Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
MARK DOUGLAS: So we want to start off
by just-- I know you play Smokey.
Diana, amazing.
If you all could just go through and give us your names
and who you play.
I know for some of you it's a lot of people.
DONALD WEBBER: My name's Donald Webber.
I play a bunch of people.
I play Mickey Stevenson, who's a big A&R guy for Motown,
and one of the Temptations, Paul Williams.
I also play Doctor Martin Luther King.
And I cover Stevie Wonder.
And I also am on sometimes for Berry Gordy.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: Here's the Meryl Streep of our show.
I'm Bryan Terrell Clark, and I play Marvin Gaye.
ALLISON SEMMES: My name is Allison Semmes,
and I play Florence Ballard in the Supremes.
I'm also random ensemble like a protester and a Solid Gold
Dancer.
And then I'll be playing Diana Ross on the national tour.
[APPLAUSE]
JAWAN JACKSON: Hello, I'm Jawan Jackson
and I play Melvin Franklin in The Temptations.
Also I'm one of The Miracles in Smokey Robinson
and The Miracles.
And I also am one of the Brick House singers.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARL BROWN: My name is Charl Brown,
and I play Smokey Robinson.
KRISHA MARCANO: Hi, my name is Krisha Marcano,
and I cover all the women, except Diana Ross.
So I'm all the women.
MARK DOUGLAS: You don't cover me, girl.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: And that's what?
20 women?
KRISHA MARCANO: 12.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: 12 tracks.
OK, that's a lot.
I'm Krystal Joy Brown and I play Diana Ross.
JARED NEWS: And I'm Jared News.
I'm also one of the male swings of the show.
So I cover 25 different tracks in the show,
including Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye.
And I'm also going to be playing Marvin
Gaye on the new national tour.
[APPLAUSE]
MARK DOUGLAS: So let's start generally.
As we said, the show last night was incredible.
It looks like a ton of fun.
I've never seen people in the audience
having that much fun in a show.
You guys look like you're having a blast.
It's a big cast.
Is it as fun as it looks?
CHARL BROWN: Yes.
TODD WOMACK: Be honest.
MODERATOR: (SARCASM) No.
CHARL BROWN: No, it really is.
I mean, listen.
We've all done a lot of shows and done a lot of theatre.
And you get upset at yourself when
you find yourself humming the tunes at home usually.
But with this show, when you're singing the songs at home,
you're actually happy.
You're like, yeah I'm gonna keep singing it.
I don't care.
I love this music.
Also hi-jinks and hilarity that happens
backstage is what keeps us really going.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Or onstage.
CHARL BROWN: Or onstage.
Shh don't tell.
Our stage manager is here.
Yeah we have a lot of fun as a cast.
We're actually a really big family.
We feel like we are the next generation of the Motown
legacy.
TODD WOMACK: I saw you guys do something really funny onstage.
Somebody's wig was just a little bit-- the piece was coming off.
CHARL BROWN: I saw that last night.
TODD WOMACK: And you guys were doing a scene.
And you're all doing your lines and stuff.
MARK DOUGLAS: It was just a nice little--
CHARL BROWN: We try and help each other out, when we can.
MARK DOUGLAS: But it felt real.
It felt natural.
It didn't feel like--
DONALD WEBBER: They definitely did that in the '60s.
MARK DOUGLAS: Of course, yeah.
Yeah the wig budget for this show must have been huge.
CHARL BROWN: We have 150 wigs that appear onstage nightly.
In the building, with all the swings and everything,
we have over 300, around 350 wigs all together.
And our wig department-- props to them--
they have to actually restyle the wigs before every show.
We do eight shows a week.
They have to make sure that they're maintained.
They have to refit them on people
if they're coming into the show.
So there's a lot of work that goes into the wigs alone.
MARK DOUGLAS: Are they the busiest people on the show?
CHARL BROWN: They are.
Costumes is very busy, too.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Costumes and dressers, too.
MARK DOUGLAS: Have there ever been any wig mishaps?
Like you've got come out, oh my god!
I'm '70s Smokey!
[LAUGHTER]
In the '60s!
JARED NEWS: It happens in Swing-Land a lot
because we have to go on for different people
at the drop of a hat.
Someone can call out at the beginning of a show,
midway during a show.
So the customer department has to go down into the basement
to get your costumes and your wigs.
And sometimes you may have a different wig
on than is correct for That period.
Also we forgot someone.
Alvin Huff, Jr. Alvin over there on the keys.
MARK DOUGLAS: Let's get you a mic, here's a stool.
ALVIN HUFF JR: Thank you, Jared.
I'm Alvin Huff, I'm one of the keyboard players in the pit
every night.
I'm also one of the now four conductors--
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Stand up.
MARK DOUGLAS: Were you conducting last night?
ALVIN HUFF JR: Well I was not conducting last night--
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Isn't he handsome?
ALVIN HUFF JR: But I was playing keyboard for you
down in the pit.
So all those good things you heard on the piano were me.
MARK DOUGLAS: I didn't hear any wrong notes.
ALVIN HUFF JR: Good.
CHARL BROWN: The one thing about Alvin
that we love, too, when he's conducting,
is he actually is acting down there in the pit.
He has reactions to what's going on onstage.
So it's great to have him down there connecting.
TODD WOMACK: So last night, we were
watching the musical director.
Is that what he's called?
MARK DOUGLAS: The conductor?
Yeah, I don't know.
That guy was having a blast.
He was bopping along to every single song for what?
