Keith Washington stars as the post Motown Marvin Gaye in My Brother Marvin
*Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 the curtains will rise at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles for the highly anticipated stage play “My Brother Marvin” written by renow...
Keith Washington stars as the post Motown Marvin Gaye in My Brother Marvin
*Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 the curtains will rise at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles for the highly anticipated stage play “My Brother Marvin” written by renown director and producer Angela Dunlap, and inspired entirely by Zeola Gaye, sister to the late music icon Marvin Gaye.Once more Zeola Gaye gave a candid interview to The Electronic Urban Report publisher Lee Bailey. She told him how the tour had gone so far, and what Los Angeles theater goers can expect.
“The tour has been off the chain and everything is going well, I’m getting great reviews and I’m also helping people and that’s my main goal, is to help somebody out there by presenting my story, my family story.”
Marvin Gaye’s vocal style helped define the Motown era of music that prevailed in the 1960’s and into the 1970’s. His first number one hit was in 1968 “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” while “Let’s Get It On” became his second number one hit in 1973. Among many other hits “Sexual Healing” established Marvin’s biggest post Motown hit on the Columbia label. The three previously mentioned songs made it on the Rolling Stone list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time“. (As cited in Wikepedia.)
The Grammy winning Marvin Gaye died on April 1, 1984, just one day prior to his 45th birthday after a brawl with his father ended tragically. Though Marvin’s music lives on, for years there has been a looming curiosity over what really happened on that fateful day. Despite Marvin’s obvious musical talents and personal demons, the long stewing undercurrent of family dysfunction, steeped in addiction, depression and denial was the culprit that silenced Marvin’s voice forever. Zeola Gaye originally documented her in the book My Brother Marvin, published in 2011 and now thanks to her collaboration with urban theater’s leading lady Angela Dunlap, Zeola courageously brings Marvin Gaye’s family matters to life on stage in the hope of demystifying and de-stigmatizing these types of issues for other families who might be in need of help.
Now that Zeola has faced and successfully recovered from her own addictions, she tell EURweb’s Lee Bailey candid details of the Marvin Gaye family trauma, the drama between her and Marvin’s ex-wife Janis Hunter (who was married to Gaye from 1977-1981), and her subsequent triumph over tragedy. https://soundcloud.com/eurnews/eurweb-exclusive-zeola-gaye-on
My Brother Marvin stars three leading men as Marvin at various stages of his life and career. According to Zeola, it took three men to portray him because that’s how complicated her brother was. Harvier Hill-Roller plays young Marvin, while Anthony Grant plays Marvin, the Motown legend, and Keith Washington plays the latter Marvin who dazzled a new generation with his recording of “Sexual Healing” in 1982. Emmy Award-winning Lynn Whitfield plays Marvin’s mother and Clifton Powell plays Marvin Gaye, Sr.
Lynn Whitfield and Clifton Powell play Marvin Gaye’s parents in “My Brother Marvin”
The Los Angeles, CA performance schedule for My Brother Marvin is as follows: Thursday, May 23rd at 8 PM, Friday, May 24th at 8 PM, Saturday, May 25th at 3 PM and 8 PM at the Pantages Theatre 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, by calling 1-800-745-3000, and at the Pantages Theatre Box Office (Opens daily at 10AM). For more information on My Brother Marvin, log onto www.detroittouringco.com Follow My Brother Marvin on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MyBrotherMarvin.
My Brother Marvin made its’ off Broadway theatrical premiere in Detroit, Michigan in 2006 during the Christmas Holiday. It received rave reviews and would go on to play a limited engagement tour in theatres in Philly, Chicago, Oakland, Memphis, Oklahoma, Kansas City and Little Rock. During the 2006-2007 season, the play’s storyline was told