MOTOWN MOGUL Berry Gordy’s life story is coming to Broadway and so are the songs of the music greats he discovered — from The Jackson 5 to Diana Ross and the Supremes. It’s been a winning formula for the Great White Way: Take songs everyone knows, build a show around them and watch the money roll in. Some call them jukebox musicals. Think “Jersey Boys” and “Mamma Mia!” Gordy, 82, is writing the book and Charles Randolph-Wright will direct the production, which is set for a spring 2013 opening at The Nederlander. Casting has yet to start.“Broadway is the pinnacle of live theater and provides a challenging and exciting opportunity to tell my story and share the magic of Motown,” Gordy said. Broadway veterans are already predicting success. Eva Price, a producer of “Peter and the Starcatcher” and an upcoming version of “Annie,” said she suspects Motown — and the stars Gordy helped lead to success — could be rich fodder. “These are artists who each had such emotion and heart and power, who were trying to find their footing in the industry,” Price said. “I would not be surprised if they really hit a home run.” Village Voice columnist Michael Musto has no problem with the jukebox tag. “As jukebox show after jukebox show came down the turnpike, I kept wondering, ‘Where’s the Motown one? The one featuring the shimmery, soulful music of my youth?’ ” In the 1980s, Musto says, he even had a cover band where “we sang all the old hits.” “I’m obsessed,” he insists. “And now it’s here! And now it’s here! It’s the real ‘Dreamgirls,’ and I couldn’t be happier. “I just hope Berry Gordy tells the truth about his life story, so that the song title ‘Come and Get These Memories’ doesn’t merit a callback of ‘No, thanks.’ ” “Motown the Musical” will track how Gordy, as a young songwriter, founded Tamla Records with an $800 loan from his family in 1959 and went on to be Motor City’s musical force. Gordy is also serving as producer, along with Kevin McCollum and Doug Morris. The music legend is already comparing his old creative home with his latest project. “I’ve discovered that Motown and Broadway,” Gordy said, “have a lot in common — a family of wonderfully talented, passionate, hardworking young people, fiercely competitive but also full of love and appreciation for the work, for each other and for the people in the audience.” mmenna@nydailynews.com
After helping so many others find stardom, famed music producer Berry Gordy is finally getting his own show.