Can't Forget the Motor City

"OOOOH BABY. I ain't goin' nowhere!" C. E. Smith exclaims as Teresa Reese delivers the first deadly line of the Supremes' first million-seller. "Where Did Our Love Go?" It's the perfect response--one that sits in the back of our minds every time we hear Diana Ross utter "Baby, baby, baby don't leave me. Oooh, please don't leave me by myself." It's also one of the best moments in a top-notch local show. Dancin' in the Street! is a snazzy, thoroughly enjoyable Motown revival. And if C. E. Smith and the other seven local performers have their way, the show ain't goin' nowhere--except perhaps Broadway.

Dancin' in the Street! first nestled into Boston's cozy Next Move Theatre five months ago. For a concept developed and produced in a town largely pre-occupied with national productions bound for the Big Apple, the goal was appropriately modest: Dancin' in the Street!, a musical revue offering 33 Motown hits by singers-dancers and a six-piece band, was supposed to occupy the Next Move, one of Boston's tiniest stages, for the better part of a month.

But the show was an overwhelming success from the start. Scheduled now to run until November 7, Dancin' in the Street! very conceivably could continue longer. The swarms of college students who invade Greater Boston during the winter were just checking out as the Next Move began to heat up. Producers expect these students to pack many of the performances this fall. But don't wait another weekend to see Dancin' in the Street! That will give you plenty of time to see the show again.

The reasons for Boston's current love affair with these love songs written nearly two decades ago are as basic as the show's main ingredients. A six-piece band led by guitarist Keith Robinson and sax man Jackie Beard sizzles, playing songs like "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Baby I Need Your Loving" with more energy than what often appeared on muted Motown recordings. The band also often becomes part of the action. Various members lead the crowd in hand-clapping, and Robinson actually leads the singing during two songs.

The eight dancers and singers add to the show with straightforward and unpretentious performances. Although they carve out individual styles, the performers never subvert the joy of the music. The feeling of community conveyed by the band and cooperative performers reflects the original Motown environment in Detroit which vaulted so much young. Black talent to superstardom.

MOTOWN'S IN L.A. NOW. And the Motown acts which still skip around the country deliver performances which are mere shadows of the steamy Motown era. The Four Tops, wearing matching but noticeably larger suits, now sing only a medley of their half-dozen super hits, apparently lacking the stamina to bring the house down with full versions of "Standin' in the Shadows of Love" and "Reach Out I'll Be There."

But where the original artists of these great moments in American music history seem to have faltered, the cast of Dancin' in the Street! excels stunningly: the energy and movement is infectious, reminiscent of the days when the enthusiasm of Motown audiences was an integral part of the show. Cast members say that what buoys them nightly, as they continue at a break-neck, eight-shows-a-week pace, is the excitement shown by the audience.

Individual performances come shining through, in spite of the temptation to simply let songs like "I Want You Back." "Heat Wave," and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" do the entertaining. Darcel Spear, a 17-year-old show-stopper, consistently executes the best. Her youthful energy explodes on "My Cherie Amour" and "I Heard it Through the Grape Vine." The irony of her singing songs which departed play lists long before she started tuning in radio airwaves makes her performance particularly refreshing. Everett Gibson, a Boston University junior with more muscles in his face than most people have in their entire body, delivers a sweaty, torrid show which also rekindles the Motown energy of the '60s. Sweet nostalgic moments come when Gibson assumes a falsetto and does two preteen Michael Jackson tunes which are at once hilarious and dazzling.

In addition to recreating Motown fervor. Dancin' in the Street! supplements it. Comments by the dancers like "I ain't goin' nowhere!" and "Oh my goodness. I can't stand it no more" verbalize the sentiments of all who have suppressed joyous emotions when hearing Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson grab for our hearts through...woofers and tweeters. The "My Guy/My Girl" duet performed by Edna Davis and Lewis Robinson similarly brings to fruition a fantasy: the blending of the two songs which epitomize utter faithfulness.

UNDYING LOVE for the music is what makes Dancin' in the Street! click. The fidelity comes through in the energy expended on stage, and in the banter sprinkled throughout. It also comes through in the audience where adults often shirk their best theater behavior to shake it in their seats.

In perhaps the coolest description of the making of a hit single ever. Four Tops leader Levi Stubbs once described the genesis of "Baby I Need Your Loving" this way: "We'd sit around and talk and maybe sing a line at a time and try to get a feeling for the tune and send out and get a sandwich or a cold beer and wait an hour till the sandwich settled and then we'd take another shot at it. Lucky for us, we came up with a pretty good mood cut it and came up with a smash." The humble beginnings of Dancin' in the Street! mirror this. And, lucky for us, the producers of this show came up with a smash. Oh, please, Darcel. Everett and the rest, don't go nowhere until I can see you a third and fourth time.