By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
What exactly was heard through the grapevine? The playful musical qualities of the melody and rhythm of “Heard it Through the Grapevine” combined with the catchy, upbeat feeling of the simple phrase seem always to bring out a jubilant spirit. Perhaps that was the intention of Marvin Gaye when he made his original recording of what has become a classic.
Alas, the song is about a romantic relationship that is coming to an end. One would think the song would convey sadness, but that that is not the case. As “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” is sung, it just seems to take us to a place that feels good. It feels like someone is saying, “Hello, let’s go out and have some fun.”
Music Box South opens a show titled “That Motown Sound” at the Blue Lagoon Bar and Grill with Marvin Gaye’s “I heard it Through the Grapevine.” This musical number sets the tone for an evening that will be about love and going out to have fun. It started to feel like being out on a first date as the night progressed.
The musicians whose work I have come to enjoy have found their places at Lago Mar in Texas City. The Music Box South cast conveys comfort with the space and its acoustics and seems to enjoy the casual Thursday audience. This is the third show the cast is performing in Galveston County.
Not only do members of the group seem to have made themselves at home in the Texas City space, but there was also an added air of glamour radiating from the ladies on stage.
Ka’Vonda Woodrow-Goodman joins the troupe for its Motown show. Her musical performances and expertise graces the Houston area, and now she’s adding Galveston County as a place where she shares her talents.
As her voice sang out Etta James “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” the audience seemed lost in the experience of her singing and memories of Etta James.
Between each song, the troupe banters and someone provides a bit of a history lesson about the original recordings of the pieces they perform.
I recall a song about how all we need is love, and another about how the world needs more love. Well, Music Box South’s Motown show added love to Galveston County with its musical selections. With each piece, I was hoping that the singer would be able to hang onto her guy and that the guy would stay stuck on his girl forever.
There was an innocence in the love songs from their show, an innocence that projected youthful optimism about romantic love, love that had not yet been battered by life’s storms.
When the first set came to an end, I felt like it wrapped up too soon, I wanted more — more of the lighthearted, innocent feeling of young love. I was eager to have a second date as it felt like I was saying good night to someone at the end of a first date.
The second act was like a second date, starting off sweet and charming with “sunshine on a cloudy day’ as the performers sang “My Girl” by The Temptations. Then, as a second date offers the chance for two people to relax and reveal more of themselves to each other, the musical performances began to evoke a similar experience.
“Man’s World” by James Brown let us know love is sometimes complicated. Mama’s warning starts to echo on the second date. This experience is represented in “That Motown Sound” by the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
The songs keep coming, and the idea of love keeps growing deeper and deeper as we are listening to music that moves beyond innocence and into a committed love relationship conveyed by selections such as B.B. King’s “Sweet Little Angel.”
The show signals it is winding down as Ka’Vonda comes to center stage and shares the history of Dianna Ross’s version of “Home” from the movie “The Whiz.”
Ka’Vonda invites the audience to close their eyes and go to that place called home where they feel safe and loved and then she begins in a soothing lullaby voice to sing about home and longing to go back to a place of love and affection.
As her voice crescendo the audience showed their love for her performance with applause.
“Stand by Me” sung by all the vocal performers conveyed the message, “Hey! we got this. We got this. We can do this, and we all love each other. And then Ben King and Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” ended the second date or what was really an evening of celebrating love through music.
“That Motown Sound” will be performed from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursdays at the Blue Lagoon Bar & Grill, 12930 Crystal View Blvd. in Texas City, until the end of November. You can purchase tickets to the show by calling the box office at 713-522-7722 or by going to https://www.themusicboxtheater.com/events/that-motown-sound-texas-city.
