The original and the best celebration of Motown s Greatest Hits is coming to a town near you! Join the original and the best celebration of Motown s Greatest Hits with the spectacular, critically acclaimed West End hit Dancing it the Streets, which is touring the UK from Saturday May 7 - Sunday 19 June. Experience the energy and electricity of the motor city in a stunning production packed with hit after hit, all killer, no filler! The talented cast and band will bring to life the infectious, melodic, foot-tapping songs with a touch of soul and style guaranteed to have you signing along and dancing in the aisles Expect your favourite songs made famous by THE FOUR TOPS, THE TEMPTATIONS, STEVIE WONDER, MARVIN GAYE, LIONEL RICHIE, THE SUPREMES, SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES, MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS and many more. Cast: Julian Cannonier, Scarlet Gabriel, Emma Louise Jones, Newtion Matthews, Joseph Noble, Joanne Sandi, Wayne Withers. Director/Choreographer Carole Todd. Producers: Paul Waldewn and Derek Nicol for Flying Entertainmemt What the papers say about Dancing in the Streets In this show you are never more than a couple of minutes away from a chart-topping pop classic. The Stage The high points though are glorious, from the Temps I Can t Get Next to You one of the funkiest numbers in the entire Hitsville catalogue to the Four Tops anthemic Reach Out (I ll Be There). Stevie Wonder, reincarnated as a teen prodigy, adds a scorching Uptight, while the onstage band does a fine impersonation of the legendary, multiracial house-band, the Funk Brothers. Any devotees of R&B who don t enjoy the show should check their pulse immediately. The Times They sing their hits, nearly 40 of them which can genuinely be classed as all killer, no filler. The Guardian This was essentially one of, if not the best show...ever!!! Capital Radio
Did You Know? Facts about Motown Motown derives its name from Motor City, the nickname for Detroit where the label was founded. At the time the biggest car manufacturer, Ford was based here. Berry Gordy Jr, the label s founder once worked for the Ford plant Artists who recorded under Motown included The Temptations, The Supremes and Diana Ross, The Commodore and Lionel Ritchie, Martha Reeve & The Vandellas, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, The Contours, The Jackson 5, Boyz II Men and Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder is the only artist from Motown s heyday still signed to the label. The first headquarters for Tamla Records (later incorporated into Motown Record Corporation) was a property bought by Gordy in Detroit and known as Hitsville USA. The Gordy family lived on the first floor. Originally, Gordy wanted to call the record label Tammy Records after the hit Debbie Reynolds song. Unfortunately, the name was taken, so he chose Tamla Records instead. Outside of the US, the label operated under the name Tamla Motown As well as record label owner, Berry Gordy is a prolific songwriter, penning a catalogue of classics including: Do You Love Me (The Contours/Brian Poole & The Tremloes), I Want You Back (The Jackson 5) Reet Petite (Jackie Wilson), Jump (Kriss Kross), and Money (That s What I Want) (Barrett Strong/The Beatles/ The Flying Lizards). In 1961, Motown had their first US No 1 with The Marvelettes Please Mr Postman. Martha Reeves initially worked for Motown as secretary. However, she did not stay in the job long, and was soon signed to the label with her backing group The Vandellas. They became one of the label s hottest acts. Motown artists were primarily African American and were encouraged to act and dress like royalty so they could be ambassadors for other black artists and break into the white popular music scene. To help them with this, Motown had a special department dedicated to developing the skills, grace and poise needed. The backing band on almost all of the Motown recordings are a group of highly dedicated and tight-knit group of musicians called The Funk Brothers. The surviving members received The Grammy Legend Award in 2004 and were induced into The Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville in 2007. Motown was the first commercial US record label to be owned by an African American. Gordy sold Motown to MCA and Boston Ventures in 1988. It was then sold to Polygram in 1994, before being transferred over to Universal Music Group when it acquired Polydor in 1999. Motown now operates under The Capitol Music Group, out of Capitol Tower in Los Angeles. Smokey Robinson, one of the artists under the Motown label called his daughter Tamla and his son Berry after the label and founder. Between 1961 and 1971, Motown produced 110 US top 10 hits. Most of Motown s greatest hits were written by songwriting trio, Holland Dozier Holland. The songwriters and Motown parted ways in 1967, and due a legal dispute with Motown, they wrote songs under the pseudenomyn Edythe Wayne until 1972. The duo LMFAO is made up of Berry Gordy Jr s youngest son and one of his grandsons. A stage show about the label called Motown: The Musical, written by Gordy opened on Broadway in 2013 to rather mixed reviews and closed in 2015. The show is now playing in London s West End. Motown is credited with helping break down race relation barriers. Smokey Robinson recalls: Into the 60s, I was still not of a frame of mind that we were not only making music, we were making history. But I did recognise the impact because acts were going all over the world at that time. I recognized the bridges that we crossed, the racial problems and the barriers that we broke down with music. I recognised that because I lived it. I would come to the South in the early days of Motown and the audiences would be segregated. Then they started to get the Motown music and we would go back and the audiences were integrated and the kids were dancing together and holding hands.
