Review Of Motown The Musical, Leeds Grand Theatre

It was a golden age in pop music when Motown Records had an unrivalled run of the charts in the Sixties and Seventies. They reckon Motown The Musical is all about the songs, the sound and the story of the celebrated record label and they are not wrong.

The story though is really about Berry Gordy who found and ran Motown Records. Played with a solid determination by Edward Baruwa the musical begins at the 25th anniversary party of Motown Records before we are transported back in time.

Starting off like a version of the classic television show, Soul Train with a stand off between The Four Tops and The Temptations (including Leeds actor Matt Mills) it was a soulful start that whet the appetite for a musical journey through some of the best Soul songs ever recorded.

From the early days of the Detroit record label, the motor city town gave its name to Motown (though the Leeds audience were keen to shout in unison the correct name of the label when toying with suitable names for the label).

The dancing, vocals and timing are as sharp as the suits the artists wore. Karin Anderson portrays Diana Ross to a tee and was convincing throughout, whilst Nathan Lewis as Smokey Robinson was there for Berry Gordy through thick and thin.

Shak Gabbidon-Williams as Marvin Gaye delivered a spine tingling version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine - he was able to show how Gaye wanted more artistic freedom as the years went by and how Gaye developed.

The conflict between The Supremes and Diana Ross as Gordy encourages her to go solo showed it was not all a bed of roses all the time. Gordy develops a romantic relationship with Ross though you were left wondering how it all ended as it was never really clear.

The main songwriters of the majority of the Motown hits - Holland, Dozier, Holland Jnr were only featured passingly with most of the story focusing on Berry Gordy, which seemed a shame as the three songwriters perhaps deserved more credit in the show than they were given as they were a huge part of the Motown success.

Against a back drop of struggles for black Americans the label survived. We get London in the Swinging Sixties when pirate radio helped to translate Motown's American success to the UK.

When Gordy is told by his secretary that there's "a group of kids wanting to see him" you could see the dollar signs in his eyes as he watches The Jackson 5 including a young Michael Jackson performing I Want You Back.

There are cameo appearances of Stevie Wonder and Rick James too.

A surprise element was when Diana Ross asks a member of the Grand Theatre audience to come and sing with her, as Nick from Barnsley delivers an "ay up" as he takes the microphone to duet with Ross. A classic moment that you probably wouldn't have had when the show was in the West End. It could only be in Yorkshire!

As the years progress musical styles change, the label moves from Detroit to California, the artists begin to leave and the label begins to loose direction until a new wave of artists come through like Tina Marie and The Commodores, though a missed opportunity was not featuring Three Times A Lady, Motown's biggest hit during the latter part of the Seventies.

Nevertheless there are more than enough classic songs to make this an uplifting show. The lady sat next to me sang along to every song. The joy in her voice matched the enthusiasm coming from the performers on stage.

By the time we get to Dancing In The Streets the audience are out of their seats and by the looks of it most of them were still dancing along the streets of Leeds when they left the Grand. Soulful, stupendous and highly satisfying.

Runs until Saturday 17 November.
Tickets from:
www.leedsgrandtheatre.com
Telephone 0844 848 2700