Gogue Center Closes 2022–23 season with Smokey Robinson, Chicago

The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University closes its 2022–23 season with two highly anticipated performances—legend Smokey Robinson (Saturday, April 22; Ham Amphitheatre) and the 25th anniversary tour of Broadway’s awardwinning “Chicago” (Wednesday, May 3 and Thursday, May 4; Woltosz Theatre).

A prolific singer-songwriter, record producer and executive, Smokey Robinson is a cornerstone figure of American music. As a co-founder of Motown Records with Berry Gordy, he was instrumental in crafting the signature Motown sound that would leave an indelible, far-reaching impact on the future of popular songwriting.

In 1960, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles recorded Motown’s first million-selling hit, “Shop Around.” That decade, Robinson produced 26 topforty hits with The Miracles, including “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “I Second That Emotion” and the group’s only number-one pop hit, “The Tears of a Clown.” As one of Motown’s major songwriters and producers, Robinson penned several more hit singles such as, “Who’s Loving You,” “My Guy,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Get Ready” and “Ain’t That Peculiar.”

Robinson has been inducted into the Kennedy Center, awarded an individual star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a second star with The Miracles. He has been awarded a National Medal of the Arts, a Heritage Award at the Soul Train Music Awards and a BET Lifetime Achievement Award and has received honorary doctorates from Howard University and the Berklee College of Music. Robinson was named The Recording Academy’s MusiCares Person of the Year in February 2023.

Robinson’s performance is presented as part of the Gogue Center’s 2022–23 Amphitheatre Series.

After 25 years, “Chicago” is still the one musical with everything that makes Broadway shimmy-shake: a universal tale of fame, fortune and all that jazz, with one showstopping song after another and some of the most astonishing dancing audiences have ever seen. It’s no wonder the performance has been honored with six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, a Grammy Award and thousands of standing ovations.

“Chicago” is the longest running American musical on Broadway and the second-longest running show in Broadway history.

“Chicago” is presented as part of the Gogue Center’s 2023–23 Broadway Series.

Tickets are available for both performances and can be purchased online at www.goguecentertickets.auburn.edu, by telephone at 334.844.TIXS (8497), and in person at the Gogue Center box office, located at 910 South College Street, Auburn, Alabama.

By Sara Zeff Geber