instead written more new stuff, he could have created a terrific show.
As it is, this one is exhilarating but empty.
susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole
