Interview: Harrell Holmes of AIN'T TOO PROUD at Omaha's Orpheum Theater

Well first of all, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with BroadwayWorld in Omaha today!

Of course. Thank you.

I guess we'll start at the beginning. Have you always loved music and the performance arts, or when/how did that start for you?

It definitely started when the Temptations movie came out when I was maybe six or seven years old. I saw the film and it just blew me away. For some crazy reason I really thought I could be a Temptation. I remember every day after school I would watch the movie over and over, and I started to learn the songs and learn the moves. I went to my parents and said I wanted to be in my school talent show and sing Ain't Too Proud To Beg, and they were like, "what?" I did it for them and they thought maybe I had something. The funny part is I did it for my third grade talent show and the kids didn't know anything about The Temptations, but the parents were going crazy. I started my own group called The Little Temptations when I was nine. I got my friends together and we dressed up in suits. I sang all the leads and they danced with me and everything. That was the start of it for me.

Can you tell me a little about your training?

I went on Star Search when I was 11 singing The Temptations. We moved from Michigan to California, not really knowing anything at all about the entertainment industry. I began to train and get vocal lessons. I took up dance... hip-hop in particular. I did a lot of things out in California but never really got that big break or big job. I ended up going to AMDA for a year and a half and did their conservatory program; and that was my first introduction to musical theater. Even though I went there for a year and a half and got some training in it, I never thought I would actually do it.

I see in your biography that you were a Motown Scholarship & Stevie Wonder Scholarship Winner. Can you tell me a little about those and how you won those?

I was at the school when I was about 14 or 15 years old in LA called the Hollywood Pop Academy. It was a good school, but I don't think it was accredited or anything like that. But it was a school for young performers to get out there and perform in Hollywood and get training. So I was there and I was singing Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder, and there was a lady in the crowd who didn't work for the school but she came up to me and said, "You're great! Stevie really needs to hear this." At this point we had been there in LA for over two years and my parents and I had run into a lot of different people and had some bad experiences. She said she was going to call him, so she picked up her phone and there was no answer. So naturally I figured she doesn't know Stevie Wonder. She told me that he was not answering but that she threw Stevie a birthday party every year and that she wanted me to sing that for him at his party. So we went to the apartment in West Hollywood, my mom and I, and we were there for at least four hours with no Stevie. We left to go grab food and then came back, and still there was no Stevie. It gets to around 1030 or 11 o'clock at night and there are only like 10 people left in this apartment at this point, and in walks Stevie Wonder. Of course my jaw dropped to the floor. He was so cool. We're both from Saginaw, so once he found out I was from Saginaw we talked about that and the lady said that she wanted Stevie to hear me sing. So I sang for him and I was so nervous, but he started singing with me and it was incredible. At that point a couple of the employees at the school were blown away by that whole thing, and they basically said they didn't know who this lady was but that she needed to come be a part of the school. So she came on staff and from there started a Stevie Wonder scholarship for young performers, which would help cover tuition at the school. I was one of the winners, and one of the perks was I got to perform at his annual concert called The House Full of Toys. That year, it was around Christmas time, and we got a chance to sing a few songs with him. Drake and Justin Bieber performed at that show. It was incredible! From there I had a relationship with Stevie, which is crazy to think that I know him by first name and he knows me by name.

As far as the Motown scholarship, it's through the Heroes and Legends Foundation. It's actually awarded to high school students entering college. So before I went to AMDA, I applied for the scholarship. I submitted myself for that scholarship and ended up winning it. I believe the criteria was that you had to submit an original song that you wrote, and if they liked it you would be a finalist and from there could be chosen. I got chosen as the winner. The event was being hosted at the Beverly Hills Hotel. I got there, and it was full of all these Motown alumni like Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy. We got there and we got the program and we saw that they were honoring The Temptations that night. And you know I lost my mind. I literally got the chance to meet Otis and Dennis, and I literally cried. I'm sure they thought I was crazy, but I told them that they had no idea how much I loved them. Otis actually said that with my voice, I could end up being a bass for him someday. Fast forward 10 years, and here I am. I ended up winning that scholarship twice, and I think they just had their final one this year. It's a great foundation that really invested in young artists.

I see that you've also done Star Search and American Idol... What were those experiences like for you and what did you learn from those experiences?