A two-hour show?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Two hours and 45 minutes.
TODD WOMACK: He's working harder than you guys.
Is that every night?
CHARL BROWN: Yeah.
I mean, look.
The music is infectious.
And so, if you're in charge of the music,
it's really infectious and you have
to be grooving along with it and staying in the groove
that we're setting.
MARK DOUGLAS: So let's get into some--
TODD WOMACK: Let's get back, yeah.
MARK DOUGLAS: Let's really start now.
So I've seen some pictures of Smokey Robinson, Berry Gordy,
Diana Ross showing up to the actual show.
Do they do that a lot?
How many of you have performed the person to the person?
CHARL BROWN: Well, I will take this one.
Smokey Robinson was just at our show on Wednesday.
It was his birthday, and he came he decided to come.
He comes to New York every year for his birthday.
But this year, he decided to come
to see the show with his wife.
It's also her birthday as well.
And they came to the show.
We knew they were there beforehand.
And we had cake with him that was provided
our wonderful SpotCo team that's back there.
And we had a party for him backstage after the show.
So for me it's always a little nerve-wracking
to know that he's there.
Luckily though, he's been there a few times now,
so it wasn't as nerve-wracking as the first time.
But they all came opening night.
Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight.
I mean everyone pretty much who was still
with us was able to be there.
MARK DOUGLAS: Were the Pips there?
CHARL BROWN: I don't think we had any Pips there on opening.
But we did also have a Friends and Family Night the week
prior to opening, where a lot of the other Miracles
and other members of groups-- The Temptations-- and family
members came as well.
So everyone who's been involved in Motown-- who is still
with us-- has come to see the show at some point.
MARK DOUGLAS: Wow.
TODD WOMACK: Do you have any Diana Ross stories, KJ?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Well I just joined the cast
three weeks ago.
So I have not met her yet.
But I have murmurings that she's coming.
And I asked, please don't tell me.
Please don't tell me.
Tell me as soon as I walk offstage because I
think I will poop myself.
Because, if you go into my dressing room,
literally it's a shrine to Diana Ross at this point.
She has kind of taken over my world.
And I literally have dreams about her most nights.
I actually did just last night.
Yeah meeting Smokey Robinson was already crazy.
Sitting with Berry Gordy and going over
notes from the first day that he saw me.
And just sitting there and he's like, OK I'll be Berry Gordy
and you be Diana Ross.
And I'm like-- what?
TODD WOMACK: He's like, let's go to the sex scene.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: We're doing these scenes together
and I'm like, what?
Oh my god.
And he's so nice.
But it's really amazing to meet these legends
and also to kind of know this is how we got our start.
This is how we knew we could become entertainers.
These people have created the path for us
as black entertainers to even have a platform to stand on.
So it's not just meeting these amazing icons.
It's kind of meeting the people that inspired you to even
have the ability to have this kind of a dream.
MARK DOUGLAS: Well, as far as meeting Diana Ross,
I don't think you have anything to worry about
because you become her.
I mean we're talking about what you do with your mouth,
when you sing like her.
TODD WOMACK: You sound exactly like her.
MARK DOUGLAS: I don't know how you get that.
You have that same glow that she kind of gives off.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: I watch a lot of YouTube of her.
Honestly, hours of YouTube watching her.
And photos, and googling her.
But seriously just constantly watching her.
And whenever I start to feel like I've
become too much of this century, or right now,
I just start to watch her again.
Because it is easy to fall into, oh yeah,
well they laugh when I do this.
But that's not something she would do.
So I have to really make sure that it
stays within the period, and how she does things,
and how she moves.
MARK DOUGLAS: She's definitely one of the top divas.
So you've got to do it right.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Yeah.
To me, she's the first black female megastar.
And that's just kind of like, wow.
MARK DOUGLAS: And Charl, you have that.
I mean you become Smokey, as well.
And that voice that you do.
Can you give us--
CHARL BROWN: (BREATHY VOICE) Yeah, man.
I had to become Smokey to play Smokey.
[LAUGHTER]
It's true, though.
Like she said, we luckily live in an age
where we can Google things, and look them up on YouTube,
and try and research them.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, there
wasn't a lot that was captured of them, especially
in the black and white era in the '60s.
But there are a few key things that we actually
portray in our show.
So I went back and I just did my research.
I also read his autobiography just to get a sense of him.
And we also have a great resource.
Mr. Gordy, we should mention, wrote the show himself.
He's our book writer.
This is the story being told from his point of view,
how he remembers things.
So we also have him as a great tool
because he's bringing in-- he recorded everything.
All the meetings they had, everything
it was going on at Motown.
Luckily, he recorded everything.
And his sister, Esther, actually encouraged
him to keep things, as well.
So now they have artifacts and things
that they wouldn't normally think were important
because they didn't know how big this was going to be.
So I got a chance to listen to some
of the recordings of the quality control meeting
that we have in the show, and other things about the way
things were going on behind closed doors.
Because we're telling the full story,
not just what's in front the cameras or on the stage.
We're telling the story of what happened in his house.
And so we luckily have Mr. Gordy as a resource
to actually tell us how things were.
And Smokey is a very nice and wonderful man
in front of the cameras, and he is behind the stage, too.
But also they had some really serious, heated arguments
because it was about the art and the passion came out.
So I got a chance to hear all the sides of it,
not just the side of a fan.
TODD WOMACK: Smokey getting mad, like--
CHARL BROWN: Smokey getting mad.
