Chester Gregory (BA ’95), a graduate of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department‘s BA Program in Musical Theatre, is headed to Broadway as the star of Motown The Musical. Gregory portrays Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, in this hit show, which features the music of the legendary Motown catalogue and a book by Berry Gordy. Gregory has been playing Gordy in the musical’s touring production since the start of 2016.

Besides his BA in Musical Theatre, Gregory also received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College in 2015, when he was the speaker at Columbia College’s graduation ceremony. His stage credits include the Broadway productions of Hairspray (as Seaweed Stubbs), Sister Act (as Eddie Souther), Tarzan, and Cry-Baby, as well the national tours of Hairspray, Sister Act, and Dreamgirls (in which he played Jimmy “Thunder” Early) and numerous shows in Chicago, including the Black Ensemble Theatre’s long-running hit The Jackie Wilson Story (My Heart Is Crying, Crying), for which he won a Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Revue, and August Wilson’s drama Two Trains Running at the Goodman Theatre.

Motown The Musical originally ran on Broadway in 2014 and 2015. Its Broadway return engagement begins July 12 at the Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41 St., New York, for a limited 18-week-only engagement through November 13.

For more information on Motown The Musical, click here.