Darryl Archibald News

The U.S. tour of Motown the Musical is lighting up the stage at Syracuse, New York's Landmark Theatre. The jukebox musical based on Berry Gordy's (book) autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, The Magic, The Memories of Motown features familiar music and lyrics from the legendary Motown catalog and focuses on the Motown greats like Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and many more. The cast under the direction of Charles Randolph-Wright has the energy, confidence, and amazing vocals to fully embody these legendary musicians.

Musical Theatre West (MTW) opens its 2016-2017 season with Broadway's smash hit musical Memphis, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center October 21 - November 6. 

Musical Theatre West (MTW) opens its 2016-2017 season with Broadway's smash hit musical Memphis, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center October 21 - November 6.  The winner of four Tony Awards, including 'Best Musical,' 'Best Original Score,' 'Best Book' and 'Best Orchestrations,'  is filled with roof-raising Rock & Roll, high-octane dancing, and an extraordinary tale of fame and forbidden love that sparked a cultural revolution.  

???????Musical Theatre West (MTW) opens its 2016-2017 season with Broadway's smash hit musical Memphis, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center October 21 - November 6. 

Great works of literature are often beautifully adapted into opera and ballet. Think of Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, to name just one. Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot is also tremendously passionate and digs deep into the female psyche, producing emotional rhythms that lend themselves to music. Whereas Lorca's work concentrates on sexual repression, Giraudoux's is more romantic and... goes a step further into the realm of championing a cause, a desire to right human wrongs and change the world.

Now, Valley Performing Arts Center will kick-off the new season and its Broadway series on September 30 at 8:00pm with a one night only concert performance of Dear World, starring Tony and Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly in the role of Countess Aurelia.

Musical Theatre West (MTW) opens its 2016-2017 season with Broadway's smash hit musical Memphis, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center October 21 - November 6.  The winner of four Tony Awards, including 'Best Musical,' 'Best Original Score,' 'Best Book' and 'Best Orchestrations,'  is filled with roof-raising Rock & Roll, high-octane dancing, and an extraordinary tale of fame and forbidden love that sparked a cultural revolution.  

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) welcomes a dynamic cast for In The Heights, the first Tony-Award-winning show by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame, which will kick off the Theatre Under The Stars 2016-17 season tonight, September 13, 2016. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) welcomes a dynamic cast for In The Heights, the first Tony-Award-winning show by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame, which will kick off the Theatre Under The Stars 2016-17 season on September 13, 2016. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!

Now, Valley Performing Arts Center will kick-off the new season and its Broadway series on September 30 at 8:00pm with a one night only concert performance of Dear World, starring Tony and Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly in the role of Countess Aurelia.

MOTOWN the Musical could've been a hokey disaster that tried to cobble great hits together in some strained reach of a storyline, but it isn't. MOTOWN's plot is not contrived but completely realistic and heart-warmingly human. Baltimore and Motor City may be more like strained siblings than kissing cousins, but in some deep sense, Detroit IS Baltimore and this musical will resonate most particularly here, most particularly now. MOTOWN deserves to be not just a Broadway phenomenon but a part of our collective culture. It's fun, it's funny, it's sexy and it's full of the sort of hopeful commitment to brighter futures that used to be part of the American Dream.

Columbus got their groove on at the Ohio Theatre on opening night when an iconic era of social change and racial integration was celebrated through soul, pop, and classic hits such as 'My Girl', 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', 'ABC', Cruisin', 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', and so many more.

It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that on Tuesday night, February 16, Music City officially fell in love with Motown. Berry Gordy's musical is the stuff of legend and, as it takes us from 1983 all the way back to 1938 and back again, you can't help but be impressed by the ambitious young man's rise to preeminence; his story is the American dream come true and Gordy's impact on pop culture and the very fiber of our nation's history cannot be overstated - it's a story that resonates in Nashville to be certain.

I grew up on vinyl records, 'hit parades' and transistor radios tuned to the AM dial. I love Motown Music. But I felt skeptical about a breezy staged extravaganza about Berry Gordy's mercurial career. Five minutes into the opening medley, this stunning production won me over. This is NOT your assembly line jukebox musical!

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, 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.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced its nominations and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles and Orange County theatre for the year 2014 (Dec. 1, 2013 - Nov. 30, 2014). The 46th Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, March 16, 2015 at Beyond the Stars Palace, 417 N. Brand Boulevard in Glendale.

The joyous trip back through musical history comes to life from Detroit to Los Angeles in Motown: The Musical now playing at the Music Hall in Kansas City, Mo. Motown: The Musical with a book by Berry Gordy based on his 1994 autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown. Gordy founded the Motown record label, launching the careers of superstars Diana Ross and the Supremes, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson.

I have no doubt that MOTOWN THE MUSICAL will be popular with audiences. It does, after all, contain the music that generations have grown up on, and it's still being played today. And, it's interesting that I was flipping channels on TV and saw an infomercial dedicated to the Motown 25th Anniversary special made in 1983 recently. That's the scene that opens the show, and where we first encounter the man who made it all happen, Berry Gordy. He's angry and doesn't want to attend because all his stars have left him for the greener pastures of other labels. This despite it being his own competitive spirit, and the fact that he instilled that in his roster of talent (songwriters, singers, and musicians), that created their desire to further pursue their careers in the first place. That makes for an interesting dichotomy that would seem ripe for the stage. So, why am I so disappointed? Because I wanted a real narrative (Gordy wrote the book himself) that doesn't gloss over important historical events while, at the same time, giving 60 fabulous tunes short shrift.

The State Theatre in PlayhouseSquare is rocking. Rocking with sounds of the likes of Diana Ross, The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Rocking with a full orchestra, a visually stimulating electronically enhanced production, and the story of Berry Gordy.