TODD WOMACK: (BREATHY VOICE) Hey, man.
Back off.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARL BROWN: He definitely got mad.
MARK DOUGLAS: We're obsessed with voices and doing voices.
Is there a struggle to do that soft voice
and still project to a theater?
I mean you're miked, but still.
CHARL BROWN: Yeah.
Definitely, there is a technique to it.
I mean I just had to kind of train
myself to find where Smokey meets Charl as the performer,
and I can do it eight times a week,
and not hurt myself, and be able to actually come
to work every day.
So yeah I've been doing it now for almost a year so it's
kind of second nature to me.
But it definitely took me awhile to develop that sound.
TODD WOMACK: I know this is a hugely talented cast.
The impressions are outstanding.
You're doing some of the most famous people in the world.
Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey, Diana.
Do you all do any other impressions
that you'd like to share with us?
CHARL BROWN: I don't.
TODD WOMACK: Nobody?
CHARL BROWN: Donald?
DONALD WEBBER: All right.
[LAUGHTER]
ALVIN HUFF JR: He's being so modest right now.
DONALD WEBBER: All right, listen.
I actually don't.
But I'm in improv and you can see me at any time.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
[LAUGHTER]
MARK DOUGLAS: Let's get a running start
and see what happens, right?
TODD WOMACK: We'll come back to that one.
MARK DOUGLAS: Well I think a lot of times in the songbook
musicals-- that would technically be what this would
be sort of--
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Jukebox.
MARK DOUGLAS: Jukebox, songbook.
Sometimes the popular songs will get a little too Broadway-ed
up for my tastes.
Like, every rose has its thorn.
That kind of thing.
And it sort of takes me--
TODD WOMACK: Guns N' Roses The Musical?
MARK DOUGLAS: Well what was it?
Oh, "Rock of Ages."
But you guys did a really good job
of sort of honoring the way the songs were originally sung.
And it's still very much a Broadway show.
But it didn't have that thing that sort of can take me out
of it sometimes.
But I think sometimes that happens
I guess to protect the voice.
It's an easier way to sing over time.
Do you have-- no?
CHARL BROWN: Well I'll tell you this, too.
Mr. Gordy was also very adamant about the fact
that he didn't want to Broadway-ize Motown.
He wanted to bring Motown to Broadway.
And so luckily, like I said, he was
involved so much that they made sure
that the sound remained authentic and true,
and that we kept the soul of the music.
But we were telling the story in a Broadway format.
MARK DOUGLAS: Is that vocally taxing?
CHARL BROWN: Yes.
It is.
DONALD WEBBER: I'm going to put the spotlight on Brian
for a second.
He sings "What's Going On?"
And I think out of all the songs in our show, that's probably
the song that sounds the least like it does on the record.
And it was changed specifically for our show.
And anyway I'm just going to kind of--
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: I think that the way music
functions in-- I'm kind of like you.
Don't kill me.
I hate Broadway music.
MARK DOUGLAS: This is your Broadway debut!
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: It's my Broadway debut
but it's so corny.
And it's cheesy.
MARK DOUGLAS: I didn't want to say it.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: You know what I mean.
And I mean there have been some breakthroughs and some changes
in Broadway music, I think, just as time and history has
changed.
The first time I heard "Rent," I went, oh yeah!
Uh-huh.
Like that.
I like that.
But again, like you, I couldn't stand it.
And the idea that this show was going to be authentic to Motown
was interesting.
But it's tricky because the way music functions in our show
is really in three different forms.
You've got the concert performance.
So it might look a little bit like what you just saw.
So "Grapevine" in the show, I mean.
Marvin's at a concert.
And then you've got music in the studio.
We've got a "Grapevine" version that Gladys Knight sings.
And she's recording the song.
So that's two ways that they function
but the third is storytelling.
And that's the way that "What's Going On?" ends Act One.
Martin Luther King is shot.
And it was a crazy time in Detroit.
There were riots, there were fires.
It was a violent time, it was a scary time,
it was a heightened emotional time.
And "What's Going On?" was not created until after that,
in terms of the real timeline.
But it was just the perfect song to kind of emote
and kind of tell the story of what's happening on the stage.
And so the orchestration of it, and the way it's sung,
and the way it's portrayed is more
about telling the story of what's happening in the moment
on the stage, as opposed to it being about a performance.
If that makes sense.
So the way that the music works in the show
is really in those three different ways.
There's a live performance, the studio performance,
and then there's storytelling.
MARK DOUGLAS: I really enjoyed your Marvin Gaye moves,
by the way.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: Thank you, it's all in the pelvis.
ALVIN HUFF JR: Actually, I want to add on to that.
From the orchestral side of things,
there's actually an 18 piece orchestra
in the pit under the stage playing every show.
Early on, well it still happens, but early on, I
used to get really upset and frustrated when people
would lead over the front row.
And were like, oh my god, there are people down there!
Were you?
Were you there the whole-- Yes, we
were there the whole three hours.
Yes, there are people in 2014 that
can play music that was written 50, 60 years ago.
Of course we can.
But everyone says, oh it sounded so much like the recording.
And I used to be upset by that.
But now I take it as the utmost, the highest of compliments.
Because that's what Mr. Gordy wanted from the get-go.
He wanted it to have the Motown sound in your face.
Not to sound like Broadway.
Not to be mixed different way.
For it to actually sound like you're
listening to the actual recording
that people have in their living rooms from 50 years ago.
So I love the fact he has remained
true to keeping that sound every night.
