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Motown The Musical fulfills the promise of every jukebox musical-to hit the nostalgia nerve by presenting popular and familiar songs. The audience audibly acknowledges just how familiar (ooh!) and treasured (ahh!) each song as soon as the first notes are played. Not every one of the 60 tunes (played in full or, more often, in part) is a familiar and treasure one, but many are, as the Motown record label's tunestack is chock full of extremely popular songs that had broad radio play, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, and often used when film and TV revisit those decades. Most are upbeat and ear-catching, with a steady beat. As most are performed in a presentational style, with choreography by Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams that depicts the era, it's as if we're seeing a throw-back concert of pop favorites. But interspersed with these audience-pleasing song performances is the skimming-of-the-surface story of Barry Gordy Jr. and his founding and managing of the Motown record company (the musical is written by Gordy and based on his own autobiography "To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown"). There's a lot of Gordy's life that we don't see, but we are shown his talent in bringing together the right people to form the iconic and phenomenal sound and image of what we think of as Motown. Unfortunately, it's all too much for its own good. The Gordy story as presented is thin and egocentric (the bedroom scene seemingly thrown in to show he had, um, at least one downside, is a theatrical version of too much information), though the the succession of one megastar and iconic song after the other is impressive, if almost cruelly unsatisfying in its snippet form. The pop singers and singing groups (from Jackie Wilson to the Temptations and the Four Tops to the Jackson 5 and Steve Wonder and beyond) are played by a very talented ensemble, though they are stretched a bit thin and sometimes feel like generic imitations. The jewel in Gordy's pop Motown crown was Diana Ross; the personal side of their relationship is a large part of the musical's story. Allison Semmes is effective as Ross without being an exact replica. Also turning in admirable performances are Jesse Nager as Smokey Robinson and Jarran Muse as Marvin Gaye. And at the center of it all is Julius Thomas III as Gordy. He presents a likeable man—the show isn't written to show us more than that—surrounded by the abundant evidence of his success. The fact that there are too many blockbuster songs to present adequately in two and a half hours of stage time shows that Gordy and Motown achieved a kind of greatness that is rare. But it all zips dizzyingly by like a 3am infomercial for the Time Life Music 20-CD Motown Collection. This is in spite of some nice variations in set design (David Korins) and staging. In the jukebox musical hall of fame, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Jersey Boys work much more affectively with a smaller amount of material. Motown The Musical at Heinz Hall through January 4, 2015. For tickets visit trustarts.culturaldistrict.org or call 412-392-4900. For more information on the tour, visit www.motownthemusical.com/tour.php.
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