AIN’T TOO PROUD


The Temptations give those Jersey Boys some pretty stiff competition for all-time best Broadway bio-musical in Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations, now making a triumphant return to the Ahmanson following its Tony-winning New York run.

There may have been three Supremes and four Tops, but five was the lucky number for the Deep South-to-Detroit transplants who hit Number One on Billboard’s Hot 100 four times between 1965 and 1972 with “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), “I Can’t Get Next To You,” and “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.”

Like Jersey Boys before it, Ain’t Too Proud takes a first-person approach to its rags-to-riches tale, perhaps not surprisingly since Dominique Morisseau has based her book on Temptations founder Otis Williams’ 1988 autobiography, and if it takes a while to move from exposition to the drama that ensues when five very different men attempt to make music together year after year after year, it’s more than worth the wait.

Triple-threat dynamo Marcus Paul James’s Otis scarcely leaves the stage as he recounts the tale of Texas-born Williams, a Detroit teenager with dreams of stardom in his eyes.

Success didn’t come overnight for the group that was to become among Motown’s biggest superstars, nor was their initial lineup the “Classic Five” who first hit Number One in 1964 with “My Girl,” but before long Otis, Melvin Franklin (Harrell Holmes Jr.), Eddie Kendricks (Jalen Harris), Paul Williams (James T. Lane), and lead singer David Ruffin (Elijah Ahmad Lewis), who replaced the volatile, heavy-drinking Al Bryant (Brett Michael Lockley), were living the high life, and not just in terms of success.

The power-piped Ruffin came with an ego as big as his talent and a drug addiction to match, and both he and Kendricks soon found themselves at loggerheads with Otis, whose insistence that they were five equal partners did not always ring true.

Not surprisingly, these conflicts give Ain’t Too Proud much of its dramatic punch, as does Otis’s marriage to Josephine (Najah Hetsberger), already pregnant on their wedding day and none too pleased about raising their child with little help from a husband on the road fifty-two weeks a year.

Adding to the drama is Motown head honcho Berry Gordy’s (Michael Andreaus) insistence that he knew better than Otis what was best for the Temptations, including refusing to even consider allowing them to write their own songs, leaving that up to the likes of Smokey Robinson (Lawrence Dandridge) and Norman Whitfield (Lockley), the latter of whom gave the Temps the “psychedelic soul” sound that became their late-1960s trademark when Ruffin replacement Dennis Edwards (Dwayne P. Mitchell) informed the world that “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.”

The Temptations aren’t the only Motown royalty to take centerstage at the Ahmanson. Diana Ross (Amber Mariah Talley), Florence Ballard (Shayla Brielle G.), and Mary Wilson (Traci Elaine Lee) give us The Best Of The Supremes, and Tammi Terrell (Brielle G.) duets “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You” with David Ruffin as romantic sparks ignite between the Temptations lead singer and his doomed young love.

Director Des McAnuff works his trademark stage magic as book writer Morisseau finds ingenious ways to integrate Temptations hits into the musical’s storyline, with choreographer Sergio Trujillo’s pitch-perfect renditions of those signature Motown moves earning him a Tony.

A finely-tuned, dramatically compelling musical extravaganza, Ain’t Too Proud features thirty-one Motown hits performed by a spectacular cast with acting chops to match their vocal prowess.

James’s Otis is dynamic, deeply-felt, and utterly indefatigable; the on-fire duo of Harris and Lewis provide explosive support as the Temps most cantankerous members; and Holmes and Lane deliver the powerhouse goods as original members Melvin and Paul, each of whom faces his own challenges.

Devin Holloway as Paul Williams replacement Richard Street, Gregory Carl Banks Jr as Otis’s son Lamont, and Reed Campbell as Shelly Berger, the Temptations’ game-changing Jewish-American manager are equally fine, with not a weak link in the rest of Ain’t Too Proud’s multi-talented multitasking ensemble.

A multiple Tony-nominated design team* give the production a slick, distinctive black-and-white look with just enough splashes of color to make visually varied, and it sounds great too with music director Jonathan “Smitti” Smith conducting the show’s powerhouse 12-piece band.

Brian C. Binion, Treston J. Henderson, Christian Thompson, Andrew Volzer, Jamari Johnson Williams, and Nazarria Workman are swings. Nicole Olson is production stage manager.

Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations, earned some of the loudest Ahmanson Theatre audience cheers I’d heard in years when it played L.A. pre-Broadway in 2018 and there were just as many on opening night four years later.

Doing the Temptations justice in the most spellbinding and entertaining of ways, Ain’t Too Proud once again sets the Ahmanson ablaze.

*Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini’s scenic design, Paul Tazewell’s costumes, Howell Brinkley’s lighting, and Steve Canyon Kennedy’s sound design all received Tony nominations as did the musical itself, Morisseau’s book, McAnuff’s direction, and Harold Wheeler’s orchestrations.

Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles.
www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

–Steven Stanley
December 15, 2022
Photos: Emilio Madrid

 

 

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