Report: Four Tops musical expected to open on Broadway in early 2022
The Four Tops in 1985; Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images
Sole surviving original Four Tops member Duke Fakir is collaborating with Broadway producer Paul Lambert on a new musical focusing on the Motown legends, an “insider” source tells Page Six.
Fakir and Lambert are hoping that the show, which will be named I’ll Be There! after The Four Tops’ chart-topping 1966 hit “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” will be ready to premiere in early 2022.
“They just did casting calls in L.A. and are now doing rehearsals,” the insider tells Page Six.
The production is reportedly planning to launch with a brief run in Detroit, which would make it the first Motown-themed musical to debut in the Motor City. A source tells Page Six that plans also are in the works for the musical to have a run at London’s West End.
In addition to “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” The Four Tops scored big hits with “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Bernadette” and “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got).”
I’ll Be There! will follow in the footsteps of Ain’t Too Proud, the Broadway musical based on the story and featuring the songs of fellow Motown legends The Temptations, which opened in 2018.
Meanwhile, as announced last week, The Four Tops will release a new ecologically themed digital single called “Freedom” this Saturday, June 5, in conjunction with World Environment Day.
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