BERLIN, Germany and LAS VEGAS, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Stars in Concert) - The magic that was Motown will be returning to the international stage in 2009 for the first time since the legendary Motortown Revue shows made musical history in the 1960's. All the songs, the music, the dance steps and movements and the excitement of the Motown Sound as personified by
Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder,
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Martha and The Vandellas, The Contours, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, The
Jackson 5 and Lionel
Ritchie - along with supporting performances by their fellow
Detroit musical legends Jackie Wilson and
Aretha Franklin - will take the stage in the production of Motown Memories, as performed by the world's most talented assemblage of tribute artists and musicians.
Audiences will feel they've been transported back to the heyday of the Motown Sound by the lovingly and painstakingly recreated original music, costumes and performance routines. The production is enhanced by multimedia video of original footage, rare photographs, and other memorabilia, a hallmark of productions brought to the stage by Bernhard Kurz.
A four-time winner of the Las Vegas-based Entertainment Network's Artists Choice Award as "Producer of the Year", Kurz received the 2007 award at the September Gala in Berlin's Estrel Festival Center recognizing the 10 year continuous run of his Stars in Concert production, the world's leading and most successful tribute artist show. Bernhard Kurz began his career as a theatrical producer under the tutelage of Andrew Lloyd Webber, for whom he worked as manager and production manager of Cats, Starlight Express and Phantom of the Opera, effectively creating the German musical market in 1986. Kurz's phenomenal long running shows include his tribute shows to the Beatles ("all you need is love!"), ABBA ("Thank you for the music"), Elvis ("Elvis - The Show") as well as the Blues Brothers ("I'm a Soulman") which have played to audiences worldwide.
The Motown production will link the 30 musical numbers through a narrative performed by actors telling the Motown story from the unique perspective of Al Abrams, hired by Berry Gordy, Jr. in 1959 as the first employee of what was to become the Motown empire. Abrams, an 18-year-old Jewish kid, worked in an all black milieu to get the company's records played on air by white disk jockeys. In the mid-1960's he became the company's public relations director. The struggle of Motown's artists to crossover from the restrictive world of black music into the consciousness of white America paralleled the ongoing Civil Rights movement. "The legacy of Motown in context with the political and social circumstances is much more than just music that became legendary - it is a philosophy," says Kurz.
The musical will share previously untold Motown stories with audiences, and Abrams promises it will be informative, educational and above all entertaining. It will highlight his often humorous interaction with young Berry Gordy, Jr. and others from the early days of the Motown saga. "This is the story you won't see - or hear - elsewhere," says Abrams.
Abrams is the author of 11 published books. His latest book, Selling My Soul: The Complete Motown Press Releases, 1964-1966 is awaiting publication.
The show will coincide with the three-year global celebration of Motown's 50th birthday launched in Detroit this month. It will be staged in Berlin at the Estrel Festival Center. Kurz will be looking at venues in Detroit in mid-November.
North American media contact: Al Abrams,
Mail: [email protected];
German media contact:
"Stars in Concert"
c/o Estrel Berlin,
Mihaela Djuranovic and Miranda Meier,
Sonnenallee 225,
12057 Berlin, Germany,
Tel: +49(0)30-6831-22124,
Fax: +49(0)30-6831-2366,
Mail: [email protected],
https://www.stars-in-concert.de
