the motown project
By Alicia Hall Moran
Joe's Pub New York Voices Commission
Musical traditions yearning for each other across race, class and nation grace Alicia Hall Moran’s meditation on the Motown songbook - a cinematic, movement-based aria fusing Sugar Pie Honey Bunch with Mozart while Marvin Gaye’s lyrical pathos finds solemnity in Purcell.
Featuring Thomas Flippin (guitar), Steven Herring (vocals), Barrington Lee (vocals), Jason Moran (piano), LaFrae Sci (drums), and Reggie Washington (bass) in collaboration with choreographer Amy Hall Garner, the motown project reimagines Motor City poetics in a study of desire and infatuation only soul and opera embodied by one chanteuse could endure.
Thomas O. Kriegsmann/ArKtype, Executive Producer
Alicia Hall Moran, Concept and direction
Lance Cain, Editing
Sascha von Oertzen, Sound mixing
Amy Hall Garner, Choreography
Andrew Sotomayor, Makeup design
Greg DiCrosta, Jason Fifield, Lance Cain, Video & film engineering
Sascha von Oertzen, Greg DiCrosta, Tyler McDiarmid, Sound engineering
Set list:
"I Was Made to Love Her"
by Stevie Wonder, Lula Mae Hardaway, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, Steven Herring, and Thomas Flippin
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" (Set Me Free)
by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, LaFrae Sci, and Reggie Washington
"Ah chi mi dice mai"
from Don Giovanni by Mozart
performed by Barrington Lee and Raphael Fusco
"When the Air Sings of Summer"
from The Old Maid and the Thief by Gian Carlo Menotti
performed by Steven Herring and Raphael Fusco
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered"
by Stevie Wonder, Lee Garrett, Syreeta Wright, Lula Mae Hardaway
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran
"Habañera"
from Carmen by Georges Bizet & Ludovic Halévy/Henry Meilhac
performed by Alicia Hall Moran
"Come Back Into My Life"
by Alicia Hall Moran
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, Reggie Washington, and LaFrae Sci
"Heat Wave"
by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Thomas Flippin
"I Was Made to Love Her"
by Stevie Wonder, Lula Mae Hardaway, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Steven Herring
"Love Child"
by R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, Reggie Washington, and Thomas Flippin
"Please Mr. Postman"
by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Thomas Flippin
Suite Compostelana: Preludio
by Federico Mompou
performed by Thomas Flippin
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)
by Michael Masser, Gerald Goffin
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, Thomas Flippin, Reggie Washington, and LaFrae Sci
"What A Curse for a Woman is a Timid Maid"
from The Old Maid and the Thief by Gian Carlo Menotti
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Thomas Flippin
"Steal Me, Sweet Thief"
from The Old Maid and the Thief by Gian Carlo Menotti
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Reggie Washington
"What's Going On"
by Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo "Obie" Benson
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Thomas Flippin
"Ah Belinda, I am press't with torment"
by Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Thomas Flippin
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugarpie Honey Bunch)"
by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, Steven Herring, and Thomas Flippin
"Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio"
from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Thomas Flippin
"Son andati?"
from La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini
performed by Alicia Hall Moran
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson
performed by Alicia Hall Moran
"Papa was a Rolling Stone"
by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong
performed by Alicia Hall Moran
"When I am laid in earth"
by Henry Purcell, Nahum Tate
performed by Alicia Hall Moran
"Every Time I Feel De Spirit"
vocals inspired by Hall Johnson arrangement of the Negro Spiritual
performed by Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran
"You're All I Need To Get By"
by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson,
performed by Alicia Hall Moran, Steven Herring, Barrington Lee, Jason Moran