Behind the scenes on the first Tamla Motown Tour of the UK Mowtown Revue Uk Tour 1965: The Supremes Martha & The Vandellas The Temptations And Smoky Robinson & The Miracles There are two facts about the now legendary 1965 Tamla Motown tour of the UK: you couldn t possibly afford to stage the same show today with the artists involved and during the tour, which took in 18-20 towns across the UK, they only played to two full houses - Hammersmith Odeon and the Odeon in Glasgow. Those who had the privilege of seeing the UK debuts of Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and teen dynamo Stevie Wonder could have had little idea they were in at the start of something significant... the flowering of a new musical phenomenon. And neither did those who worked on the tour. Malcolm Cook was the lowly tour company manager who had already worked with Motown artist Kim Weston the previous year, when she was added to the bill of a Gerry and the Pacemakers tour. The plan was to pave the way for a full Motown foray but when she asked that she be announced as a Tamla Motown artist, she was introduced, out of ignorance, as Miss Pamela Motown. When Cook was handed the Motown Revue tour in March 1965, this showcase for a burgeoning new Detroit-based soul label was just his next assignment. We d heard the records - we d heard The Supremes, we d heard Stevie Wonder - but I didn t realise the importance of that tour at the time, he says. Today Cook is full of reminiscences about the tour, such as Stevie Wonder s bizarre habit of re-arranging the furniture in his hotel room so that he could more easily navigate his way to bed, and always eating three-course meals in reverse order ( He d have peach melba followed by steak or a hamburger and then he d finish with soup ). Stevie was great fun to have around, says Cook. He was only 15, 16 years of age. He had a tutor called Ted and he used to get lessons in his hotel room or on the bus and once he d finished you could hear him singing away at the back of the bus. He was just a happy-go-lucky soul, generally excited by life and by music. Cook, who subsequently tour-managed Motown compatriots The Temptations, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Glen Campbell, among others says that all the Motown artists were consummate professionals. With their retinue of publicists and assistants and a bus for equipment and costumes, it was a typically ambitious 1960s operation. But what Cook remembers most was the tour s unspoken dynamics.
Stevie Wonder performing on a UK TV show I always liked Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, but I got the impression that everything was geared to The Supremes. If there was a promotion, Diana Ross was the focus. She was always sweet and charming and nice but she wasn t as accessible as Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were. I found Smokey Robinson to be remote, and I can t remember exchanging more than a word or two with him. At the time, Motown s UK invasion was not quite as resounding a triumph as it has sometimes been painted. Confidence in the label s pulling power was so low that somewhat incongruous home players Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were added to the line-up at the last minute as special guest artistes. I think the tour was alien to Georgie at first, says Cook. He d been used to playing blues clubs and all of a sudden he had a hit record with Yeah Yeah and he s thrown in at the deep end. He didn t feel he was part of it, although he got on well with Stevie Wonder, two musos together. The artists, also including opening act the Earl Van Dyke Sextet, performed two shows per night in 21 venues in the same number of days. A Ready, Steady, Go Motown special, hosted by Dusty Springfield, was broadcast during the tour and provided valuable exposure for this new celebratory soul music. But, although the tour was warmly received everywhere, often the houses were little more than half full. In fact, Cook can recall just two sell-outs in the entire tour - Hammersmith Odeon (now the HMV Apollo), which was located in an area with a strong black community, and Glasgow Odeon (still the Odeon but no longer diversifying into concerts), which wasn t, but obviously knew a good thing when it rolled into town. From the very first show, the reaction was incredible, says Cook. In Glasgow it really threw me because as soon as Earl Van Dyke kicked in and the show was announced, the audience stood up. The reaction to the tour was great but the attendance wasn t great. Maybe Tamla product didn t get the promotion it deserved. Maybe they came six months too early. 40 years on, the fans still won t let the Motown sound go. The Supremes arrive in the UK Martha Reeves and the Vandellas appear on the UK TV show Sounds of Tamla Motown
Dancing in the Streets 2016 UK Tour dates Saturday 7 May DARLINGTON Civic Theatre Wednesday 11 May BUXTON Opera House Thursday 12 May SOUTHEND Cliff s Pavilion Friday 13 May GUILDFORD G Live Saturday 14 May EASTBOURNE Congress Theatre Tuesday 17 May SWANSEA Grand Theatre Wednesday 18 May BASINGSTOKE Anvil Arts Thursday 19 May CARDIFF New Theatre Sunday 22 May PORTSMOUTH King s Theatre Wednesday 25 May BOURNEMOUTH Pavilion Theatre Thursday 26 May NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall Friday 27 May SOUTHPORT Southport Theatre Saturday 28 May HALIFAX Victoria Theatre Sunday 29 May BLACKPOOL Grand Theatre Thursday June 2 GATESHEAD The Sage Friday June 3 SHEFFIELD Lyceum Theatre Sunday June 5 NORTHAMPTON Royal & Derngate Tuesday June 7 NORWICH Theatre Royal Wednesday 8 TUNBRIDGE WELLS Assembly Hall Thursday 9 June TRUTO Hall for Cornwall Friday 10 June ST ALBANS St Albans Arena Saturday 11 June BROMLEY Churchill Theatre Sunday 12 June BIRMINGHAM Town Hall Tuesday 14 June INVERNESS Eden Court Wednesday 15 June DUNDEE Caird Hall Thursday 16 June GLASGOW Royal Concert Hall Friday 17 June EDINBURGH Usher Hall Saturday 18 June YORK Barbican Hall Sunday 19 June LIVERPOOL Philharmonic Hall Press Contact: Kevin Wilson Kevin Wilson Public Relations kevinwilsonpr@gmail.com 020 8673 0658 / 07884 368697