Berry Gordy planning Motown musical for Broadway

Record industry exec Berry Gordy Jr. is working on a new musical creation: a Broadway-bound stage show based on the founding of Motown Records and his rise to fame.

Producers announced details of the forthcoming Motown the Musical on Tuesday, including that Gordy Jr., 82, is writing the book.

Motown the Musical will tell "a gripping story about the protégés and stars of a uniquely talented musical family who, under Gordy's guidance, began as the sound of young America and went on to become some of the greatest superstars of all time," producers said.

The show will trace Gordy Jr.'s evolution from Detroit songwriter to music manager to influential record label executive. It will also depict the stable of talented young singers — including Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and The Jackson Five — that he helped sculpt into international superstars.

The production is expected to feature new songs as well as classic hits from the Motown catalog, which also includes songs by Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and The Supremes.

Charles Randolph-Wright, who has helmed productions of Porgy & Bess and Sophisticated Ladies, has joined the team as director.

The show's producers include award-winner Kevin McCollum (Rent, In the Heights) and Sony Music chair Doug Morris.

Casting has yet to be announced, but Motown is slated to open on Broadway in Spring 2013 at one of New York's Nederlander Theaters.

"This is an amazing opportunity for everyone to experience the Motown phenomenon through the eyes of the man who lived it," Morris said.

The Tony Award-winning 1981 musical Dreamgirls was widely believed to have been based on the early days of The Supremes and of Motown Records, but the creators denied any connection.

In 2007, when a film adaptation of Dreamgirls was in contention for the Academy Awards, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures apologized to Gordy for any confusion their film caused about the label's origins.