And it's something that makes coming
to do the show every night so much fun.
I could speak for every guy down in the pit.
We have so much fun.
Well 17 guys and one girl.
For all of us down in the pit, we
have so much fun every night.
TODD WOMACK: Let me tag this question
on to Brian, to what you're saying.
This is your Broadway debut.
And your first time at Google.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: Yeah.
I want to live here.
TODD WOMACK: You do until you work here all day.
[LAUGHTER]
I love it here, if my boss is here.
But out of all the shows out there,
I want to just propose this to everybody here.
Start with Brian.
Out of all the shows, I would think,
as a performer-- Like many, people I love this music.
I love Motown music.
It looks like you guys do, as well.
It's clear as day.
Was this a little extra special, getting this show?
Can you tell us about the audition process?
Maybe getting the call that you got it?
If it doesn't endanger--
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: You asked the right one.
It was really hard.
We did workshops about two years,
I think it started about 2 and 1/2 years before.
They had a reading in LA which is almost three years before.
But I kind of came into the process
when they were still developing the show.
So I was a Temptation.
I was shoo doo-*** popping in the back.
And it was great and I loved it.
I'm in the pictures still.
If you look really close, I'm still there's as a Temptation.
But I had my eyes on Marvin Gaye.
I mean he was my favorite of the Motown artists.
And I got an opportunity to audition for the workshop.
And I got it.
And for three weeks I was kind of like obsessed,
the same way KJ was with Marvin Gaye.
Well I was obsessed before that, but you know for that time.
And then we finish the workshop, and we found out
we're going to Broadway.
And they were like, we're going to go and audition
everyone else in the country but you.
We like what you did, but we don't know.
You're kind of perfect but we don't-- you're good,
but we're going to look.
And the way you feel when you have to pee really bad?
I kind of felt that way for months.
Did you go to the [INAUDIBLE]?
I didn't.
There was nobody to go to.
Because I was just waiting.
I mean if you've ever had that dream job, that one thing
that you've just always wanted, and someone says to you,
Almost but not yet.
Fast forward.
The first rehearsal of the Broadway production
was going to begin on a Monday.
It is now Thursday.
They said, oh we're going to do promotion shots
and we'd like you to come in and take these pictures.
So I go in and I'm like, who am I playing?
Who am I dressing up?
And they go, we're going to put you
in The Temptations' costume.
Rehearsal starts on Monday, it's Thursday.
So they bring me to the front and they go,
just in case you're the lead singer of The Temptations,
we want to put you in the front.
And I went, no, I'm going to be Marvin.
And so I did the whole thing as Marvin.
So I'm taking pictures as a Temptation
but I'm doing Marvin Gaye moves.
And the choreographers are laughing.
They brought me in on Friday.
I didn't hear anything.
Friday before the Monday that rehearsal starts,
they said, Berry Gordy wants to see you again at 6:00
p.m. at night.
So I go in, I audition.
And at this point, I'm almost feeling
like the pee is going to run down my leg.
And I left there.
And I went to go see a show.
I don't really remember what show
it was-- I know Scarlett Johansson was
in it-- because my brain was just in a fog.
And at intermission, I got a call from the director
and he goes, Yeah you left something at the audition.
He goes, can you come outside?
So I've go outside and I'm like, he's
going to tell me I got this job.
He's going to tell me I got it.
And he's standing there with this look
of utter disappointment on his face.
And he's like, man, listen.
You're so close to Marvin and it's great.
But Berry Gordy is looking for his friend that's passed on.
He's dead, and that's what's so hard about finding Marvin.
A lot of the other people are alive.
Marvin is not here.
And you did your best, man.
You did your best and you're fantastic.
And we love you.
And he's walking outside, and it's raining.
I'm literally about to cry.
And then the producer, Kevin McCullum,
walks around the corner and he goes, Byron.
And I was like-- He goes, your name's Bryan.
It's that Y in your name that makes
me want to call you Byron instead of Bryan.
But here is a better name.
What if I just called you Marvin Gaye?
And I fell out on the floor.
MARK DOUGLAS: And peed the greatest pee you've ever--
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: And peed the greatest pee ever.
No one could tell because it was raining outside.
And it was one of those moments because they lifted me
off the ground.
And right across the street, they just
put up the marquee for "Motown."
It was lit up.
So they literally picked me up and they
were like, that's where you'll be.
And I just was crying and it was a mess.
But it was the best gift in the world
to kind of start my Broadway run that way.
[APPLAUSE]
MARK DOUGLAS: A little messed up that they did that to you.
A little sadistic but still cool.
TODD WOMACK: On the marquee, it's
like, And Byron as Marvin Gaye.
[LAUGHTER]
MARK DOUGLAS: Oh, man.
Not to focus on you too much here,
but there's an amazing performance of "You're All I
Need to Get By," which is probably one of my favorite
song of Marvin Gaye's.
There's an amazing duet that you do
as Diana Ross with Berry Gordy.
Now did you feel kind of jipped out of that song?
Because that's Marvin's song?
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: Man, I wanted to set stuff on fire.
But again, no, I didn't feel jipped.
It goes back to the way music functions in our show.
So it's one of those things where
it's more of a storytelling moment.
And it's one of those things where
it's one of the most powerful love songs.
I mean, to me, it's one of my favorite love songs.
And so, it just made sense to tell the story of this love
affair that Berry Gordy had with Diana Ross using that song.
Even though they didn't sing it, it just
makes sense in the moment if you come and see the show.
