''G.I.T. on Broadway'', also known as ''Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations on Broadway'', is a 1969

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of e ...

produced by

Motown Productions Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

and

George Schlatter George Schlatter (born December 31, 1932) is an American television producer and director, best known for '' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' and founder of the American Comedy Awards. For his work on television, Schlatter has a star on the Hollywo ...

- Ed Friendly Productions. The special, a follow-up to 1968's successful '' TCB'' program, is a

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

starring Motown's two most popular groups at the time,

Diana Ross and The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

with

the Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

. Containing primarily

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

showtune A show tune is a popular song, song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a Standard (music), standard, more or less detached in most people's minds ...

s, the special was taped in mid-1969 and originally broadcast November 12, 1969 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. Like ''TCB'', the title of the program was derived from an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

, this one standing for "Gettin' It Together". A soundtrack album for the special, titled ''Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations on Broadway'', was issued five days before the program aired. Though there were no singles released from this album in the US, "The Rhythm of Life" did become a Top 10 hit for the ensemble in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Two months after its release,

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...

left The Supremes to embark upon a solo career.

Cast

Diana Ross & The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

: **

** Mary Wilson **

Cindy Birdsong Cynthia Ann Birdsong (born December 15, 1939) is an American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard. Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Blu ...

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

: **

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations, on Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang ...

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptation ...

** Paul Williams ** Melvin Franklin ** Otis Williams

Song list of TV special

#"G.I.T On Broadway" #Broadway Medley #" The Rhythm of Life" #"Malteds over Manhattan" #Medley: ##"

It Ain't Necessarily So "It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera ''Porgy and Bess'' (1935) where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, wh ...

" ##" Summertime" #" Fiddler on the Roof Medley" #"The Student Mountie" #"Leading Lady Medley" #" Let the Sunshine In" #"

Funky Broadway "Funky Broadway" is an early funk-style song written by Arlester "Dyke" Christian. In 1966, he recorded it with his band, Dyke & the Blazers. The small, Phoenix, Arizona-based, Artco Records first issued it as a two-part single; when it was unabl ...

" #"G.I.T. On Broadway Reprise"

Song list for Soundtrack Album

#"G.I.T On Broadway" #Broadway Medley #"Malteds over Manhattan" #"Leading Lady Medley" #''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

'' Medley #"The Student Mountie" #"The Rhythm of Life" #Finale: "Let the Sunshine In" #"Funky Broadway" #"G.I.T. On Broadway" (Reprise)

Awards for TV special

The show won the

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design -

Bob Mackie Robert Gordon "Bob" Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Cher, Doris Day, Marlene D ...

;

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ar ...

(NBC)Awards for ''G.I.T. on Broadway''
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Availability on home media

As of January 2019, the show has not been officially released on

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

.Search results for material at Amazon.com
/ref> Various clips are available for viewing

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" ...

streaming media Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...

sites, including

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

.Search results for material by Google search engine
/ref> In 2017, the vinyl LP

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ...

has been remastered and reissued on CD in the U.S. (Motown, MS699).Search results for material by Discogs search engine
/ref>

Charts

Notes

References

External links

* {{The Temptations 1960s American television specials 1969 in American television 1969 soundtrack albums 1969 television specials Diana Ross soundtracks Motown soundtracks Music television specials Television soundtracks The Supremes soundtracks The Temptations soundtracks