AIN'T TOO PROUD - The Temptations Musical Bound for Broadway in 2018 — Page 4

any update on when this will arrive on Broadway?? Does it get here by the spring? Or do they wait until summer/fall 2018??

Update: http://variety.com/2017/legit/columns/broadway-temptations-musical-1202601961/

There also just aren't that many theaters available for the spring. Only the Booth, Cort, Hudson, Lyceum, Kerr, and Nederlander are empty, and very few of those would truly be suitable for this kind of show.

if the nederlander could handle newsies it could handle aint too proud

i think they are making a mistake waiting....

A caveat: I know nothing about marketing a Broadway show, so take my thoughts for what they're worth.

McAnuff and Trujillo's Donna Summer musical, Summer, which debuts at La Jolla Playhouse next week, was mentioned in Michael Riedel's New York Post gossip column as a candidate to find a Broadway house this spring. The Variety story suggests that Ain't Too Proud would wait until the fall unless a suitable venue opens up.

That doesn't necessarily seem like a disaster for Ain't Too Proud. If the show needs work on the book, hey, that gives them time. Come From Away wandered all over North America before opening on Broadway, and that didn't do it any harm. But I don't think the problem for Ain't Too Proud is Frozen, or Mean Girls, or the Harry Potter plays. They are targeting different audiences. Mean Girls is aimed squarely at the rather large group of girls and young women (and their parents) who grew up on the film. The other two are aimed at families. The Band's Visit, off to a promising start, is a different sort of show. Hadestown, I assume, will try to capture a younger, downtown audience if it arrives.

To me, the biggest problem for Ain't Too Proud is Dreamgirls. Sure, one is a revival of an original musical, but the comparisons are inevitable. The Supremes, or a fictional incarnation, are even in both shows. I have trouble imagining both musicals opening in the fall and succeeding at the same time. They are both aimed at older audiences, who are either familiar with the original show and film (in the case of Dreamgirls) or the Temptations (in the case of Ain't Too Proud).

I had assumed that Ain't Too Proud's producers wanted to move quickly, to counterprogram against the youth-oriented shows opening in the spring and to beat Dreamgirls to Broadway. From the Variety story, it sounds like the producers agree - but not enough to take any theater. Part of me wonders, when reading the Variety story, if the producers share some of the concerns about the book and want to fine-tune the show before bringing it to Broadway.

One last thought: A show like Ain't Too Proud doesn't seem like it needs to be open in the spring. It's not likely to win a Best Musical Tony, as I think voters prefer original musicals to jukebox musicals. (Yes, I know Jersey Boys won more than a decade ago, but that show set the template.) If Ain't Too Proud finds an audience, as it certainly has in Berkeley, it could draw well in the fall and thrive - unless Dreamgirls blocks it.

End of ignorant chatter. I'm seeing Ain't Too Proud this weekend, so I will soon have an opinion on the actual musical.

Updated On: 11/1/17 at 03:14 AM

grabbed a great pair of center orch for thursday matinee from the berkeley rep site to take my wife who hasnt seen it yet. also seeing alladin on tour tonight so a robust musicals week including last saturdays prince of egypt.

if you havent gotten seats yet, try checking around 1pm on every hour or so, some great seats pop up as well as standing room which are still close given how intimate the theatre is....

Ain't Too Proud is so filled with wonderful performances and terrific music that it feels churlish to complain. But in the end, while I was definitely glad I saw it Saturday night, the show is unsatisfying as theater.

The book isn't just the weakest part of the show. It's a mess, a pastiche of clumsy writing, ripoffs of other jukebox musicals, and endless narration by the lead character that flattens out and detracts from what should be an exciting show business tale. Basically, it takes the Jersey Boys/Beautiful model but centers it on a single character whose central achievement seems to have been finding more talented performers, booting them out of the group if they caused too much trouble, and getting along with his bosses and songwriters. The character of Otis Williams - as opposed to the actual Williams, who performed with The Temptations a few miles away in Oakland while we watched the musical in Berkeley - is simply not very interesting. In the show, Williams tells Berry Gordy that he can write songs too, but Gordy blows him off - and that's never mentioned again. So he's not the lead singer, he's not a songwriter, he's almost middle management - at least as portrayed in the musical. This isn't Derrick Baskin's fault. He does what he can, and makes Otis as likeable and well-intentioned as possible. But bookwriter Dominque Morisseau gives him long, repetitive speeches to deliver about the importance of the group - usually cutting off or interrupting a song - and I grew weary of him.

