'Motown' at Academy of Music: Great music, dancing, and an American tale

If you have a shred of soul, you're going to love the music. If you have any dancing in you, you'll love the dancing. Motown: The Musical, a Philly favorite, is back, running through June 11 at the Academy of Music. There's a whole lot to love, including (with some reservations) the story it tells.

That's the tale of Berry Gordy Jr., songwriter and businessman (and coauthor of this musical), creator of a hugely successful independent company, Motown Records, which gave the world music written, produced, and performed by black artists. Down went barriers against black music; up came "music for everybody," helping reshape American culture.

Motown comes at you with a rush, with a "cutting session," with great singing and dancing of wonderful 1960s pop smashes, between the Temptations and Four Tops. Act 1 maintains that rush, both in history and music. Act 2 sustains more of the narrative, as the music and times change. We begin and end at a 25^th-anniversary celebration of Motown in 1983, uniting the once "happy family" of Motown.

Motown goes pretty far to give us the context, the interplay between the music and the history around it, from Joe Louis' knockout of Max Schmeling in 1938 (a turning point for young Gordy), to the Vietnam conflict (which spurred everything from "War" by Edwin Starr to "Ball of Confusion" by the Temptations to "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye, all heard here), to the increasingly complex market pressures that spelled the end for Motown.

So, so many great performers. Raymond Davis Jr. is uncanny as very young Michael Jackson in "I Want You Back" and "ABC." Allison Semmes shines throughout as diva Diana Ross: The Ross/Gordy relationship is the major thread of the tale, since, when she left in 1969, things began to change. Semmes looks, sounds, and dances the part — she even descends into the audience to get "Jack from Jersey" and "Jules from Overbrook High" to sing along with "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)." Chester Gregory nails the demanding role of Gordy. And Jarran Muse is superb, an audience favorite as the moody, politically charged Marvin Gaye.

Nearly 60 tunes get an airing, whole or in part – and some favorites such as Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" get curtailed, very much alas. Also, these great pop tunes depend on a tight rhythmic "pocket," which suffers at Broadway tempo, too much in evidence here. (The dancing helped me forget that.) But you will not see a pop musical with a better track listing, no, you won't.

This is Gordy's view of things. He was a paternalistic businessman ("Competition creates champions!") with a conservative streak, hesitant to embrace the civil-rights movement. Stevie Wonder, the greatest genius Motown ever knew, by far, is strangely slighted, with a single number mashing up "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (my goodness, what a great track) and "Happy Birthday." And Motown produced only a single female superstar, really, in Ross.

But let's get back to singing and dancing, and a truly important American story. Motown: The Musical has all of these. It's a dazzler, a happy-maker, signed, sealed, and delivered with incredible talent and power.

Motown: The Musical. Through June 11 at the Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St. Tickets: $20-$132. Information: kimmelcenter.org, 215-893-1999.