Broadway Motown Plays Final Performance Today | Playbill

News Broadway Motown Plays Final Performance Today The return of the touring musical lasted less than three weeks.
Allison Semmes as Diana Ross Joseph Marzullo/WENN

The Broadway encore of the 2013 jukebox musical Motown closes July 31, less than three weeks after it resumed performances at the Nederlander Theatre. The show gives its 24th and final performance today.

The production had been announced as a limited, 18-week Broadway engagement that was built into the show’s national tour. No formal opening night was held for this production.

The show's producers issued the following statement July 21: “We promised that the hit show would return to New York following the profitable engagement that finished on Broadway in January 2015. Now, after the launch of a record-breaking London company and a hugely successful, sold-out First National Tour, we are delighted that this amazing company of actors and musicians has been able to bring the production full circle back to Broadway where the production began, for the final stop of the tour.”

According to figures released by the Broadway League for the week ending July 17, Motown sold $424,198 worth of tickets out of a potential $1,158,560. Some 71 percent of its seats were filled that week.

The return production began performances July 12. The show brims with songs made famous by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Michael Jackson, The Jackson Five and other pop acts of the 1960s and 1970s, whose work was released by Motown Records.

This encore engagement incorporates revisions to the show’s book and structure, which were reflected in the national tour and current London production.

Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, the show has a book by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, who is also co-producer with Tony winner Kevin McCollum (Rent, In the Heights, Avenue Q) and Sony Music CEO Doug Morris.

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Motown the Musical
Joan Marcus

The cast includes Chester Gregory as Berry Gordy, Allison Semmes as Diana Ross, Jesse Nager as Smokey Robinson, Jarran Muse as Marvin Gaye, and J.J. Batteast and Leon Outlaw, Jr. as Young Berry Gordy/Stevie Wonder/Michael Jackson.

The ensemble includes Nik Alexander, Erick Buckley, Chante Carmel, Chadaé, Lynorris Evans, Anissa Felix, Talya Groves, Rod Harrelson, Robert Hartwell, Trisha Jeffrey, Jamie LaVerdiere, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Loren Lott, Jarvis B. Manning, Jr., Krisha Marcano, Marq Moss, Rashad Naylor, Ramone Owens, Olivia Puckett, Nicholas Ryan, Jamison Scott, Joey Stone, Doug Storm, Martina Sykes, Julius Thomas III, Nik Walker and Galen J. Williams.

Motown originally arrived on Broadway March 11, 2013, and officially opened April 11. It ended its original run January 18, 2015 after 775 performances. The production has since opened in London.

For tickets visit Ticketmaster.com or MotownTheMusical.com.

 
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