They were great just for the simple fact that when I did Star Search I was 11, and so for me to be a kid and go on national TV... I don't think I really understood what I was doing at the time but I knew I love to perform. There's something about getting out there at a young age that is just... Any kind of nerves or anything that in the future I think young performers experience as far as stage fright or anything like that, it really just took that away. For me to conquer that at a young age definitely prepared me for being able to perform on this stage. I would say the same with American Idol. I did American Idol when I was 16 or 17, and it was just another great experience to basically allow myself to get over any kind of fear that I had of being on a big stage. Although I did win my first round on Star Search, I got eliminated in Hollywood on Idol. I would say the difference with those was that idol really tested my own perseverance and whether I really wanted to do it after being rejected. There are so many knows in this industry, so I definitely had to experience that and really ask myself if this is what I really wanted to do.

What do you love most about The Temptations?

Oh man it's the music. It's the music it's... It's everything for me. The way they dress, their choreography, the way they perform. And the music is just so incredible. It's timeless. One of the best experiences I've had was just performing in Dallas and we did a show for young students, and we go to sing My Girl and the entire theater went crazy. These are 13 and 14 year olds and they knew the song word for word. There are people in the audience from seven years old to 80, and this music that came out in 1963 or 64 is still relevant in 2022. It's going to last forever.

What brought you to audition for this show?

In 2018 my friend took me out as a surprise for my birthday. He didn't tell me where we were going, and he took me to the Ahmanson in LA to see Ain't Too Proud before it went to Broadway. I hate to admit it, but my first thought when I heard about it was that it wouldn't work. But needless to say I was blown away. I've loved The Temptations since I was seven so I knew all of the music already, and I knew a lot of their stories. I looked at my friend and I said, "I don't care what I have to do, but I have to be a part of the show." I ended up auditioning in LA in 2019, and it took over two years to get the role with the pandemic and everything, but it's been incredible so far. It's been a dream come true and a full circle moment for me.

Was there anything you learned through the process of this show that surprised you about The Temptations?

I don't believe there's anything I didn't know. I would say one of the great eye-opening things about the show and doing it is to realize that these are real people. These are real people who had real problems and had real thoughts and feelings. We often see performers and we see the glitz and glamour of being on stage, and that's kind of all we get a chance to see, especially since social media wasn't around back then. So a lot of their personal lives we didn't really know, but through the show we get a chance to see that they had real thoughts about the type of music they were doing. They wanted to talk about the war and be more political, but unfortunately they were under a Motown umbrella and part of the machine that sometimes didn't agree with their image. They were affected by the assassination of Dr. King. They were even shot at as a group. Even as successful as they were, they were in the south and had to deal with racial prejudice. There is so much that they went through as a group both individually and collectively that I was able to really experience and learn more about. We got a chance to talk to Otis for hours, and hearing him tell those stories was just incredible.

Do you have a favorite part of the show?

I love the whole show! I think I have two favorites. One is our introduction, meaning how we come out on stage, which I don't want to give away. But I would say from the very beginning of the show it's like a concert. I would describe the show as a concert with acting rather than a musical. It's incredible. From the moment we walk out it's high energy. And I would say my second favorite is I Can't Get Next to You. The energy of the song, our costumes, the lighting, the choreography... Everything is high energy in that song. I just love it and the crowd loves it.

Tell me a little about your approach to creating your character.

One great thing that we have right now is the Internet. We have a lot of resources that are out at our hands. I would YouTube a lot of things on Melvin. And not only did I read Otis's biography, there were some other books out there like one on Motown and one on David Ruffin. I read so many books to try and get as much information as I could. I did a lot of research. And lastly I went on YouTube and went and found any interview I could find, any live performance that I hadn't seen, really anything to try to get that energy and see how Melvin interacted with people not only during interviews, but also how he interacted with his fellow Temptations. That's really the great thing about portraying a real person. And then I was just able to bring myself and my love for the Temptations. The main thing that Melvin and I have in common is that we love The Temptations. He loved being a Temptation more than anything. He even sacrificed his own health, after being diagnosed with arthritis in his 20s, and he was encouraged to retire at that age. He literally sacrificed himself and took Cortizone shots, which ultimately affected his health and shut down his whole body. In some ways he sacrificed himself to be a Temptation. Melvin also loved his mother dearly, which I do as well. As a matter of fact, he had to ask his mom for permission to become a Temptation. I can kind of relate to that. It's a role and show that are close to my heart, so I try to bring it all.

What do you hope audiences walk away with after the show?

I hope they walk away seeing that it took a lot of sacrifice to keep this group together. I mean, Otis is 80 years old and still touring today. And I hope they see that music and love unite us all. We do talk about the racial things that happened during that time, but I believe that music is color blind and it unites us all. It unites all racially and generationally. We just want to spread that message of love. No matter our differences, we come together for those 2 1/2 to 3 hours to listen to this music of America. Everyone has so many memories of the songs. My Girl is often used at weddings. There are so many precious things that the music is used for. The other stuff doesn't really matter. It's a message of love and loving each other.

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