Review: AIN'T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS at ASU Gammage

Guest Contributor David Appleford returns to the pages of BroadwayWorld with this illuminating and upbeat review of AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS. The national tour of the production is on stage at ASU Gammage through November 19th.

Continuing ASU’s 2023/24 season of touring productions, and hot on the heels of the Tina Turner jukebox musical, comes another celebrity-based jukebox musical, AIN’T TOO PROUD. With a backlog of songs that when heard can’t fail but create instant sixties and early seventies nostalgia, this visually exciting, maximum high-energy, professional production covers the story (so far) of The Temptations, “The number one group in the history of rhythm and blues!” as the narrator proudly proclaims. 

Playing now on the ASU Gammage stage in Tempe until November 19, the show – full title, AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS -  is a slick, well-oiled machine of a musical where the narrative serves mostly as a series of intros that will usually lead into the next song. It may be based on the authoritative, detailed book co-written by founding member Otis Williams, but what the adapted script by Dominique Morisseau does for the stage is to skim the highlights of a lengthy musical career, then present them with the economy of emotionally charged dialog. No scene appears to last longer than a page before the five members of the Detroit-based vocal group burst into another song. As far as jukebox musicals go, this one is truly designed by the numbers.

Well narrated with passion and energy throughout by Michael Andreaus as Otis, occasionally we're afforded glances into the group's conflicts that suggest the potential for a more exploratory story in another production – we're shown a glimpse of how ruthless and demanding a Motown boss Berry Gordy (Jeremy Kelsey) could be when he makes decisions against the group's best wishes, plus there's a short dramatic moment when the bus the group is touring in is fired upon by racist, redneck locals in a southern state. Yet these moments, like the mentioning of the Detroit riots or the assassination of Martin Luther King, never register as anything narratively deeper than time stamps. The scenes move quickly by to the point where they all begin to feel like visual equivalents of events mentioned only in passing.

But, like all jukebox musicals, it’s the songs and how they’re presented that attract theatre audiences, not so much the introductory period scenes that lead to the songs, and in AIN’T TOO PROUD, those musical performances are genuinely electric. Presented with exacting, precision-skilled Tony award-winning moves by choreographer Sergio Trujillo – physically demanding moves that I’m certain the original Temptations themselves would have found challenging to perform - there’s not a single song from the Motown catalog performed in this show that doesn’t in some way satisfy.

With a running time of over two hours plus intermission, the show has a lot of ground to cover, beginning with the formation of the five original founding members, then showing how the lineup often changed as members were either fired for misconduct, dismissed because of problems with drink and drugs and a look into the conflicts of personal relationships while trying to balance a singing career with home life. But everything moves quickly; in radio terms, there's no dead air. Robert Brill's scenic design has sets and props gliding smoothly on and off stage, while location changes, particularly when the group is on tour, come via sliding screens with back projection indicating either a newspaper headline for reference or the name of the city where they happen to be performing.

But, the truth is, the show isn't about the story, despite its real-life origins. And it's not particularly great musical theatre, either. But that's not the point. By its design and a carefully constructed formula that hits all the right beats at all the right times, the show is exactly what audiences want from a jukebox musical. It's the enjoyment of watching those synchronized moves performed under the bright, intense spotlights while hearing Motown songs sung and sounding every bit as good as the originals. 

Plus, the grand finale is a moment to savor as the whole cast, all in white suits, enter, one after another, as if in their Motown version of A Chorus Line, moving in unison and singing as one. And it's all climaxed by the raising of the back curtain revealing the production's full, live band. It's at that moment when what you see on stage is reflected on the faces of the audience, already on their feet. On Gammage's opening night, everyone looked as though they were having a great time, as though the darker corners of the story were already long forgotten. With a jukebox full of Motown hits to enjoy, when it comes to a show like AIN’T TOO PROUD, in the end, maybe that’s the only point.

ASU Gammage ~ https://www.asugammage.com/ ~ 1200 S. Forest Avenue, Tempe, AZ ~ 480-965-3434

Photo credit to Matthew Murphy

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