'Ain't Too Proud': Temptations' jukebox journey

‘AIN’T TOO PROUD’: (left to right) Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Jawan M. Jackson, James Harkness & Derrick Baskin. Photo: Matthew Murphy

AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS
Book by Dominique Morisseau
Music & lyrics from the Motown Catalog
Directed by Des McAnuff
Choreographed by Sergio Trujillo
Imperial Theatre
249 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200),www.ainttooproudmusical.com

By David NouNou

Jukebox musicals are becoming more and more a Broadway staple. All you need is an extensive songbook catalog, a backstory dealing with the struggles of rising to the top, struggles with love/home life, and a few bumps along the way and the rest of the show fills itself out. You don’t need to have the songs be in the right order of their release. All you have to do is place them where they fit in best. Just look at two recent jukebox musicals: last year’s Summer: The Donna Summer Musical which was an offensive and an inaccurate mess; and The Cher Show, a campy homage to the legend.

Jukebox musicals when done well may turn out to be a profitable blockbuster. Case in point: Des McAnuff’s Jersey Boys; everything worked to perfection in that. Then there are the abysmal messes like Jimmy Buffet’s Escape to Margaritaville and the Go-Go’s musical Head Over Heels (both with pedestrian books). The plot lines were so absurd that the only way to go was down.

Aside from the Motown song catalog, which is the raison d’etre for Ain’t Too Proud, there is a coherent book by Dominique Morisseau, showing the struggles to the top, the struggles of being on the road and the messed-up home life, and since this is a musical about a group, the cracks that begin and form from within. Otis Williams (Derrick Baskin), the head of the Temptations who brings them together, tells us there were ultimately 24 members who made up the group over the years.

The original five consisted of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin (Jawan M. Jackson), the bass, the silky lady’s man, Eddie Kendricks (Jeremy Pope), smooth stylist Paul Williams (Curtis Wiley) and the main voice and also the seismic volcano David Ruffin (Ephraim Sykes). The struggle here is the higher the charts they climbed, the more their demons took over and made them more volatile to work with together.

The leads, voices, acting, choreography by Sergio Trujillo, direction by Des McAnuff, songs and book are all here. This doesn’t mean that the show is flawless. This could have been one of the greatest jukebox musicals, if it wasn’t for the artistic design team: sets, costumes and lighting making the evening duller and less exciting that it actually is. The sets (what there is of them) are by Robert Brill, consisting of a monochromatic gray, black and white which visually makes the look very dreary. The costumes by Paul Tazewell are equally bland and they both make the proceedings seem like you are watching it on a 1960s black and white TV set. The lighting by Howell Binkley doesn’t shed much light on the proceedings, either.

Besides the song catalog you are left with six excellent performances and voices that give the show its gravitas and knocks you out of your seat. It is hard to single any performance but let’s start with the flashiest; Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin is a sure-fire Tony Award contender for Featured Actor in a Musical. Jeremy Pope, seen earlier this year in Choir Boy, is just as smooth, silky and charming and another contender. At our performance the role of Paul Williams was taken over by Curtis Wiley who was splendid, as was Jawan M. Jackson (Melvin Franklin, bass), the longest-staying member of the group alongside Otis Williams. Derrick Baskin as Otis has the hardest part and it is the least showy. He is the man who brings the Temptations together. He is the father figure and the disciplinarian, thus making his role a straight man, narrator and the last living survivor of the group. The sixth is the scene-stealing Saint Aubyn, playing Dennis Edwards who replaces David Ruffin. His scenes inject attitude and humor in just the right places.

Let’s leave the ending a surprise. It brings the show to a crescendo and gives it the vibrance that leaves you in R&B nirvana.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 29, 2019
Reviewed at March 28, 2019 press performance.