Motown the Musical will have you dancing in the street
If ever someone’s life story was made to be a musical, it’s Berry Gordy’s.
In 1959, the former boxer borrowed $800 from his family to buy a house in Detroit, which he called Hitsville USA.
It didn’t take long to live up to its name, becoming the home of Motown Records: off the production line rolled influential and iconic acts, such as The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, and the Jackson 5.
Gordy’s story is told in Motown The Musical, and, like his life, there is no shortage of hits.
The Tony-award winning show, which opened in the US in 2014 and has been performing to sell-out shows in London’s West End since 2016, is heading to Dublin next month.
Its staging, at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, is particularly timely, given that Motown Records, now owned by Universal, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this month.
Bringing the Gordy and Motown story to the stage was not easy, says its producer, Adam Spiegel.
“It’s an enormous undertaking — you are telling the story of the creation of possibly the most iconic record label of all time,” he says.
“The responsibility to tell Berry’s story well, and to the standards that he is used to, was a heavy one, but really exciting as well.”
Spiegel says the 89-year-old music mogul has been unusually hands-on with the show, including coming to London to oversee casting for principal roles.
“I’ve watched the show with Berry on dozens of occasions… it is a unique experience to sit next to someone who is watching someone else play him on stage, and from 60 years ago.
"I can’t imagine what it’s like for him. But what it means is that his attention to detail, and his determination for perfection, is at a level we never usually see.”
Spiegel, a seasoned producer who has worked on numerous high-profile West End musicals, including Hairspray and Sister Act, says that it was intimidating working with a legend.
“I’ve worked with lots of very accomplished people, but I’ve never worked with anyone like Berry Gordy.
"He is a very demanding human being; that is why he has achieved the miracles he has.
"You’ve got to remember, this is a man who, from the foundation of a segregated America, created a musical legacy that got the whole of America dancing to the same tune, from a place where people were more or less not allowed share a bus.
"It is an extraordinary story.”
Gordy was a hugely successful black businessman in a predominantly white industry, while also making a significant contribution to the civil rights movement.
“He was the first black entertainment tycoon… he was also the person who put Martin Luther King’s speeches onto vinyl,” says Spiegel.
It is difficult, in the musical environment we have now, to imagine there was a time when there were radio stations that only played black music and those that only played white music.
"Motown celebrates its 60th birthday this month, so it is only 60 years ago that those levels of racial division existed. Gordy’s intention was to sell records, and to subvert.
"What is very important is that the music, and the record label, became part of the civil rights movement, so much that suddenly, everybody began listening to the same thing and that was unheard of before.”
Gordy’s life and achievements were not without controversy.
Like any business, Motown grew to a point where tough decisions had to be made, including a controversial move to LA from Detroit, the label’s spiritual home and the place that inspired its name.
There were also creative differences with artists, most famously with Marvin Gaye, as well as the drama of Gordy’s relationship with one of his leading stars, Diana Ross.
Spiegel says the musical doesn’t shy away from these issues, but also has to work within the limitations of its format.
In 1959, Berry Gordy borrowed 0 from the family loan fund to found Motown Records and begin making his vision a reality. #MakeYourDreamComeTrueDay #Motown60 pic.twitter.com/VeTQG7NeE2
— Motown UK (@MotownUK) January 13, 2019
“It has to be an entertaining evening and I believe fervently that has been achieved.
"It means you have to leave quite a lot of stuff out, otherwise it’s a 12-hour evening in the theatre, which no-one wants.
"So, there are difficult choices throughout the process of creation, but I don’t think that awkward areas have been sidestepped.
"It can only tell the story from one perspective.
“The world of Motown incorporated hundreds of different people, who have a memory from one particular angle. This is told from Berry Gordy’s angle.
"I do not think that he has shied away from the difficult areas in the telling of the story.”
Motown has an enviable back catalogue of classic songs, which continues to be widely played, and not all of the songs could feature in the show.
“We have over 60 songs in the show; you could quite comfortably have had a hundred,” says Spiegel.
There was also a delicate balance in transferring the unique ‘Motown sound’ to the stage, especially when played by a live orchestra.
“You have to try and marry two separate objectives. One is to reproduce faithfully the complete Motown sound, the other is to make sure that this music works in a theatrical environment,” says Spiegel.
“A lot of experts worked for a long time to create orchestrations that were simultaneously representative of the Motown sound, while also being satisfying theatrically.
"The difficulty with the Motown sound is we hear over 60 songs in the show; that’s an awful lot of one sound.
“The musical landscape that works in the show is more varied than that, but simultaneously provides satisfaction in both areas.”
Tens of millions of dollars have been invested in developing and staging the musical and the touring production that is being staged in Dublin will reflect this, says Spiegel.
“It’s amongst the biggest musicals in London, in terms of the number of people working on it, the sets and the costumes, which are crucifyingly expensive.
“Each time we bring the show somewhere, we make improvements to it.
Video technology has galloped forward, so what was not possible three years ago, when we opened in London, is now possible, as we take the show on the road.
“The version that will come to Dublin is actually more richly satisfying, physically and visually.”
As for which Motown song is Spiegel’s favourite, the honours go to the inimitable Marvin Gaye.
“You can’t go beyond [I Heard It Through the] ‘Grapevine’, for me, anyway.
"But you’re a child in a candy store when you’re looking at that catalogue — there aren’t any turkeys,” says Spiegel.