The musical does manage to include some of the weakest parts of Jersey Boys, only to execute them worse. There's a hyped rivalry at Motown with The Supremes, which is mostly an excuse for The Supremes to sing two and a half songs and give the women in the cast something to do. There's Williams' relationship with his ex-wife and son, which we're supposed to care about but are given no reason to do. The lone highlight of this is Rashidra Scott, who gets about a minute of a song and is so good that the audience roared for almost as long. To include Williams' family life, full of touring band cliches, and not give Scott more to do feels like malpractice.

In fairness to Morisseau, it's tough to write a standard jukebox musical covering decades with a group that eventually includes 24 people. The answer, it seems, would be not to try to follow that template. The show is far more compelling when it focuses on David Ruffin, and it seems like Morisseau and director Des McAnuff are more interested in him anyway.

In the middle of the first act, Ephraim Sykes enters as Ruffin, the first replacement Temptation and a gifted lead singer, before they hit it big. He's given an eye-catching, amusing introduction, leading into the group's first big hit, "My Girl." The musical doesn't really nail the song (too many narrative interruptions) or the thrill that breakthrough must have been, as Jersey Boys did so effectively with "Sherrie." But it gets better. Sykes' Ruffin is a complete jerk - irresponsible, violent against women, so awful to deal with that the group finally votes to boot him out even though he's the star - but he's also an understandably tortured soul who puts all that into his songs.

The endless narration is finally overshadowed by a performance. Sykes steals the show during a run of songs at the end of the first act that is both thrilling and sad. That stretch of the show is easily its strongest, and left me wanting more. Sykes' Ruffin returns occasionally during the second act, including a hilarious - and apparently true - story about something that happens after he was kicked out of the band. He's compelling and passionate.

The show touches on some interesting themes, including The Temptations' successful bid to appeal to white audiences that illustrated the limits of the power of music to bring people together during the racial tensions of the 1960s. But the musical is always in a hurry, restlessly letting Williams tell the audience what happened next without allowing them to get to know the other Temptations all that well. The lone exception is Jared Joseph's Melvin Franklin, who gets off a number of funny lines and was close to Williams. But they all have moments - just not enough to leave a distinct impression as characters, as opposed to performers.

One big failure with Ain't Too Proud is that it succeeds neither as tragedy nor triumph. The Ruffin material comes the closest, as tragedy, but this is ultimately not his story. And the sad parts in the second act left me unmoved, as it uses more "and then this happened" narrative to wrap things up. The show portrays the group's chart-topping hits and longevity as a victory for the band as a collective entity, which is certainly true, but it often fails to set up the band's successes in dramatic fashion. The musical just sort of muddles and narrates its way to the end.

For all of my criticisms, there's one thing Ain't Too Proud has that other jukebox musicals I have seen do not: spectacular, precision dance. The sheer energy and vitality of the performances is top-notch. Choreographer Sergio Trujillo has done great work here, and the performers' work is a joy to watch. For that reason alone, the show is worth seeing.

That leaves me wondering about its Broadway fate. The show is not as well-crafted as Jersey Boys, or even Beautiful (which I didn't love, but has the advantage of telling the story of a creative woman finding her own voice). The performances, Temptations music, and Trujillo choreography might be enough to overcome all of that. But if I were the producers, I would use the opportunity of a pre-Broadway delay to rethink the way the story is presented. I don't think Ain't Too Proud will be a major success as a cookie-cutter jukebox show.

Updated On: 11/10/17 at 06:10 PM

I was also at the show on Saturday night. I am a Motown/Temptations music fan.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the set, music and dancing were top notch. Ephraim Sykes was a standout for me as David Ruffin. He had the frontman charisma, voice, style, and the little bit of craziness that the character required. Jeremy Pope as Eddie Kendricks was very good, but embellished more than on the original songs, not sure if that was a style choice or a way to avoid singing/getting smoothly to the high notes in songs such as Just My Imagination in the clean and clear manner of Eddie Kendricks.

Regarding the story, the theme of Ain’t Too Proud is that it’s about the group, not about individuals, that’s why the Temptations have had such longevity. Should the book be changed? I think it could be more dramatic. Here's an idea - the story is told from multiple viewpoints - Otis Williams intros, David Ruffin tells/sings his story, Eddie Kendricks tells/sings his story, and Otis Williams weaves the stories together and wraps it up at the end. Otis Williams’ view is more of the steadying force, which is less dramatic. More David & Eddie, less Otis and less Otis narration. And allow more singing of a fuller version of the songs. If time is an issue, leave out some songs and stay with the core Temptations songs (e.g,. leave out "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted," one of my all-time favorite songs and my go-to karaoke. I was confused why this was in the show, as this, to me, is a Jimmy Ruffin song. I see now that the Temptations later recorded it.) Peel back the layers, expose the gems.

Watch for announcement in the near future of Ain't too Proud continuing its pre-broadway run at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC......

We know somebody in the show and they are aiming for fall '18 Broadway.