The Temptations’ story comes to Broadway “Ain’t Too Proud”
They’re in rehearsals for the new Broadway musical, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations.” The show is currently in previews, and opens later this month.
Correspondent Tracy Smith asked the cast, “I’ve heard this a lot, that, ‘This was my parents’ music.’ Does that put pressure on you guys, this is a legacy you have to live up to?”
Derrick Baskin, who plays Otis Williams, replied, “It feels more like, kind of a love letter to them, you know?”
Ephraim Sykes, who plays David Ruffin, said, “I’ve always wanted to be a Temptation when I was, like, a little boy. Now, I got a shot, a lifelong dream!”
Of course, bringing The Temptations to Broadway meant cramming 50 years of Motown history, and music, into two hours.
But for Dominique Morisseau, who wrote the show’s book, The Temptations’ story has never been more relevant. “Here we are, at this moment in their story, where these young men are in a moment in their nation that’s in great civic unrest,” she said. “They’re trying to navigate who they’re gonna be as artists, coming from a city that is also in great civic unrest. And I thought, ‘That’s where we are right now. That’s where we are once again.'”
