Get ready, ’cause here he comes: Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumnus Chester Gregory (BA ’95) is starring in the national touring company of Motown: The Musical.

Gregory portrays Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, in this hit show.

The tour opens with a January 5-10 engagement at the Altria Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. The tour then continues through July 3 with stops in Fort Worth, Texas; New Orleans; Naples, Miami, and West Palm Beach, Florida; Nashville; Columbus, Ohio; Madison, Wisconsin; Baltimore; East Lansing, Michigan; Hartford, Connecticut; Toledo, Ohio; Appleton, Wisconsin; Louisville, Kentucky; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; Sacramento, California; Seattle; Portland, Oregon; San Jose, California; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Chester Gregory is a 1995 graduate of the Columbia College Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre. He also received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College in 2015. His credits include the Broadway productions of Hairspray (as Seaweed Stubbs), Tarzan, Cry-Baby, and Sister Act, as well as numerous shows in Chicago and regional theatre (including the national tour of Dreamgirls, in which he played Jimmy “Thunder” Early).