A Night To Remember...

NEW YORK — Motown’s memory lane wound its way up the red carpet and into Broadway history Sunday night.

On an evening that testified to the enduring magic of the Detroit-born legacy, an A-list crowd that included Diana Ross, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Sting gathered for the opening of “Motown: The Musical,” as the show vies to become the next Broadway smash.

“This is exciting, huh?” Ross said as she greeted friends on her way into the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. By intermission, she was dabbing away tears and exchanging hugs with Motown founder and former flame Berry Gordy Jr. after watching their young lives together unfold onstage.

Sunday’s celebrity audience watched a feel-good show that’s brisk and vivacious, with dozens of whirling, twirling musical numbers to punctuate the tale of Motown Records at the hands of Gordy. Gordy, who wrote and produced the musical, was a focal point out on the red carpet outside the Lunt-Fontanne, festooned in Motown gold.

But on a night that drew figures from Jane Fonda to Red Foo to Kathie Lee Gifford, it was Ross who by far drew the biggest screams from the hundreds of fans gathered across 46th Street. Her former Supremes compatriot Mary Wilson had made her way down the red carpet 20 minutes earlier, voicing her support for Gordy’s Broadway debut — “one of those things where dreams do come true. There are a lot of different sides to a story,” said Wilson. “I’m glad Berry finally got a chance to tell his.”

Straight and safe, “Motown” probably won’t be transforming the dramatic arts. But the show’s three hours offer proud and poignant moments for anyone with an emotional investment in Motown and Detroit history. “Magnifico,” Spike Lee said at intermission.“So much fun,” said Sting. “You can’t fail with that music.”

For a Sunday audience that included many of the figures being portrayed onstage, it was often a deeply moving experience. Motown producer-songwriter Eddie Holland got teary eyed while “reliving the emotions of the greatest experience of my life.It depicts the spirit of the company, the struggles, the camaraderie,” he said. “It relived something that was almost unimaginable to have happened in the first place.”

Pegged as a hit

Three years after the label notched its 50th anniversary, the show is a test of the Motown brand — and a chance to refuel the label’s mythology in a grand new setting. While critics’ reviews this week will set the show’s reputation in the theater world, consensus among Broadway watchers is that “Motown” is on track to be a hit. Producers and investors are banking millions that the show will become a long-running hit at the Lunt-Fontanne, just around the corner from Times Square.

The story opens at rehearsals for 1983’s “Motown 25” television special in L.A., as Gordy wrestles with the prospect of selling the company and “turning back on a dream.” From there Detroit is the main setting as the musical flashes back to trace Gordy’s rise amid doubters and civil rights struggles, as Motown and its homegrown stars become the face of black crossover pop.

Much of the story’s drama derives from Gordy’s battles with the strong women in his life: his sister Esther Edwards, business partner Suzanne de Passe and — most important — Ross. Gordy’s mentorship and romance with the Supremes star becomes the show’s pivotal undercurrent. Brandon Victor Dixon is solid as an approachable, sympathetic Gordy, while Valisia LeKae makes for a dynamic Ross, who grows from coy schoolgirl to powerful diva over the story’s 25-year timeline.

As you’d expect — and hope — the musical numbers are the big highlight, a rat-a-tat-tat run through 55 Motown hits. Sunday’s crowd had boisterous applause for ebullient ensemble numbers such as “Dancing in the Street” and the entrance of a boyhood Michael Jackson, played charmingly by young Raymond Luke Jr. The show taps many of the best-known touchstones from Motown lore: The $800 Gordy family loan. The barrier-breaking Motortown Revues. The freewheeling quality-control meetings where records got green-lighted or nixed. For many Detroiters, details such as the Flame Show Bar and disc jockey Tom Clay will prompt knowing nods.

While not every Motown act gets lengthy face time — the show whisks through folks such as the Marvelettes and Martha Reeves — some behind-the-scenes figures become prominent, colorful characters, including talent chief Mickey Stevenson, artist manager Shelley Berger and sales head Barney Ales.The show might get picked over by Motown zealots on one front and theater purists on another: For the former, there may be too much Gordy; for the latter, too little story. But with its uplifting energy and barrage of familiar tunes, “Motown” seems designed for a sweet spot that will appeal to tourists and everyday theatergoers craving a shot of nostalgic entertainment. Show officials are already trumpeting big stats: Every performance sold out during the four-week preview run leading into Sunday night, tallying more than $1 million each week — a first for a show starting cold on Broadway.

Before the stars moved to the Roseland Ballroom for an after-party, a lengthy curtain call closed the show as one by one, Motown stars headed onto the stage to join the cast. First was a grinning Gordy, followed by Ross, who made a beeline for actress LeKae and enveloped her in an adoring hug — perhaps the biggest endorsement a diva can dole out. It was their first meeting. The crowd was soon joined by Smokey Robinson, then Stevie Wonder, then Mary Wilson — who pasted a kiss with her fingertips on Ross’s cheek.

 

Before the guests and cast sang out the night with “Dancing in the Street,” Gordy offered a final thought about his triumphant night: “All I want to do is thank you for sharing my dream.”

UPDATE:

A 25 minute video (including Miss Ross) can be seen here