But I think that what's magical about the show, in terms
of the way music works, is if you've ever
seen Berry Gordy really look at Diana Ross in real life,
which we've had the privilege to do, he is obsessed with her
and he loves her.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Even just the way he talks about here.
It's obvious.
CHARL BROWN: His face lights up.
MARK DOUGLAS: Does he like that shrine that you have to her?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Well he hasn't seen it yet.
Because I just did it.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: So whatever musical
is going to support a look in a man's eye like that?
I mean do it, man.
TODD WOMACK: We'd be remiss to not mention, is it Brandon?
Who plays Berry Gordy?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Yeah.
CHARL BROWN: Brandon Victor Dixon.
TODD WOMACK: Really incredible in that moment between you
guys.
That duet.
I don't think I've ever anything that beautiful live.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Wow, that's a huge compliment.
TODD WOMACK: I don't get out of the house much.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Well, in that case, it's an OK compliment.
MARK DOUGLAS: He just recently regained his hearing
a few years ago.
TODD WOMACK: It was amazing.
MARK DOUGLAS: Speaking of people who aren't here today,
the kid that plays Michael Jackson-- there's
two of them-- we saw Prince?
His name is Prince.
Hey, he's destined for greatness.
But how old is he?
CAST: 12.
MARK DOUGLAS: And he played Michael Jackson like to a T.
It was incredible.
Is he at school right now or something?
DONALD WEBBER: They have school every day.
They're actually at the theater.
CHARL BROWN: It's backstage for them at the theater.
Everyday, yes.
MARK DOUGLAS: How-- What were you going to say?
TODD WOMACK: The same thing you were going to say.
MARK DOUGLAS: Have you had to replace a Michael yet?
Because at that age, one day you turn six feet tall.
CHARL BROWN: We still have two, like you said.
One of them, Raymond Luke Jr, has been in the show
from the beginning.
He's actually the one on the posters.
Besides him, we've now had three other Michael Jacksons,
I believe.
Prince is the third of those.
Our first one, Jibreel, just got too tall
and his voice started dropping.
JAWAN JACKSON: (DEEP VOICE) He was talking like this.
CHARL BROWN: We had Darius, and now we have Prince.
Puberty hits.
MARK DOUGLAS: That's gotta be a constant struggle to find--
CHARL BROWN: But I keep telling Jibreel
he's going to go back as Smokey.
So it's fine.
MARK DOUGLAS: Yeah, he was amazing.
He was so good.
Where am I?
Well speaking of Michael Jackson,
the show starts and ends with the Motown 25th Anniversary
Concert.
And I'm old enough that I remember sitting and watching
that.
It was in 1983.
Sitting, watching that, and it was incredible concert.
But the most amazing part of it was
when suddenly Michael Jackson shows up
and does a magic trick for every one and shows the world
the Moonwalk.
No one had ever seen the Moonwalk.
He gets up and does it.
And as an audience member, I was like, is he gonna?
Is he gonna come out?
And then, did they ever toy around
with maybe putting that in?
CHARL BROWN: We did have a version
in the workshop we did a couple years ago, where
we did have one of our cast members--
I think it was Ephraim at the time-- who did the Moonwalk.
He was able to do the Moonwalk.
We're not actually sure as to why that was cut from the show.
That's not in our lane, so--
MARK DOUGLAS: It really is not a Motown-- it's not on Motown.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: I think it's
that we just have so much music to cover.
I mean the show is two hours and 45 minutes long.
I think the first reading was something like six hours.
Once it was kind of in workshop form,
it was like three and a half, four.
And then, it was almost four.
And then in previews, we were at a little over three.
Three, fifteen.
And so we needed to cut-- I mean it's a great thing to say,
what a legacy Motown has in that it's got so much music that you
can't fit it into a show.
But somebody's going to be upset.
CHARL BROWN: We're inevitably going to disappoint somebody.
There are things that have been cut.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: But I will say I have definitely
heard that there have been murmurings of potentially
trying to put that Moonwalk moment back
into the end of the show.
Mr. Gordy is always coming back and adding things,
changing lines.
Only a week ago he added the "I Wish"
ending, because he was like, I think
audience wants to get up and dance.
TODD WOMACK: That was incredible.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: That just got added.
Like a week and a half ago.
MARK DOUGLAS: We have a question from the audience.
AUDIENCE: Hi, guys.
My name is Jessica, I work here at Google.
I'm a huge Motown fan and I've seen the show two times.
It's fun to see you guys not in costume and as yourselves.
But my question was, I know that so many of the characters you
play-- being such a big fan-- have
such interesting back-stories.
And like Paul Williams battling alcoholism
and Marvin Gaye being murdered by his dad.
How do you take those things that you knew, at the time
you're playing, are going to eventually happen
to your characters?
And how do you bring them into your acting
and how you portray them at a younger age?
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: I mean it's interesting
how art imitates life, life imitates art.
But speaking specifically to Marvin Gaye,
who was murdered by his dad with a gun.
Again, I was obsessed with studying it and studying it.
And so it was kind of all up here.
And I was acting it.
I even would honestly say from a place that was up here.
But the first week of rehearsal, I
got a phone call that my cousin was shot and murdered
in Baltimore.
He was hanging out with some friends and his phone died.
So he went out to the car to charge it.
And his friends heard gunshots, and ran outside,
and he was just laying on the ground.
Dead.
And so, in a strange way, everything
that we were singing about-- "What's Going On?"
Dr. King being shot-- it all just got a lot closer.
