Draft, MOTOWN ON BROADWAY PARODY VIDEO
Draft, MOTOWN ON BROADWAY PARODY VIDEO
FJL2
Understudy Joined: 12/21/11
#1Draft, MOTOWN ON BROADWAY PARODY VIDEO
Posted: 9/26/12 at 4:19pm
Draft of a "MOTOWN on Broadway" parody video. I'd love to hear if anyone has any comments they want to make to make it better (not personal comments, LOL).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBC6T1qo_54
(updated link 9/28/12, new link reflects suggestions, thanks!)
Updated On: 9/28/12 at 04:19 PM
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#2Draft of
Posted: 9/26/12 at 4:59pm
Funny lyrics, and a wonderful vocal imitation. Obviously, there's LOTS of things about MOTOWN that will garner interest from the general public -- so it will probably be a hit in spite of weaknesses with the show.
That being said, I see a number of potential problems with this project. If it basically becomes an almost total revue of Motown hits, that'll probably be fine with most audiences.
However, if the show attempts to tell the "story" of Motown, well that's much more problematic. First of all, in terms of time, and scope, and complexity, trying to tell the story of Motown on stage in 2-3 hours is somewhat like making a musical of the Civil War (and we all know how THAT turned out). The fact that Berry Gordy is the controlling party of this enterprise (no surprise) means he'll sanitize all subplots, etc. Berry Gordy is no doubt a genius in the way he built Motown as a crossover hot factory, but the way he did it frustrated and infuriated LOTS of artists. For example, Mr. Gordy would make groups like The Supremes, the Marvellettes, etc., record lots of songs they did not want to record, and then he would bill their accounts for such dreaded sessions and material. They would lose royalties due to such debits. The list of his practices goes on and on... This is why so many artists departed Motown when they had the opportunity. Stevie Wonder is one of the few charter artists to remain with Motown, but even for him, it was a difficult decision.
Because so many successful groups and hit singles emerged from the Motown machine, that alone almost warrants a mini-series of musicals -- individual plots deserving of their own show (somewhat like a series of JERSEY BOYS).
Whatever storytelling and history is employed in the MOTOWN musical should not be entirely trusted, but for a show with baked-in popularlity (and FAMILIARITY) for a broad spectrum of audiences, MOTOWN will likely fill the bill.
loliveve
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/24/12
#2Draft of
Posted: 9/26/12 at 5:59pm
As a general observation, I thought it was a little odd that the video started with the lyrics on the screen, and then the lyrics suddenly stopped.
Otherwise, the lyrics were clever rhymes, and made me smile ("If the book needs more prunin, we'll add more croonin'...") but I admit I did not laugh, because I was a bit puzzled about how the lyrics actually matched the description at the beginning. It seems to be words Berry Gordon would sing, but not one in which the performers "express[] ther confidence in their new musical." For example, with the line about the book, the "session singers" are not going to be the one to make changes. So I would suggest changing the intro description, too.
FJL2
Understudy Joined: 12/21/11
#3Draft of
Posted: 9/26/12 at 11:54pm
Great, thanks for those comments. i changed the description at the front and put the lyrics on throughout. Thanks to both of you!
Fred
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBC6T1qo_54
Updated On: 9/28/12 at 11:54 PM
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