Aretha Franklin heard a special birthday chorus in New York the day she turned 71, Roger Friedman reports at an entertainment news site.
The cast of the “Motown” musical . . . serenaded her at the end of the Monday night show.
The whole cast and the audience sang the Stevie Wonder “Happy Birthday” song to the Queen of Soul, who brought about a dozen guests. She herself sang along with the show, full of Motown hits. . . .
After the show, many members of the cast– as well as the legendary Berry Gordy Jr.– joined Aretha for a swanky birthday party at the Ritz Carlton on Central Park South.
Performers learned during intermission that Franklin was in the house, Friedman writes at showbiz411.com. His dispatch describes the Ritz afterparty.
The "Motown" play, cutrrently in a preview run, opens April 14.
