The Motown legends have been family names, however additionally they obtained actuality test on the worth of fame.
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Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Occasions of the Temptations
To Dec. 31, Southam Corridor, Nationwide Arts Centre
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Offered by Broadway Throughout Canada
Motown legends The Temptations turned a family identify with unbelievable songs like My Woman and Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone, however the price of fame was steep.
That’s the premise explored in Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Occasions of the Temptations, a comparatively new (2019) Broadway musical based mostly on a biography of the group written within the Nineteen Eighties by Otis Williams, one of many authentic founding members of the Nineteen Sixties superstars. A touring manufacturing of the present is on stage on the Nationwide Arts Centre this week, introduced by Broadway Throughout Canada.
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The story is framed as a first-person, spoken narrative by Otis himself, who’s properly performed by Michael Andreaus. Though he began Wednesday’s efficiency in a little bit of a rush, making it onerous to observe his phrases, he quickly settled into a pleasant rhythm, letting the story unfold between songs.
As you’ll be able to think about, the songbook is first-class, consisting of greater than 30 tunes, principally by the Temptations but additionally together with materials by their chart rivals, The Supremes, and different Motown acts. The performers are accompanied by a sophisticated orchestra in the back of the stage, hidden behind a curtain.
Equally spectacular is the intricate choreography, consisting of athletic, synchronized routines wherein each toe faucet and hand gesture is executed with absolute precision. The Toronto-raised choreographer Sergio Trujillo earned a Tony Award for this excellent work.
The story chronicles the rise of the Temps, as they turned identified, beginning in Otis’ teenage years, when he spends six months in juvenile detention for a theft and vows by no means to return. Impressed by the success of different singing teams, he makes it a mission to seek out the suitable mixture of voices. To him, music is the reply to getting off the streets of Detroit.
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One of many strengths of this musical, along with the tunes, is the succinct character improvement. Though it’s a fast-paced retelling of occasions with restricted time to dwell on every individual, we get to know — and care about — every of the “Traditional 5” members: Chief/narrator Otis, together with stalwart bass vocalist Melvin Franklin (Harrell Holmes Jr.), eager-to-please Paul Williams (E. Clayton Cornelious), his street-smart pal, Eddie Kendricks (Jalen Harris) and star-crossed David Ruffin (Elijah Ahmad Lewis), who was in all probability the most effective singer but additionally beset with demons.
It seems all of them have their demons to divide them. As Otis says at one level, “It appears the larger we get, the extra we crumble.” There are private struggles with medication, alcohol, household tragedies and enterprise conflicts, in addition to societal struggles with racism, which is very chilling once they’re touring within the Southern states, and the conflict in Vietnam, which compels them to file a protest track.
However Motown label boss Berry Gordy is useless set towards the Temptations doing a protest track as a result of it will confuse the crossover (learn: white) viewers that they had labored onerous to domesticate. He rejects the concept of the Temps releasing Conflict, so it goes to a special Motown act, Edwin Starr, who has a No. 1 hit with it, leaving Gordy shrugging that perhaps he’s not at all times proper. That’s simply one of many fascinating tidbits of music historical past which might be peppered alongside the way in which.
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The primary act establishes the Traditional 5 lineup and the introduction of their long-time supervisor, Shelly Berger (performed by Ryan Hunt) earlier than issues begin to unravel, primarily with David and an escalating coke behavior. By the top of the act, he’s changed. Within the second act, there are extra new members, plus a reunion tour that brings all of them collectively. However the pressures of fame and fixed touring are an excessive amount of, and Otis finds himself the final one standing.
If that feels like a tragic ending, it’s not the case. A grand-finale efficiency of I Can’t Get Subsequent To You makes for an upbeat, splashy decision, revealing the band backstage and bringing the viewers to its ft in a show of enthusiasm that underscores the reality of Otis’ phrases: “The one factor that lives perpetually is the music.”
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