Motown Bankrupt? No, Not At This Motown

What? You say Motown is bankrupt?
Not on 46th St. in Manhattan just a stone's throw from Shubert Alley. Not at the Lunt Fontaine Theater just off Broadway.
Not there. Not now.
Motown is booming on Broadway and making lots and lots of fresh dough every day.
We're talking about Motown, the musical of course. This is the big, raucous musical with a book by Motown founder Berry Gordy and the music and lyrics of the legendary Motown catalogue of songs. This is the musical with the Motown sound -- the musical whose characters include Gordy, Diana Ross,   Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and just about every other African-American soul or R&B recording star you can imagine from the 1950s into the 1980s.
This is a hot ticket. And if you want to see Motown, you'd better make your plans several months in advance.
That's what we did and we finally got to see the show this past week.
Motown delivers 60 blockbuster hits in a three-hour show which includes one fifteen-minute intermission. You'll hear all are part of Baby I Need Your Lovin, Brick House, Dancing In The Street, Get Ready, To Be Loved, I Hear A Symphony, ABC, What's Going On, My Girl, I heard It Through The Grapevine and tons of others. And they're all performed by a cast that is for the most part superb. The voices are strong and the songs and the performers will take you back to Motown's most magical moments with its greatest stars. And the production values are first rate.
Indeed, the company gives its all and the show pounds away as the songs and the music envelop the audience. It's loud and unrelenting.
That would all be fine if this was simply a jukebox show -- a collection of greatest hits superbly delivered and cleverly wrapped together with nice costumes and sets, deft orchestrations and just a hint of a story.
But Motown wants to be more than that. And therein lies the problem.
It tries to be a traditional musical with Berry Gordy as the central character. And it also tries to cover a period from 1938 through 1983 while at the same time attempting to be a vast social commentary. Is it a traditional book musical? Is it a social commentary with music? Is it a jukebox show? It isn't sure.
So, it jumps all over the place at a peripatetic rate with abrupt changes that often leave the audience wondering What's Going On?
Yes, there are characters in Motown but there's precious little character development. For example, probably the most interesting character relationship is the one between Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy himself. But we never get to learn much about it save for the fact that they remain friends through all the ups and downs and changes and developments in the music business and within Motown itself. And the love affair between Gordy and Diana Ross? Well, let's just say that the version of the story delivered here is almost painfully puny.
And all this is a shame because the show has lots of good elements.
So, here's our recommendation: If you really, really like the Motown sound, by all means go see this show. You'll have a great time just so long as you don't expect Porgy and Bess or Hair or even Ain't Misbehaven.
Just be prepared to jive right on through the Motown years with some of the biggest hits and hottest music ever.
Go for the music.
And simply enjoy it.