It is near impossible to dislike a musical that starts with a sing-off between the Four Tops and the Temptations and goes on to deliver Jackie Wilson singing “Lonely Teardrops,” the Jackson Five belting out “ABC,” Mary Wells’ smooth “My Guy,” Diana Ross and the Supremes crooning — well, lots of their hits.
It’s what gives “Motown: The Musical” its life.
The book, on the other hand, nearly kills it. But more on that later.
The road show of “Motown,” which is at Centennial Hall through Sunday, packs more than 50 songs into its 2 hours and 40 minutes. That means we only get snippets of many of them. But those snippets, backed up by a live orchestra, were enough to draw cheers and applause from the audience on opening night.
And it helped that there were talented singers in the roles of the performers that made Motown such a force in the music industry.
Allison Semmes has Diana Ross’ wispy voice when she speaks, and the power voice when she sings. CJ Wright was an impressive young Michael Jackson. Jarran Muse was electric as Marvin Gaye, and one of the highlights of the show is when he sings a defiant “What’s Going On,” which feels just as relevant today as it did when it was released in 1971.
The first act covers the early years of Motown — and they were impressive years musically. And the second act opening explodes. The unrest of the ’60s and early ’70s was coming to a head, and songs such as “War,” “Ball of Confusion” and “What’s Going On” defined the angst and anger of the era. The stage nearly vibrated with the cast’s energy.
If only the script lived up to the music.
The water-thin story is based on Berry Gordy’s autobiography, “To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown.” Gordy also penned the script, and even wrote a few songs for the show.
It opens in 1983, when Gordy insists he isn’t going to go to the big 25-year anniversary celebration of the music conglomerate he founded. Heck, most everyone abandoned him for bigger labels and bigger bucks. Lawsuits were thrown at him. While he helped make the singers that provided the soundtrack of the ’60s and ’70s, he didn’t want to spend an evening with a bunch of ingrates.
Then he flashes back to his beginnings, and takes us through the making of Motown — he’s gotta go over the past, you see, if he is going to go forward.
Playing Berry is the immensely talented Chester Gregory. He infused him with a vulnerability to give a soft side to his abrasiveness. Gregory made it hard not to like Gordy, though in reality not many found him very likable.
Here’s the issue with this play: the story is almost nonexistent, the characters are sketchily drawn, and the tension it tries to build fizzles.
It kinda drags the whole thing down.
Then again, it’s got tunes such as “Dancing in the Streets,” “Shop Around,” Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” “Mercy Mercy Me,” “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me.” It’s hard to be much of a drag when the music is so wonderful.