And it kind of moved from a cerebral
placed to kind of a gut place.
And so it became a lot easier because every time
I sang "What's Going On?" it moved from that place.
But then a lot of things in the country, just like Motown,
began to happen.
We had the whole Trayvon Martin situation that happened.
And we found out the verdict of Trayvon Martin right
before we sang "What's Going On?"
And it was a magical, amazing, tragic moment onstage
when we sing this song.
And I kind of just turned to my right and turned to my left,
and the whole entire stage is sobbing singing this song.
And so it's one of those things where
I think we're kind of experiencing
a little bit of what Motown experienced.
We're out there to sing and dance.
We want to make people feel good.
And we want to make people leave with the love of music the way
we have it ourselves as performers.
But there's some stuff that's going on in the world.
And so when that begins to affect the music,
you can feel it change.
And that's what happened with Motown.
I think they really kind of started off
in this entertainment, song-and-dance place.
And as the civil rights movement began to develop,
and we had everything going on in Europe and the Vietnam War,
as time progressed, you can hear it change in the music.
So we've been experiencing that even
as a cast just over the last year.
CHARL BROWN: So we've come a long way from the '60s,
and we're still in the same places sometimes, too.
We're still in the middle of the civil rights movement, as well.
So there's a lot of things that we
can address in the show that are still
going on in our everyday lives, as well, that we can bring
to the stage.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: And I'll just say that,
as some of these characters start from-- I
know Diana Ross starts from 17 and goes to her mid '30s, '40s.
And I think just kind of playing in the moment what
the ambition, what the motive is at that moment.
OK, just to get a record deal.
And then it's like, get closer to him.
And then it's be a star onstage.
And then, oh god.
And playing every moment as it comes.
That kind of helps to pace the journey and the arc of what
everyone's going through.
Because there is so much.
Your motives do change as the music changes,
as Motown changes.
And as everyone grows, you kind of
try to stay in tune with that, as far as like your age,
and what your ambition is, or what their ambition was.
It helps reading their autobiographies
or getting to talk to them, and seeing chronologically
what they were mentally going through at that time
and then kind of trying to get where they were.
ALLISON SEMMES: I play Florence Ballard.
And her life was kind of tragic.
She started off in the Supremes.
And then she was kicked out.
And then she was suffering from all sorts of mental illnesses
and alcoholism.
And so I think it's all about balance,
how Mr. Gordy wanted to nod his head to it.
But he didn't want to disrespect her in any way.
There's one scene where I leave in the middle of the song,
or at the end of the song I just kind of walk off.
And Shelley, who is one of our associate directors,
was saying how she didn't want me to stumble off, just kind
of hint at it and still have some type of dignity.
But then at the same time, mentally as the character,
I'm going through that with each song.
I'm excited in beginning as the Primettes.
And then, as we get through the songs,
I become less and less excited about it.
And finally, at the end, there's this point
where my actor mind has made up that I'm
done with being a part of it.
And so it's a balance of being true to the story but then,
at the same time, knowing what they went through.
AUDIENCE: Well you guys do it very, very well.
CHARL BROWN: Thank you.
JAWAN JACKSON: I also want to say
the thing with me and Donald.
As a Temptation at the Motown 25,
we're kind of aging backwards.
So we're old.
AUDIENCE: There are so many Temptations.
JAWAN JACKSON: Right.
The Temptations and the Four Tops.
And so, at that point in our lives,
our career is almost on the cusp.
We're trying to reintroduce ourselves to the world.
And that was our moment where we get to show we still have it.
And so it's kind of like the motivation of,
we have to re-prove ourselves to these people and the world
that we still have it, and we can still
go out there and sing, though we're slower in little older.
And then as the show progresses, you see the younger Temptations
and they have more life.
And they haven't been going through the situations,
the alcoholism parts, and things like that.
But it's a mind thing where we have
to remain conscious of what these people went through.
And Melvin Franklin in particular
was going through all kinds of health issues.
And, after shows he would have to go
and his feet were bloody because he
has blisters and all kinds of ailments.
And I feel like, in the show, that I
took on some of those ailments because I feel like my knees
and-- It took me out.
Literally.
I kind of like subconsciously go into that.
And I'm like, no, lord.
I'm 26, I'm not 56.
Let me get it together.
MARK DOUGLAS: It's amazing to see
how young you guys are in person.
I swear to God, by the end of the show
I have these images of you guys as being kind of run-down.
But I'm like, oh these guys are younger than me.
They look great.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Run-down?
MARK DOUGLAS: No.
Except for you.
Diana?
Never.
TODD WOMACK: Talking about connecting reality
to the characters, KJ, here's a question for you.
There's a moment in the show where you, as Diana Ross,
come out and sing "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hands."
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Just "Reach Out and Touch."
TODD WOMACK: "Reach Out and Touch."
Sorry.
MARK DOUGLAS: The outfit you're wearing during that part,
you've got be careful what they reach out and touch.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Some people get very touchy.
TODD WOMACK: That's my question.
Because you bring up somebody.
First of all, it's after the intermission.
You come out and it's this is great interactive moment where
that you bring the audience back into the show.
Energy is way high.
And then you bring somebody on stage
and have them sing along with you.
Last night, it was two people.
It ended up being two really different but beautiful,
touching moments.
Is it always that perfect?
Tell us the spectrum of things that happen.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Perfect.
No, it's a broad spectrum.
You don't really know.
Sometimes I'll be like, who wants to come up here?
