Hey guys, Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood, back on the stage at the Pantages Theater. I am once again taking you behind the scenes of a hit show. This time, Motown The Musical. Doo-wop, doo-wop, doo-wop, doo-wop. Watch me now. Hey boy. Backstage with Miss Diana Ross, Allison. This is a dream come true for you.

Oh, it is. You know, I love performing and singing but to be able to play an icon, it's like it really is a dream come true. I can't even think of anything else to say.

Okay, you're in Los Angeles. You're on the tour. You did this on Broadway, but you weren't Diana Ross.

Yes, I was Diana Ross's understudy. I heard of the tour auditioning for Diana Ross. I had to jump in on it because, you know, I was already familiar with the role because I was understudying her, but to be able to play her full-time and then travel the nation while doing it, I had to jump at that. This isn't the type of show where we want people to just sit and listen, you know, with theater etiquette, which is great. But we want them to interact with us. You know, this is music that they're familiar with. So it's like we encourage that like, you know, interaction, cuz it feeds us too. When it opens up, you know, it's The Battle of the Stars with The Four Tops and The Temptations and you hear those you hear those familiar like bars of the music. Do it, do it. I'm not doing it justice. But it like wakes you up and it's like, oh my God, the show is beginning. And then you hear the baseline of like The Temptations, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone," and it gets you going. It's like that funky. So, like from the get go, it's like full energy. So, honestly, I just listen to the music to get me like revved up.

Go show me. How do you do Diana?

Oh, yes, well there is one move. It's step, and then you pull the hand across, like you're wiping a table, along your hips. So this is our very first step for "Baby Baby." I don't want to give it away too much. But yeah, you got it.

Yes. "Baby." Yes, that's it. You got it. I think you're gonna go on right now.

Oh my God, we may need an extra supreme if you wanna come.

Speaking of costumes. That's the red dress.

Oh my God. This is we call this Big Red. This is when Diana has signed with RCA and she's coming out as an individual artist and leaving Motown. So this is kind of like the reveal of Diana as Diana. The thing is about Motown. It it covers all of like different eras from the 50s through the 80s. So it starts off, I'm not sure, oh yes. It starts off with, you know, we have like, this is the 50s, and then we go into the 60s, and then we end in the 80s. This is the. This is the Motown 25. Never ever. Shoulder pads, galore. We got the tail in the back, you know. Um, and then we also have the classic "Love Child" from the album as well. So and of course we don't keep all of the gowns here, the gowns are in a special section.

We'll take a visit over there. When you put them on, you probably have like what, 10 seconds to do it.

Literally. Literally. There's so many quick changes that I have a team of people that I call Team Supreme that help me in and out of, you know, outfits and shoes and wigs and everything. So this is my dressing room.

This is a nice setup. You got all your makeup in your food and

Yeah, I got my flowers and my books in case I need like, just to read a little. I mean, there's not much time to read in here, but

No, I say do you bring these with every show, but this is specific. You're Diana Ross, but

Yeah. To be loved. This is what the show is based on. It's the story of Berry Gordy. So lots of the everything is from there. So, yeah. My reference is

You've read the book, of course.

I have.

And the show? Tell me about it.

It literally is the book. Yeah. You know, I I think it's great because it shows like, you know, Berry Gordy as this, you know, this young guy who has a dream and he wanted $1000, but his family only gave him 800 and he's like, okay, I'll make it work. You know, and he started, you know, working in the car factory and he wanted to make artists like that from a bare metal frame to a brand new car, from a, you know, a young kid with raw talent to a star. So, we see that growth and we see that story and then we get to hear great music on the way. This is where all of the quick changes happen. The wig changes happen. We grab our props for different scenes. So it's like a different show back here too. It's like two different shows.

And is every stage different in every city?

Yes, you know, um, The Pantages has more backstage room than we've ever had in like most of the cities. So we're kind of like lavishing in the space that we have.

And your dressing room.

Yes, and the dressing room as well.

And I see another sign with your name on it. Let's see that.

Yes. Here's another Gondola. This is where most of my um, gowns and dresses are. Wow. So yeah. Um, this is one of our Manchester, Manchester gowns. This is one of my favorites. I love it because like how the light picks up all of the.

Gorgeous.

All of the. Yes, the sequence. This is our um, stop dress. If I can get it out.

Wait, no, you can't just say, "This is our stop dress." You have to say like, "Stop! In the name of love." Hi, this is our wardrobe supervisor, and she is the one that is in charge of every single piece of costume that you see here. Hi. You're the woman behind the costumes.

Behind the costumes.

So tell me, what does it take to dress this entire cast?

Uh, it takes four of us to travel with the show and 12 local people in every city to do 400 costume changes. This is our dress for "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand."

Oh, yes. It weighs about 20, 25 pounds. It's one of our lighter dresses. It's not too heavy. You wear this?

Yeah, it's actually very it's light compared to the other. This is like a small child.

Reach out and touch somebody's hand. And that is Motown The Musical. Yes. Oh yeah. Gorgeous, gorgeous. So that's a workout wearing that.

Yes. But actually the real workout is this red dress right here. Wow. You move your hips in this. You got you're doing your thing. Oh, yes.

Favorite costume out of all of them?

Um, I would have to say the "Reach Out And Touch." I love like, just I love how I feel in it. It's light and it's the sparkles and I'm I feel like I'm just covered in sparkle. And it feels great.

But then when you're home about to go to bed, you're in your sweats, you're really happy to do it.

Yeah, I love that as well. That soft cotton. Yeah, the area's. Stop in the name of love. We don't. The land where Motown lives. We're on deck now. This is the big M that you first see that opens up and it starts the show and I mean, you look at this and you're like, okay. Wow, it's breathtaking. I mean, the theater alone is just majestic. But usually we can't see all of it during the show.

Dream come true, right for you?

It is. Getting to perform for a living. Yeah, I love it. You know, it's it's my joy. So

And tour life though?

Ooh, tour life has its ups and downs, you know, I love the fact that we can see so many different cities and like, you know, it's always changing. But the fact that we live out of our suitcases, that's a little rough during sometimes. But there's only so much traveling I've I think I could.

I think Broadway's calling your name again.

Oh, yes. I would love that too. You know, just to be able to sit down and Broadway is, you know, it's amazing. It's a change.

But you were on Broadway. You're kind of on Broadway still.

Yeah, we'll we'll see.

With that voice. And this, wait, ready? Oh, yeah. This is it. On stage at The Pantages. On stage.