A Thrilling Story of Brotherhood, Loyalty, and Betrayal, Set to the Beat of Treasured Hits
COSTA MESA—OCTOBER 17, 2023
As befits a show about the Temptations, the most infectiously rhythmic of chart-topping R&B groups, “Ain’t Too Proud” keeps time in style. I don’t mean that solely in terms of a beat that makes you feel like dancing.
Of course, as you watch this 2018 entry in Broadway’s ever-expanding jukebox musical sweepstakes, you will no doubt find your legs twitching, as if from muscle memory. That’s the urge being translated with such sublime grace by those five jaunty men on the stage, platonic ideals of stepping high and looking fine.
But it is also true that time, unforgiving and unstoppable, is cannily presented as the shaping element in “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” which opened Tuesday night for two weeks at the fabulous Segerstrom for the Arts in Costa Mesa. As the show charts the changing fortunes of men who became synonymous with Motown’s glory days, the years keep moving forward with the relentlessness of a conveyor belt in an auto assembly line.
It’s enough to wear a strong man down. And more than any of the pop-songbook shows that have engulfed Broadway since the ABBA-inspired behemoth “Mamma Mia! opened in 2001, “Ain’t Too Proud” is a story of attrition. We watch as the core lineup of the original Temptations is whittled down to the last man standing. That’s the group’s leader and show’s narrator, Otis Williams, played with anchoring gravity by Michael Andreaus.
Ultimately, though, it’s the music that’s the sole survivor. And that’s what’s being celebrated here — the collective miracle of a blissfully silken sound forged out of clashing egos, many misfires and life-wrecking hard work into numbers that keep playing in our memories.
While honoring all the expected bio-musical clichés, which include rolling out its subjects’ greatest hits in brisk succession, this production refreshingly emphasizes the improbable triumph of rough, combustible parts assembled into glistening smoothness.
Dominique Morisseau, who wrote the show’s book, is the gifted author of a cycle of smart, tough-minded plays based in her native Detroit, where much of “Ain’t Too Proud” is also set. Her script, adapted from Otis Williams’s 1988 memoir, reminds us that the Detroit-based Motown Records — the crossover label run by Berry Gordy (Jeremy Kelsey) that revolutionized pop music — was indeed a factory of sorts, one that rigorously processed and refined raw talent for mass consumption.
This means that unlike such current fare as “Beautiful,” or “The Cher Show,” “Ain’t Too Proud” isn’t focused on a single star, with the attendant by-the-numbers psychology. Instead, we have a study in group dynamics, in which the balance shifts in ways big and small, as the component parts keep changing.
As Otis observes early on, after the firing of the group’s original lead singer, Al Bryant (Devin Price), “Sometimes Temp stood for temporary.” This sense of interchangeability (and expendability) is given witty visual life in the second act, when a cavalcade of identically dressed Temptations fills the front of the stage.
Not that the audience is ever likely to confuse one Temp for another. The five-member group that most people know as the Temptations is embodied with piquantly detailed individuality by charismatic, supple-voiced actors who astutely convey the imbalanced equations of ego and accommodation in their characters.
They are, in addition to Mr. Andreaus, E. Clayton Cornelious as Paul Williams, Harrell Holmes Jr. as a Melvin Franklin who talks as well as sings in a thundering bass, Jalen Harris who here plays Eddie Kendricks, and a smoking hot Elijah Ahmad Lewis as David Ruffin. We meet them first as a team, singing “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” the Temptations hit from 1964, before Otis shepherds us back to the group’s starting point.
So, in addition to seeing the Temps on (and back) stage, and in the recording studio — with mentors that include Smokey Robinson (Derek Adams) and Norman Whitfield (Devin Price) — we are given quick-sketch glimpses of the grim personal and social problems that derail them. Robert Brill’s set, lighted by Howell Binkley with projections by Peter Nigrini, neatly balances grit and glamour throughout.
Some of these synoptic moments can seem bizarrely perfunctory, as in a crack-smoking sequence and, worse, a party scene that portrays Ruffin’s abusive relationship with the singer Tammi Terrell (Shayla Brielle G). And the attempts to portray the dawning social consciences of the singers — who became famous at the height of the civil rights movement — can feel strained. The brief encounters with the women in the men’s lives, including The Supremes, led by Amber Mariah Talley in a pitch-perfect evocation of Diana Ross, are very enjoyable, and Quiana Onrae’l Holmes makes the most of her onstage time as Otis’s neglected wife, Josephine.
As for the performance of those songs, orchestrated by Harold Wheeler with musical direction and arrangements by Kenny Seymour, they’re pretty close to esthetically unimpeachable. They’re also not entirely mimetic, which is a not only a relief, but shows refreshing originality.
But when all is said and done, these Temps sound enough like their prototypes to satisfy hard-core fans. A few of those fabulous standards, however, which include “Cloud Nine” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” have been reimagined with a heightened Broadway flair that acquiesces to the raw talent of the ensemble.
Talent that’s very evident when you see the sinuous synchronicity of the cast, in which everyone is often doing the same moves, but with a subtle, stylish edge that sets each member apart, each a very component part of this well-oiled music machine. As its title suggests, “Ain’t Too Proud” promotes the virtue of humility, at least when it comes to keeping a team together. But it also makes sure that these men never become ciphers.
