'Motown the Musical': Great (but not enough) music, too much Berry Gordy

Motown the Musical

packs its score with some of the greatest hitmakers in music history: the Jackson 5, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Temptations, and the Commodores. As a story, though, it's missing only a cross for Motown records founder Berry Gordy to hang on.

Gordy based the musical on his 1994 autobiography, To Be Loved: The Music, The Magic, The Memories of Motown. There's plenty of music and magic in the production now on tour at the Academy of Music; in addition to the bands or artists listed above, all the Motown records stars from the 1960s to 1980s get their 15 seconds of stage time in this 21/2-hour show (some, such as Teena Marie and Rick James, merely bookend a short-shrift collection of Motown's late-period hits).

Motown the Musical includes more than 60 songs, and with this fantastic cast, the audience (and this writer) would have eagerly listened to full versions of all of them. As Marvin Gaye, Jarran Muse plays creative foil to Gordy (Julius Thomas III) and his business-oriented schemes; in song, his voice hypnotizes, particularly in the full version of "What's Going On" that caps Act One.

That hit, however, is one of few that actually coheres with the narrative in any nonobvious manner. Many of the songs - by Ross, the Jackson 5, the Temptations - appear as re-creations of stage or studio performances. Costume designer Esosa decks the Jackson brothers in striped sweaters and checkered pants, and drapes feathered dresses over Ross. Coupled with David Korins' scenic design, these remind too accurately of television replays.

But if you're looking for memories to verify this historical retelling, Motown the Musical gives only one version, which belongs in self-serving fashion to Gordy. The entire evening attempts to justify or evoke sympathy for his workaholic attitude, his lawsuits, his top-down style of management, and the enmity these things fomented between him and many of the artists who eventually left Motown for other studios, including his longtime partner Ross.

The brief interludes of dialogue between Gordy and Ross, or Gordy and Smokey Robinson (Jesse Nager), or Gordy and Gaye, provide small conflicts that otherwise continue this theme. If you're looking for story, that might bother you. But if you're looking for music and magic, you won't find a better collection of hits in a jukebox musical than the ones presented here.

Through Jan. 18 at the Academy

of Music, Broad and Locust Streets. Tickets: $20 to $140.50.

Information: 215-731-3333, kimmelcenter.org/broadway.

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