Motown: The Musical Taps Raymond Luke Jr. and Jibreel Mawry to Play Young Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder | Playbill

Related Articles
News Motown: The Musical Taps Raymond Luke Jr. and Jibreel Mawry to Play Young Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder Child actors Raymond Luke Jr. and Jibreel Mawry will take on the roles of young Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Berry Gordy in the new Broadway musical Motown, which will begin previews March 11 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/f11d588cdc18dbe875c2f44c2e9b280d-Raymond_headshots.jpg
Raymond Luke Jr.

Luke Jr. and Mawry will both make their Broadway debuts in the production that traces the the life and career of music mogul Berry Gordy. The boys will share the three roles.

Charles Randolph-Wright directs Motown, which is studded with songs made famous by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five. It officially opens April 14.

Producers also announced that Bryan Terrell Clark, who was previously listed as part of the Motown ensemble, will portray Marvin Gaye. Charl Brown (Jersey Boys, Sister Act) is cast as Smokey Robinson.

Tony Award nominee Brandon Victor Dixon (The Color Purple, The Scottsboro Boys) and Valisia LeKae (Ragtime, The Book of Mormon) will co-star as Gordy and Diana Ross, respectively. Gordy, who also authored the book to Motown, is producing the musical along with Tony winner Kevin McCollum (Rent, In the Heights, Avenue Q) and Sony Music CEO Doug Morris.

Jibreel Mawry
The cast also features Morgan James (Godspell), Saycon Sengbloh (Fela, Hair), John Jellison (Memphis) and N'Kenge (Sondheim on Sondheim), as well as Timothy J. Alex, Michael Arnold, Nicholas Christopher, Rebecca E. Covington, Ariana DeBose, Andrea Dora, Preston W. Dugger III, Wilkie Ferguson, Dionne Figgins, Marva Hicks, Tiffany Janene Howard, Sasha Hutchings, Jawan M. Jackson, Lauren Lim Jackson, Crystal Joy, Jamie LaVerdiere, Grasan Kingsberry, Marielys Molina, Sydney Morton, Maurice Murphy, Jarran Muse, Jesse Nager, Milton Craig Nealy, Dominic Nolfi, Ryan Shaw, Jamal Story, Eric LaJuan Summers, Ephraim Sykes, Julius Thomas III, Daniel J. Watts and Donald Webber, Jr. According to producers, "Motown tells the gripping story behind the hits as Smokey finds his unique voice, Diana skyrockets to stardom and Berry fights against the odds to turn his improbable dream into a triumphant reality. The music that shattered barriers and shaped our lives finally comes to the Broadway stage in the season's most highly anticipated world-premiere event."

Motown will have scenic design by David Korins, costume design by ESosa, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Peter Hylenski, projection design by Daniel Brodie, and choreography by Patricia Wilcox (Blues in the Night) and Warren Adams ("Toy Story"). Motown features arrangements and orchestrations by Ethan Popp, with co-orchestrations and additional arrangements by Bryan Crook, dance arrangements by Zane Mark and music direction by Joseph Joubert. For tickets visit Telecharge.com.

Visit MotownTheMusical.com.

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!