If you had any doubts about the durability of the Motown songbook, stop worrying. Hours of auditions for the Broadway hit Motown the Musical and its upcoming national tour meant “Dancing in the Street” got a workout. And even after dozens of renditions – in various keys and at different tempos by singers not named Martha and the Vandellas – it still sounded pretty good.
It helped that each note was sung with passion – and the occasional dance move – by the 150 or so hopefuls who started lining up outside Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte on Saturday morning, hours before the 11 a.m. start time for the chance to hit it big at an open call.
Charlotte isn’t Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, the go-to places for Broadway auditions. Enter “Motown” director Charles Randolph-Wright, raised in York, S.C., where one of his instructors was actress and director Polly Adkins, familiar and honored on the regional theater scene. Randolph-Wright has often returned to his roots, and particularly to Actor’s Theatre, which has staged his plays Blue and Cuttin’ Up. He was there on Saturday to hear each a cappella note in the first round and, if a singer impressed, a second round try with piano accompaniment.