The happy paradox of this group portrait is that everybody gets to be a star.
SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS, PRESENTS: AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS. Tour Resident Director: Brian Harlan Brooks; Broadway Resident Director: Drew Foster; Scenery by Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Automation by Hudson Scenic Studios. Additional scenic elements by TTS Studios and Hudson Scenic Studios. Props by Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Additional props by Brenbri Properties LLC. Lighting equipment by PRG Lighting. Sound equipment by Sound Associates, Inc. Video projection system engineered and provided by 4Wall. Costume construction by Giliberto Designs Inc., Jennifer Love Costumes, By Barak, Eric Winterling Inc., Shana Albery, Alexander Zeek, Krostyne Studios, Steppenwolf Costume Shop, Jade Brandt, L. Gambert LLC, BYBO Corp, T&E Sample Room, Juliann E Kroboth, Jeff Fender Studio, Erica Rudinsky. Shoes by T.O.Dey Custom Shoes and Worldtone Dance. Special thanks to Bra*Tenders for hosiery and undergarments.
The creative team also includes Tony Award nominee Robert Brill (scenic design), Tony Award winner Paul Tazewell (costume design), Tony Award winner Howell Binkley (lighting design), Tony Award winner Steve Canyon Kennedy (sound design), Drama Desk Award winner Peter Nigrini (projection design), Drama Desk Award winner Charles G. LaPointe (hair and wig design), Steve Rankin (fight direction), Edgar Godineaux (associate choreographer), John Miller (music coordinator), Molly Meg Legal (production supervisor), and Nicole Olson (production stage manager). Orchestrations are by Tony Award recipient Harold Wheeler, with music supervision and arrangements by Kenny Seymour. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting, Merri Sugarman, C.S.A.
With: Otis Williams: MICHAEL ANDREAUS; Paul Williams: E. CLAYTON CORNELIOUS; Melvin Franklin: HARRELL HOLMES JR.; Eddie Kendricks: JALEN HARRIS; David Ruffin: ELIJAH AHMAD LEWIS; Slick Talk Fella: DEREK ADAMS; Straight Talk Fella: DWYANE P. MITCHELL; “Gloria” Soloist: DEVIN HOLLOWAY; Al Bryant: DEVIN PRICE; Mama Rose: SHAYLA BRIELLE G. ; Johnnie Mae: BRITTNY SMITH; Berry Gordy: JEREMY KELSEY; Smokey Robinson: DEREK ADAMS; Interviewer: DEVIN HOLLOWAY; Diana Ross: AMBER MARIAH TALLEY; Florence Ballard: SHAYLA BRIELLE G.; Mary Wilson: BRITTNY SMITH; Josephine: QUIANA ONRAE'L HOLMES; Tammi Terrell: SHAYLA BRIELLE G.; Shelly Berger: RYAN M. HUNT; Norman Whitfield: DEVIN PRICE; Delivery Man: DEVIN HOLLOWAY; Dennis Edwards: DWAYNE P. MITCHELL; Richard Street: DEVIN HOLLOWAY; Damon Harris: DEREK ADAMS; Lamont: FELANDER
Ensemble: DEREK ADAMS, FELANDER, SHAYLA BRIELLE G., DEVIN HOLLOWAY, QUIANA ONRAE’L HOLMES, RYAN M. HUNT, JEREMY KELSEY, DWAYNE P. MITCHELL, DEVIN PRICE, BRITTNY SMITH, AMBER MARIAH TALLEY
Understudies: For Otis Williams—DEREK ADAMS, JEREMY KELSEY, AJ LOCKHART; For Paul Williams—BRIAN C. BINION, REGGIE BROMELL, DEVIN PRICE; For Melvin Franklin—DEREK ADAMS, JEREMY KELSEY, AJ LOCKHART; For Eddie Kendricks—DEREK ADAMS, DEVIN HOLLOWAY, DWAYNE P. MITCHELL; For David Ruffin—BRIAN C. BINION, TRESTON J. HENDERSON, DWAYNE P. MITCHELL
Swings: BRIAN C. BINION, REGGIE BROMELL, TRESTON J. HENDERSON, AJ LOCKHART, ANDREW VOLZER, NAZARRIA WORKMAN. Dance Captains: TRESTON J. HENDERSON, NAZARRIA WORKMAN. Fight Captain: NAZARRIA WORKMAN
Orchestra: Music Director/Conductor/Keyboard 1—JONATHAN “SMITTI” SMITH; Associate Conductor/Keyboard 2—SETH FARBER; Guitar—CARL BURNETT; Bass—KELLIE NITZ; Drums—ZACK ALBETTA; Music Coordinator—JOHN MILLER
AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS, Playing October 17–29, 2023 in Segerstrom Hall, Tuesdays–Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 2 & 7:30 pm; Sundays at 1 & 6:30 pm. 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Tickets range from $29 - $119 on Tuesday – Thursday, and $39 - $129 on Friday - Sunday. For ticket reservations, please inquire at: www.scfta.org
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
Photos by © 2023 Emilio Madrid
