Jarran Muse News

Tap Soul Productions will present 'Show Me the TAP...Show Me the SOUL!' an original tap dance and soul music revue, opening Thanksgiving weekend November 27th thru November 29th, 2015 at the Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001.

For nearly three vigorous hours, MOTOWN - THE MUSICAL provides one helluva show. More like a CONCERT rather than your typical book musical, this dazzling, high-octane extravaganza of music and dance is a visual and aural feast that gamely crams in more than 60 hits from the groundbreaking record company's discography. The story---penned by Motown founder Berry Gordy himself---may be its lone weak spot, but there's no denying how fun it is to see and hear this impressive cast of quintuple-threats recreate these greatest hits live on stage. The rousingly entertaining, exuberantly-performed stage spectacular continues at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts through June 28.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Maine, Austin, Portland, and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include Mad Horse's OTHER DESERT CITIES, classic comedy GREATER TUNA in Austin, and GROUNDED in Portland, just to name a few.

Turning a profit in the theatre business is challenging at best but it isn't surprising that MOTOWN THE MUSICAL easily recouped its initial investment during its run on Broadway, or its outlay for the First National Tour, now playing at the Hollywood Pantages. The popularity of the Motown sound is undeniable. Even if you wanted to, it's impossible to keep from being carried away by the irresistible groove of the music. And why would you even want to try?

Motown the Musical, currently playing at the Buell Theatre, provides a bit of a history lesson for the record label, but mostly it feels like a really impressive tribute concert.

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy present the First National Tour of MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, which plays The Buell Theatre tonight, March 31-April 19 only. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the production below!

MOTOWN THE MUSICAL recently opened at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, taking the packed house captive for 2 hours and 45 minutes with nonstop songs covering 25 years of emerging superstars.

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and Omaha Performing Arts are proud to announce MOTOWN THE MUSICAL tickets are available through Ticket Omaha.* The tickets, starting at $30 each, are available by going online at TicketOmaha.com; by phone at 402.345.0606; or by going to the Ticket Omaha box office inside the Holland Performing Arts Center. MOTOWN THE MUSICAL will play at the Orpheum Theater Today, March 25 through Sunday, March 29. Groups of 10 or more may purchase tickets by calling 402.661.8516 or toll-free at 866.434.8587. The show is part of Omaha Performing Arts' Broadway Series.

How do you cram 50 hit songs, over 90 characters, and 25 years of history from one of music's most important companies into a dramatically satisfying, two hour and 45 minute musical? The answer is, you don't; but based on the enthusiastic response to MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, playing at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through March 15th, that really doesn't matter. What does matter is that the music of Motown (the record company and the musical) is here to make people happy. That mantra is repeated multiple times during the show's most difficult situations by its central figure, Berry Gordy. According to the musical, Motown's founder created the most successful independent record label of all-time on little more than determination and a desire to spread joy. As anyone familiar with Motown's mile-long string of hits, or the stage show that they inspired, can attest to, Gordy, Hitsville U.S.A., and MOTOWN THE MUSICAL more than delivered on creating joy for countless generations of music fans.

It was the music that put the Motor City on the map for something other than moving vehicles.

Performances for MOTOWN THE MUSICAL begin tonight, February 24 for a limited two week run through Sunday, March 8, 2015. MOTOWN THE MUSICAL is part of the 2014-2015 Broadway in Fort Lauderdale Series presented by Broadway Across America and Florida Theatrical Association in partnership with The Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in action!

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy present the First National Tour of MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, which plays The Buell Theatre March 31-April 19 only. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the production below!

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and Omaha Performing Arts are proud to announce MOTOWN THE MUSICAL tickets are available through Ticket Omaha.* The tickets, starting at $30 each, are available by going online at TicketOmaha.com; by phone at 402.345.0606; or by going to the Ticket Omaha box office inside the Holland Performing Arts Center. MOTOWN THE MUSICAL will play at the Orpheum Theater Wednesday, March 25 through Sunday, March 29. Groups of 10 or more may purchase tickets by calling 402.661.8516 or toll-free at 866.434.8587. The show is part of Omaha Performing Arts' Broadway Series.

MOTOWN, Berry Gordy's self-aggrandizing tribute to the independent record label that fused gospel, blues, jazz, doo wop and country into a unique and wildly popular Detroit sound, is currently heating things up at the Boston Opera House through February 15.

Performances for MOTOWN THE MUSICAL begin Tuesday, February 24 for a limited two week run through Sunday, March 8, 2015. MOTOWN THE MUSICAL is part of the 2014-2015 Broadway in Fort Lauderdale Series presented by Broadway Across America and Florida Theatrical Association in partnership with The Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast in action!

When brainstorming concepts for new shows, the idea of making a musical about Berry Gordy--not necessarily a household name, may have seemed like an odd choice. So let's look at Plan B....a musical about the careers of Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye. Well, essentially the two are all the same musical. The slick production of MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL that opened on Tuesday night at Shea's tells the story of producer Berry Gordy and his start up record label, 'Motown.'

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, January 18, 2015 - Sunday, January 18, 2015.

The touring production of MOTOWN the Musical sent a special 'Happy Trails' to the Broadway Production of MOTOWN, closing today, Sunday Jan. 18. With direction and arrangement by Jesse Nager (Smokey Robinson) the video features Julius Thomas III (Berry Gordy), Allison Semmes (Diana Ross), Jarran Muse (Marvin Gaye), Krisha Mercano (Suzanne De Passe), and Rod Harrelson (dance captain), all of whom joined the tour from the Broadway company. The video also has appearances from the entire company currently in Philadelphia. Check it out below!

While in Minneapolis, MN company members from Motown the Musical, under the direction of cast member Christian Dante White, worked with celebrity photographer Brent Dundore to capture the essence of the Motown artists they portray every night onstage in a high fashion shoot. Scroll down for photos!

Any long-time theatregoer will have horror stories of audiences that got too enthusiastic at a show with well-known music, especially jukebox musicals made up of mostly pre-existing pop tunes. I've known people to hum or outright sing along, whoop, cheer and scream like they're at a concert, or even get up and dance in the aisles. At most shows, this behavior is frowned upon by other audience members, or suppressed by ushers. However, at 'Motown,' the Berry Gordy bio-musical, this engaged behavior is encouraged- hell, it's part of the show. You see, audiences at 'Motown' fill a triplicate role: first, the traditional audience at a play, watching the events unfold through the fourth wall; second, the (in-world) audience watching a Motown retrospective show; finally, the various real, historical audiences at performances by Motown artists, from Parisians getting to hear the first international performances by The Supremes, to a spontaneously integrated audience in the Deep South, at a Motown show interrupted by gunshots.