Day Trip to see Motown

[RW3]

Posted: 1/5/15 at 1:14am

Today, I took my mother to see Motown for her birthday. She had been asking me for months that she wanted to see the show and so I bought tickets. This was her first Broadway since 2002/2003 when we went to see The Lion King at the New Amsterdam. First, in my personal opinion, the interior of the Lunt-Fontanne is quite ugly. Out of the Broadway houses I've been to, it definitely has to be the ugliest. We sat in the Rear Mezzanine and we discovered something. The Mezzanine seats at the Lunt-Fontanne aren't made for tall people (I'm 6'1). So, trying to find a comfortable position to sit was quite a hassle. Motown started promptly at 3:00 and my eyes darted to the first of many theater etiquette breakers. These potentially drunk suburban New Jersey mothers were dancing and singing along! Coincidentally, they were sitting in the last row of the mezzanine, so I secretly wished that they fallen and that I could've laughed. But, they didn't. So, for about every single fun, upbeat number in Act 1, they were dancing. Act 1 of Motown itself was a hot ass mess. There was logical story that was present. The choreography felt cold and it felt that the actors were just going through the motions. However, they sounded really nice. The second violation of theater etiquette I witnessed in Act 1 was the apparent necessary to sing along. I didn't not pay money to hear the audience sing, I paid money to see Broadway actors and actresses sing. So, at the end of Act 1, I didn't really know what was going on and that the only saving grace of the Act was Krystal Joy Brown as Diana Ross. Considering that there isn't a whole lot to work with, Act 2 in my eyes was better. You really started seeing the crumbling of Motown that was occurring. The whole "Reach out" song and sing-along felt gimmicky. However, Krystal Joy Brown saves Act 2 with her acting and vocals. Diana Ross is only character out of the entire musical that at the end, I felt that I understood. The Jackson 5 medley was cute and the audience just ate up the actor that played young Michael Jackson(Samuel Pickens). Then, the ending felt completely rushed and the random encores section felt weird. The characters of Diana and Berry have ZERO chemistry. Josh Tower who played Berry Gordy was just bad and I didn't feel for him at all. After seeing Charl Brown's performance today, I don't understand why he was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, but that's whatever. Another weird thing was how they tried to make songs into "book" songs and it just didn't work for me. Also, the sets(?) looked cheap as hell. But, can we all agree NEVER EVER to let Berry Gordy write another book to a musical. I hope that from when the show closes on the 18th to its opening in London that changes will be made. However, the best part was walking out of the theater and asking my mom if she liked it and with a big smile across her face she said "Yes!". In the end, that's all I wanted was for her to enjoy herself and have a nice time at a Broadway show.