And sometimes there will be a volunteer.
Sometimes they'll be like, please don't look at me.
People will look down.
Luckily, it can be terrifying for some people
and I want to find that terrified guy.
I think that they're the sweetest.
And I'm like, come on up here.
Play with me.
And then they'll kind of ease into it.
I feel like it makes the audience really comfortable.
And then sometimes you get people that are super eager
and they know that they have a fierce voice.
And they're auditioning to be in Motown.
And you don't know that until they take the microphone out
of your hand and you're like, OK and I still
have to sing this song.
Thank you very much, sit down.
MARK DOUGLAS: The guy that you brought up
last night it almost looks like he
could have been in the Mafia.
He was like, reach out and touch somebody's hand,
forget about it.
[LAUGHTER]
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: I don't know.
They seem to love it and I love it.
And it's personally one of my favorite moments in the show.
Because I do in my own shows, in solo shows, or whatever,
I am so in the audience and I really
want to connect with people.
And as I've been watching Diana Ross
and how she loved to sing that song--
she really loved to go out into the audience
and sit on their laps and kiss people.
And she was very personable.
And I think that's such a good representation of her
and the kind of performer that she wanted to be.
MARK DOUGLAS: Was that something that she
would do that literal part of the song?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: She would literally
go out in the audience, go out to your table,
or go into the audience.
Sit on your lap.
Talk to you.
It was typically about a 10 or 15
minute moment in her concerts.
She would, at the end, have everyone raise their arms,
and sway, and sing.
That was her standard thing in the '70s and '80s.
It was a big part of her gig.
TODD WOMACK: Thank you Do we have any more
questions from the smart, beautiful people in here?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Don't be shy.
TODD WOMACK: Just approach the microphone
because they are recording it.
And I'll fill it with some filler music.
AUDIENCE: Would you like to sing another song?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: We have to think
about 30 something, 40 songs tonight.
So why don't you come and see the show?
[LAUGHTER]
MARK DOUGLAS: You really should see it.
It really is incredible.
We were talking about the pressure of not only performing
for some of the people that are still alive that you're
actually playing, but when I was coming back
to sit down in my seat, I heard an old guy
like talking to the usher.
He was like, I saw the Supremes in 1957 in Oakland, California.
And then in 1958, I saw them in Washington.
And the guys is like, uh-huh, OK, great.
But then I started looking around
and it sort of seemed like there's
a lot of that type of person in the audience that
have lived through this.
And you're kind of representing their youth in a way.
Is there a lot of pressure to kind of live up
to people's memories?
CHARL BROWN: I think we feel the responsibility to uphold
their memories.
And our thing is, like it says at the Motown Museum,
live it again.
For a lot of people, they're coming out.
For a lot of people actually, we've
experienced that this is their first Broadway show.
So not only are they getting to relive their youth,
but they're also being introduced
to the theater, which is something that I personally
love about our show.
That people who would not have normally come to the theater
are.
But also, I just think we feel the importance
of the legacy of Motown that we try
to do our best to represent these people so that we can
uphold the things that they remember.
So they don't walk away being like,
well that wasn't really-- They stand at the stage door nightly
and thank us for our portrayals of the people they love.
And they're like, you were just like Smokey.
And that means a lot to me actually
when they do that, because that's what we're up here.
That's why we're doing it.
As an artist, that's what you strive to do,
is to make people happy.
DONALD WEBBER: Something that's really
cool to me is, you look into the audience
and you see someone who's 80 sitting next to someone who's
50 who's sitting next to someone who's 20 who's
sitting next to someone who's 10.
I remember growing up listening to this music.
I'm 27.
My mother listened to this music.
Her mother listened to this music.
And so it's such a big responsibility
to be able to kind of pass it on in this form.
And on Broadway.
TODD WOMACK: You're not thrown off by people singing along?
I swear, the lady two rows behind me
was singing all the parts to "My Girl."
She was going, my girl, my girl, my girl.
All the parts.
I looked back at some point, because we were fairly
near the front.
And every fourth person is singing along.
CHARL BROWN: There's a moment in the show
that I have to mention.
When I'm singing "You Really Got a Hold on Me," uh-oh.
MARK DOUGLAS: Sing it, Charl, sing it.
CHARL BROWN: (SINGS) But I love you.
There you go, baby.
That was for you.
MARK DOUGLAS: Tony nominee Charl Brown.
CHARL BROWN: So we're doing that.
It's a very tense moment.
We're in the South and it's the '60s.
And you know what was going on in America in the South
in the '60s.
It was very racially charged and we're
trying to have a dramatic moment.
I start the song very timidly.
I'll do it again for you.
(SINGS) I don't like you.
And then I pause.
And then I'm going to pick back up later.
Meanwhile the audience, depending on who they are,
has going onto the chorus.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: And they're good and happy, too?
CHARL BROWN: They're like--
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: (SINGS LOUDLY) But I love you.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARL BROWN: And they're like, you really got a hold on me.
I'm like--
(SINGS) But I love you.
This is my gig.
They're paying me.
No, but we do have some people who are very responsive.
But actually it's all in good fun.
I do love it.
It's fun to have to take back control
of the audience in that way.
But a lot of people, like I said,
it's their first time on Broadway.
They come to have a concert and have a good time.
The ushers constantly have to ask them to sit and remain
in their seats so the people behind them can see.
We do have a standing room section
if you want to come and stand.
So it's a fun time, and we love being
a part of that for people.
