MOTOWN Will Conclude Broadway Run Early on July 31 — Page 3

Ah yes, that's right. Thank you for correcting me!

Clearly they had no advance or they wouldn't have "pulled" it. They would not have made it through Labor Day.

I'm shocked by the announcement. I feel bad for those associated with the show who were counting on the 18 weeks of employment.

Do not understand how this show ran so long, and then came back. The epitome of what's wrong with jukebox musicals (55 songs? Holy s**t!), with a totally homogenized evening of watered-down songs that all of us over 50s know really well, but with no real sense of any song or period at all.

Good riddance.

troynow said: "there is finally a friends discount available at the box office on the day of for 32 bucks any seat"

Is there anything specific you need to say or do at the box office to get the friends discount? I also saw there's a student discount for $32 as well but I don't have a student ID

How can you not like a Motown revue, even if it is sliced and diced?

This production, not surprisingly, is an ode to Berry Gordy. In 2002 there was a part-live, part-documentary called Standing in the Shadow of Motown. It was the story of the musicians who had accompanied every Motown song until Gordy split to LA.

Starting Motown on a shoestring, he picked up musicians on a shoestring from the local Detroit bars and clubs. Jazz, blues, rock. There was a lot of talent and also a lot of drug and alcohol abuse. This group of musicians settled in, called themselves the Funk Brothers, and played on just about every Motown hit from the Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, on and on. All of these recordings were made in "Studio 1," the beat-up old garage of a modest Detroit home.

So the story of the musicians is pretty sad. They weren't highly paid, they were given no credit on any record albums, they weren't attended to when their substance abuse got them into trouble and, the final indignity, they learned that they were out of a job when they reported to Studio 1 and found a note on the door telling them that Motown had left for L.A., without them, thank you.

I haven't heard the other side, so I don't want to come down hard on Gordy, but one thing for sure, the Funk Brothers had about ten seconds of attention in Motown the Musical.

Motown fans should see this film for the nostalgia as well as for the Funk Brothers reunion concert that climaxes the film. Joan Osborne is particularly good doing the vocal for "Heat Wave" and "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted."

Updated On: 7/28/16 at 04:19 PM

Is it worth the $32? Didn't see the orginal. Motown isn't totally my jam, but kind of curious to see it.

Wish they did the friends and family discount online...maybe they'd sell more actually.

Was surprised it never even showed up on TDF or any papering services....

Troynow, thanks for the heads up on the $32 friends and family.

Les Miserables current production on Broadway started as a national tour (first stop was Paper Mill Playhouse) in 2010 - opened on Broadway in March 2014, and seems to have done very well...one of the rare exceptions to the rule, I think. Other touring shows that tried to play Broadway and didn't do well that I recall...Hello, Dolly with Carol, Mame with Angela...I'm sure there are lots of other examples...

I saw the original production and it was AWEFUL, worst book ever....The only thing that even remotely kept my interest were the musical numbers... Some of the staging and transitions were breathtaking. I have no desire to see this scaled down version.

Saw this last night and thought it was OK. I didn't see the original production so I have nothing to compare to, but the set did seem to be very basic and minimal. The lottery tix put us in row J in the mezz but almost every row in front of us was completely empty so we ended up moving to the first row of the mezz in the 2nd half. All in all I had a really good time and thought the show was decent, singing was great, very energetic, and I loved how they interacted with the audience. The story was a little hard to follow in the beginning but it ended up coming together.