After all, sometimes you would be looking at the real Stevie Wonder at the hearing and then you look on stage to see his imitator stage, Ahmad Elias Lewis. On one side of the audience, the real Mickey Stevenson watched intently as a reasonable facsimile of his young self-jive-talking tried to rush a young Berry Gordy in hiring (Gordy did and Stevenson went on to co-write and produce hits like "Dancing in the Street ").
And there he sat down to Smokey Robinson, calmly watching the scene as Nicholas Christopher, the young actor who plays him, acted as Gordy comic role, becoming hysterical at the thought of moving to California with Motown (earthquakes, you see). And touching, three daughters Florence Ballard afternoon saw as the story relates the problems of his mother as she became increasingly unreliable on stage at the Supremes.
This is the story of the origin of Gordy, from their point of view, and has a lot of history to cover and a lot of vocal groups are stuck in three hours. Some of the principles of narrative seems to have been compressed a bit of the original Broadway production, but it's good to at least listen to some of the greats like James Jamerson Funk Brothers and Benny Benjamin name-checked.
A segment that featured disc jockeys from around the country playing songs from Motown included WJBK Tom Clay, initially brushes Gordy out, saying "We are a pop station, did not play race records."
The Detroit Public explodes at the mention of several of the names of the athletes, "including Martha Jean Queen and" Frantic "Ernie Durham.
One of the biggest ovations, and rightly, came when young Shannon L. Reed came to dance like Michael Jackson with the Jackson 5, purple hat cocked just so, his purple stripe vest an exact copy of one of the 70 teams of MJ . Shannon's voice perfectly evoked the beauty of young attractive Jackson's voice on songs like "Who's Lovin 'You" and "I Want You Back".
Before the show, Leon Outlaw Jr., who plays Jackson, said the biggest challenge of playing pop icon was to capture her shyness when not performing. "I'm not shy," he shrugged. And yes, like those over-the-top (but absolutely authentic) funky outfits he gets out. "I wish I could use in my daily life," he said.
Jarran Muse as Marvin Gaye was also impressive as he sang "I Heard It through the Grapevine" and later, some of "What's going on," a cappella, several voices in Motown-heavy audience shouted in approval. Muse has the necessary height and seems to be convincing too.
At one point in the musical, Allison Semmes as Diana Ross barre in a fabulous white silver dress singing "Reach Out and Touch."
Semmes threaded members of the audience to sing with her, and this being a premiere audience Detroit, almost everyone was a ringer. He invited a woman with blond hair auburn to sing with her, and she sang the lyrics with special verve to the delight of the audience. Semmes When asked her name, she said quietly, "Dorinda Clark Cole" - one of the Clark Sisters.
For the final curtain call, producers Kevin McCollum and Doug Morris joined Gordy and Motown alumni many as could fit on stage, including Robinson, Wonder, Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Claudette Robinson Miracles and Velvelettes.
Gordy had the microphone and was comically unwilling to give it up, even the real Stevie Wonder, despite the stimulus McCollum producer. Finally, the microphone went to Stevie, who sang "I Wish" to its dramatic counterpart Lewis bravely took the microphone and finished the song.
The music that incredible body of songs, was the main attraction for this musical, and several musicians from Motown, including Clay McMurray producer and guitarist Dennis Coffey, as approved music was presented.
"They captured the sound of Motown, this fund," Coffey said. "Most of Broadway music does not sound like that. Berry must have worked with them to make sure that happened."
