Hear our full conversation on my podcast “Beyond the Fame.”
After earning a Tony nomination for portraying Smokey Robinson in “Motown: The Musical,” Charl Brown salutes the legendary singer and songwriter with his touring show “Smokey & Me,” at the Weinberg Center in Frederick, Maryland, on Sunday night.
“It’s a cabaret show,” Brown told WTOP. “It’s a celebration of songs that he performed with The Miracles, but also songs he wrote for other people like The Temptations. I take people on a chronological journey through Motown Records. Smokey Robinson was one of the first artists on Motown and his song ‘Shop Around’ was their first hit.”
The first act features Robinson’s hits: “Shop Around,” “You Really Got a Hold on Me,” “My Girl,” “Cruisin’,” “Ooh Baby Baby,” “Tracks of My Tears” and “Tears of a Clown.”
The second act details Brown’s own personal story. “I give people insight into my career as an actor and how I got to Broadway to play Smokey Robinson,” Brown said.
Raised in San Diego, Brown grew up listening to Motown thanks to his father’s record collection. After studying theater at the University of Southern California, Brown joined the European tour of the musical “Hair” before moving to New York City.
In 2012, his stage manager on “Sister Act” called him into his office. “He had a picture of Smokey on his computer and said, ‘Has anyone ever told you that you look like Smokey Robinson?’ … If anyone ever does anything with Smokey, you must audition for it.’ … One week later, I got an audition to play Smokey in ‘Motown: The Musical.”
His audition in front of Motown founder Berry Gordy and director Charles Randolph-Wright was nerve-racking. “I walk in, I put on my Smokey voice and said, ‘Hey, my name is Charl Brown.’ Berry Gordy took one look at me and said, ‘Boy … I hope you can sing.’ I sang ‘You Really Got a Hold on Me’ and I’ve been involved in the show ever since.”
He starred alongside the great Brandon Victor Dixon as Gordy, Bryan Terrell Clark as Marvin Gaye and Valisia LeKae as Diana Ross. The show earned four Tony Award nominations: Best Orchestrations, Best Sound Design of a Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Musical for LeKae and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Brown.
“It’s an honor just to be nominated,” Brown said. “To be one of the five nominated was a dream come true. To get to go to the Tony Awards for the first time, to get to perform on the Tony Awards stage for the first time … this is a show I’ve been watching since the eighth grade. My parents got to come, a lot of my friends bought tickets.”
The best compliment came from Smokey Robinson himself. “I’ve had a chance to interact with him quite a few times and he’s been nothing but gracious and complimentary,” Brown said. “Whenever he’d come to the show, he would wait for me after the stage, I’d come to greet him, he’d open his arms, put on his big Smokey smile and say, ‘Hey, me!'”
Hear our full conversation on my podcast “Beyond the Fame.”
