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Brandon and Sean Stewart Godfrey bring special chemistry to the stage in Las Vegas show ‘Soul of Motown’

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Sean Stewart (left) and Brandon Godfrey
Photo: Christopher DeVargas

There’s something about couples that perform together. Whether it’s chemistry or tension, there’s usually an energy that heightens the performance for entertainer and audience alike.

“It works for us, and it’s funny because we had chemistry to begin with,” Sean Stewart Godfrey, the only female singer in the electrifying Soul of Motown at Westgate Las Vegas, says of performing with husband Brandon Godfrey. “Even before we were together, people who knew nothing about us would come up and talk to us, thinking we’re together.”

Those fans would plead, “We gotta know,” Brandon says. “You don’t realize what type of energy you exude. With us, there’s always been a connection that reads well to the audience.”

It seems like singing classic duets like the immortal “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell would help fuel that chemistry, but the truth is, nobody in Las Vegas sings these songs like Sean and Brandon, or their castmates C.J. Jefferson, Mo “Big Sexy” Crosby and C.J. Williams.

Plenty of other shows and acts deliver Motown tracks along the Strip and in lounges around the Valley. Soul of Motown distills that music into its purest form and adds modern flourishes, a testament to the gifted performers.

“There’s a timbre, a sound that Motown brings, a beat that Motown brings, and it just makes you feel something,” Brandon says. “That’s the feeling Motown was going for back in its time. There was a lot going on, those were tough times. Motown makes you forget about everything that’s going on and says, ‘I’m here for a good time.’ It exudes love.”

The show got its start in Tennessee and is still performing another version at the Grand Majestic Theater in Pigeon Forge. A native of Chattanooga, Sean started there in 2017; Brandon, from Burlington, North Carolina, came aboard a year later.

The show came to Las Vegas in 2019 for a series of two-week runs at the Westgate International Theater, where Barry Manilow performs, before the resort signed it up for a residency at the Westgate Cabaret. After the pandemic shutdowns, Soul of Motown reopened in May 2021 and recently eclipsed the 300-show mark.

You have to see it to believe how five people singing Motown songs can be so impressive.

“A lot of other shows are doing impersonations or other things to take you back to that era,” Sean says. “The thing we love about this show is we can bring our own twist to it, individualize it to give our own perception of that song.

“And it’s amazing how [the music] makes us feel when we hit the stage and see the joy and the energy begin to move the crowd. We could be in an argument at home, but when we hit the stage, my goodness, it shifts instantly. Motown does that to you.”

That instant emotion echoes the feeling when the two singers first met. Brandon says it was magic when he first witnessed Sean when auditioning for Soul of Motown, telling a friend, “That’s gonna be my girl.”

Sean, meanwhile, had no clue. “It was six months before I had any idea whatsoever,” she says. “Everybody else seemed to be in on the secret but me.”

The pair moved to Las Vegas in the fall of 2019 once the residency was secured, then got engaged on Valentine’s Day 2020 and married the following November, while their show was shut down by COVID. “We were stuck together anyway,” Sean laughs.

The Godfreys also perform as a duo at Westgate’s casino lobby bar, another project launched during the pandemic. It has only enhanced their onstage chemistry.

SOUL OF MOTOWN Wednesday & Thursday, 5:30 p.m., Friday-Sunday, 8 p.m., $25-$70. Westgate Cabaret, 702-732-5111, soulofmotownshow.com.

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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