ALLISON SEMMES: That's the thrill of live theater.
It's not a movie where there's a screen.
But when the audience is involved, it's like, yes,
we're all in it together.
And it kind of just puts down the wall.
MARK DOUGLAS: It makes it new again for you.
JAWAN JACKSON: I had a person my first
like the first month of previews.
She would stand outside every day, everywhere we went.
Melvin, Melvin!
And I'm like, who?
You!
Oh my god, I love you!
Literally everywhere I went.
I would go to the grocery store, Good Morning America.
She'd just scream my name and would stand out,
just scream my name, and ask me to hug her and take
a picture every time.
These people are invested in this show.
And they really think that we are these people
that we portray.
I'm like, I'm Jawan.
[LAUGHTER]
TODD WOMACK: No, you're Melvin!
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: I just want piggyback on the responsibility
the show and the connections.
Last night, I went out the stage door at the end of the show.
And I met these two women from the South,
and they were like 70 and 71.
And they were talking about how they
were school teachers in the '60s,
and how they would see the first black-- she's like,
I had the first black child in my class.
And I just know how tense it was.
I'm so glad you guys really talked
about how tense it was down there.
Because she was from South Carolina.
That is a real thing and we would listen to this music.
And it really brought down walls.
It really opened up-- She was like, I went to a concert
for Marvin Gaye.
And it was the first time I had ever
seen black women and white women screaming
for the same person at the same time in the same building.
I was like, Oh my.
It just reminds you how real this is.
Being young and not really having
lived that kind of segregation?
You're kind of like, holy-- when someone can come up to you
and tell you and cry to you about seeing
that first black child who was terrified in the room.
She's just like how do I make this child feel better?
No one needs to feel like this.
And for her to relive that.
And also get relieved that this is where we are now
by watching the show, it just touched me so deeply.
I stood there and talked to them for like 30 minutes,
because it just felt so good to hear how this moved them
and how remind them of a time that
was so vulnerable for the entire country.
MARK DOUGLAS: That's great that you
get to see it happen every night, you know?
Everybody is brought together by this music before your eyes
every night.
It must be a great feeling.
TODD WOMACK: Yeah.
We have about four minutes left but I just
want to ask you guys about the end of the show.
Having been a performer and stuff, seeing tons of Broadway
shows.
I have never seen anything like the end of the show.
Everyone in the audience is on their feet clapping.
And you don't make them.
Everybody's just giving a standing ovation
in the big concert part.
MARK DOUGLAS: You feel like something's
about to start, not end.
TODD WOMACK: I mean it was late on a work day.
You've got older people in the audience.
That place is thriving.
On their feet.
So much fun.
The show ends and people are like, all right let's go!
There's so much energy.
MARK DOUGLAS: Let's start a band.
TODD WOMACK: Is it like that every night?
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Every day, matinees, every day.
It's shocking.
It's amazing to see because you aren't always a part of shows
that do that.
That's what I love about the show,
that people are going to leave.
And no matter what is going on their life, even from the cast,
I think it's a moment where you just kind of check out.
And you feel really good.
It just kind of motivates you to be happy.
There's something really joyous about this show.
And Mr. Gordy and Charles Randolph-Wright,
my mom's fiance had passed away the day before I started.
And so they were supposed to come that weekend.
And she decided to come the following week.
And they were like, have her come.
Charles said that Trayvon Martin's mom came twice.
She had to come twice because it just made her feel better.
She was like, this is the first time
I've really smiled and laughed since my son was killed.
And so it's amazing to me how it does transform you.
And even going through that myself,
and losing someone-- and lots of people in this past
have had a lot of personal drama-- but for some reason,
that building and this show has such power to uplift.
And I think that is transcendent.
And we watch it every single day as the audience
stands up, and is screaming, and clapping,
and just wants to have a joyous moment.
And I've never seen that.
This is my fourth Broadway show and I've never seen it happen.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: It's infectious.
I mean it really is kind of like a sugar high.
You might think, I've been at work all day.
The last thing I want to do is come and sit
for 2 and 1/2 hours or 2:45 and watch a show.
And literally it's like getting a shot of adrenaline.
It's like whatever that juice they give to Honey Boo Boo
Child.
TODD WOMACK: Go-go juice!
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: I mean even as performers, you come in
and you're like, woo!
We were at Google all day and we did interviews,
and we did this.
I'm so tired.
And then that music starts and by the end,
you're like, woohoo!
It's one of those things.
Come to the show, it's so infections
that literally people have flown their relatives out to see it.
We've gone outside and people are like,
I live down the street.
I've seen this show four times but I flew out my whole family.
I mean it really is one of those shows.
So come and see it.
It'll literally uplift you.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Especially if you're in a bad mood.
MARK DOUGLAS: It's musical go-go juice.
BRYAN TERRELL CLARK: It's musical go-go juice.
TODD WOMACK: We want to thank you guys so much for your time,
and your effort, and your dreams.
CHARL BROWN: Thank you for having us.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Yeah, it's our pleasure.
MARK DOUGLAS: Go warm up your voice.
Drink some tea.
TODD WOMACK: Drink some tea.
MARK DOUGLAS: Get in character.
Thank you so much for coming out and talking to us nerds.
TODD WOMACK: Yeah, the show is amazing.
Go see it.
It's a lot of fun.
It's so much fun.
KRYSTAL JOY BROWN: Thank you, guys.
CHARL BROWN: And thanks for lunch, too.
That was great.
MARK DOUGLAS: Thank you so much.