The hit West End production of Motown the Musical today (10 February 2017) releases over 200,000 new tickets for sale with the show now booking at the Shaftesbury Theatre to 24 February 2018 as the production celebrates its first birthday in London.
With music and lyrics from the Motown catalogue and book by Motown founder Berry Gordy the production features a sixteen-piece orchestra playing 50 Motown tracks including Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, I’ll Be There, Dancing In The Street, Stop! In The Name Of Love, My Girl and I Heard It through the Grapevine. Charles Randolph-Wright’s production tells the story behind the classic hits.
With just $800 borrowed from his family, Motown founder Berry Gordy, goes from featherweight boxer to heavyweight music mogul, discovering and launching the careers of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and many more. Motown the Musical uncovers the true story of the legendary record label that changed music history and created the soundtrack of a generation.
The Tony nominated Motown the Musical received its world premiere in April 2013 in New York with Berry Gordy and legendary Motown artists Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Mary Wilson, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder attending opening night. The show began its West End run in February 2016 with Gordy, Robinson and Wilson once again supporting the show on opening night. Subsequently, during the London run, The Four Tops and Martha Reeves have also visited the production. The first US National Tour opened to critical acclaim in Spring 2014 in Chicago and continues to play to packed houses across America.
From 7 March 2017 the West End cast comprises Cedric Neal as Berry Gordy with Lucy St. Louis as Diana Ross, Obioma Ugoala as Smokey Robinson and Sifiso Mazibuko as Marvin Gaye. Members of the ensemble play the roles of Eddie Kendricks, Jackie Wilson, Anna Gordy, Esther, Teena Marie, Florence Ballard, Martha Reeves, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Mary Wells, Mary Wilson and Stevie Wonder. The ensemble features Cameron Bernard Jones, Ryan Carter, KM Drew Boateng, Samuel Edwards, Dujonna Gift-Simms, Vanessa Fisher, Terique Jarrett, Cleopatra Joseph, Wilson Kiiru, Natasha Leaver, Brandon Lee Sears, Kieran McGinn, Simone Mistry-Palmer, Samuel Nicholas, Brianna Ogunbawo, Matt Overfield, Jay Perry, Timothy Quinlan, Simon Ray Harvey, Sharon Rose, Lawrence Rowe, Ashley Samuels, Carl Spencer, Richard Taylor Woods, Alex Thomas-Smith, Cherelle Williams, Michael Woolston-Thomas and Jayme-Lee Zanoncelli. Nana Ageyman-Bediako, 11 years old from Haringey, London, Raphael Higgins-Humes, 11 years old from Greenwich, London, Rio Myers, 10 years old from Lewisham, London and Tumo Reetsang, 12 years old from Southwark, London alternate the role of Young Michael Jackson.
Motown the Musical is directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, has music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Ethan Popp, co-orchestrations and additional arrangements by Bryan Cook, dance arrangements by Zane Mark and music direction by Gareth Weedon. Choreography is by Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams, scenic design by David Korins, costumes by ESOSA, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound by Peter Hylenski and projections by Daniel Brodie. UK Associate Director is Tara Wilkinson, UK Associate Set Designer is Andrew Edwards and UK Associate Lighting Designer is Alistair Grant. Motown the Musical will be produced in the West End by Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris, Berry Gordy and Adam Spiegel.
Motown the Musical is proudly supported by Swarovski crystal who originally partnered with the show on Broadway and provided 400,000 Swarovski crystals for costume and set.
Boundless Theatre Artistic Director Rob Drummer today announces the full company for the UK première of Natives, a new play by Glenn Waldron. Previously Company of Angels, Boundless Theatreproduces exhilarating new theatre in the UK in conversation with Europe. Drummer directs Ella Purnell (A), Fionn Whitehead (B), and Manish Gandhi (C) in the production which opens at the Southwark Playhouse on 31 March, with previews from 29 March, and runs until 22 April.
“Where are the grown-ups to do something, where are the grown-ups in this story?”
Three countries. Three teenagers. One average, life-altering day. A young man battles with feelings of love and violence. Another is stuck with the image of someone being pushed from a rooftop. And a girl must choose between her friends and her conscience.
Natives is a rallying cry to a generation of unlikely heroes and celebrates coming of age online in a chaotic world.
Glenn Waldron is a London-based playwright and writer. A former magazine editor and journalist, Glenn was Editor of i-D magazine and his feature writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Independent, Vogue, W magazine, and other publications. His first play Forever House premiered at the Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth and his work has since been performed in Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the USA. Upcoming productions include The Here And This And Now at TRP and End of the Pier at Hackney Showroom. Glenn also lectures in journalism and pop culture at the University of the Arts London.
Ella Purnell plays A. She is making her professional stage debut. She was one of Screen International Stars of Tomorrow 2010. For film, she will appear in the forthcoming Churchill, her credits include Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Never Let me Go, Maleficent, Intruders and Kick Ass 2.
Fionn Whitehead plays B. He is making his professional stage debut. He was one of Screen Internationals Stars of Tomorrow 2016. For television his credits include Him; and for film, he will appear in the forthcoming Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and The Children Act.
Manish Gandhi plays C. He was included in the British Council’s 2016 global list of 33 cultural influencers from around the world promoting freedom and equality. For theatre his credits include Now We Are Here (Young Vic), Brown Shakespeare (Efua Theodora Sutherland Drama Studio, Legon-Accra), Rizwan (FTII, Pune), Limbo and Cock (National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai). For television, Rides upon the Storm, Judwa Raja and Na Bole Tum; and for film, That Transient Interval, Chai Shai Biscuits and Rizwaan.
Director – Rob Drummer
Designer – Amelia Jane Hankin
Movement – John Ross
Video Design – Cate Blanchard
Lighting – Zoe Spurr
Sound Design – Father
Boundless Theatre (formerly Company of Angels) produces exhilarating new theatre in the UK in conversation with Europe. For fifteen years, they have produced and toured new plays, nationally and internationally and created projects and experiences that young adult audiences share in. They nurture and empower the next generation of visionary artists, brings plays, diverse perspectives and ideas from Europe and engage with a range of artistic forms beyond theatre-making.
Listing
Natives
29 March – 22 April
8pm Monday – Sunday
Matinee 3.30pm Saturdays and Tuesday 4th April only
