Local Musicians in Motown The Musical

Did you get to see the latest Broadway Utica show at The Stanley? Motown The Musical was an exciting journey through some incredible music history. It featured world-class touring performers and technicians creating an unbelievable evening of entertainment. But did you know that several of the musicians in the pit live in Central New York?

If you made your way down front before or after the show and looked into the pit, you would have seen a few musicians that are on the road for the tour (keyboards, guitar, bass and drums). In addition, 6 people were hired locally for this run of rehearsals and shows. Mike DiMeo, Scott Rutledge, Carol Dumka, Stephanie Paine, Dana Jerrard and Dan Fabbio played all the brass and woodwind parts here. If any of those names sound familiar, it's because they are all local music teachers and musicians. And they sounded fantastic!

Let's show some love for the stagehands too. There was a huge crew of local folks that helped pull it all together back stage - from setting up sound, lighting and projection, to wardrobe, hair and makeup, plus the muscle that loaded and unloaded it all from the trucks you've seen around town. That's an awful lot of local people that got paid to work on this show over the past couple weeks. Not mention the restaurants and hotels that fed and housed all the people working on the show. And of course The Stanley staff that made the place shine.

Tell me again how there's no local economic impact from bringing shows to The Stanley.