(upbeat pop music)
- Welcome to another Broadway Profile Show Spotlight.
I'm your host, Tamsen Fadal.
"Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations"
led the 2019 Tony Awards with 12 nominations.
And now, the electrifying national tour is heading your way.
(pop music)
♪ I know you wanna leave me ♪
♪ But I refuse to let you go ♪
♪ If I have to beg and plead for your sympathy ♪
♪ I don't mind 'cause you mean that much to me ♪
This literally the kind of show
that makes you want to get up on your feet and dance.
And that's because we all know and love
the music of the Temptations.
42 Top 10 hits, 14 number ones,
universally beloved songs like
"My Girl," "Get Ready," and so many more.
(upbeat jazz music)
♪ But my life is incomplete and I'm so blue ♪
"Ain't Too Proud," nominated for a dozen Tony Awards,
winning for the stellar dance moves, the choreography.
In other words, this is one of the slickest
stage productions you will ever see.
There are so many different personalities
and voices in the legendary Motown group.
♪ Get ready 'cause here I come now ♪
Which means it takes a deep talent pool
to pull off this unbelievable jukebox musical.
It really is a story of brotherhood,
family, loyalty, and betrayal.
I chatted with the Broadway cast of "Ain't Too Proud."
I feel like when you have a show like this
with a message like this, this isn't just a musical.
This is show with a real message,
and one that's being lived out today.
How does that feel for the touring shows
like this once this goes to tour?
- There is something in this show for everyone.
The story of people trying to succeed,
fighting to succeed, fighting for love,
working on having these relationships
and caring for each other.
So, this story is going to be able to be
in every city that it goes to
and cities are going to want it once they hear about it
because it's an American story, it's a human story.
- The good thing about our show is that, you know,
you have the soundtrack of Motown, you know, attached to it,
and Motown what it stood for.
As we all know, Berry Gordy was very specific
with like this is not Black music and white music
just music is color blind.
And so it's right there is going to get people
to have a innate, like reaction to it
because this is music that they grew up on.
This is a music that they got married to,
that they made their babies to.
- And to look out in the crowd
and see so many different colors, shapes, sizes
all together to A: relive their childhood
of the music that brought them to the dance floor
but B: to share it with their next generation.
You know, their cousins, their children,
their nephews, their grandkids.
♪ Well I'd guess you'd say ♪
♪ What can make me feel this way ♪
♪ My girl ♪
- One time I actually will never forget.
There was a man with his wife,
and at the end of the show,
and usually at the end of show,
once you've taken that ride,
people immediately are on their feet.
And I watched this man put his arm
around his wife while tears were flowing down his face.
And I'll never forget it.
He had glasses on (laughs).
I can, like, remember the whole thing,
and I thought it was such an incredible beautiful testament.
And I was so moved by that.
- So many musicals that tend to center
around pre-existing songs, right?
Whether they try to put narrative weight
on the songs or they try, you know,
the it's sometimes it's a hit or miss,
but with this show I think,
one of the things that I've always
since the first day I saw it,
have loved about what happens on our stage
is that we are telling the story of five brothers
growing and changing in a time that is not always amenable
to their growth and change.
And I think that that is such a powerful story that
everyone needs to see right now.
♪ Sunshine blue sky ♪
♪ Please go away ♪
♪ My girl's found another and gone away ♪
- In this cast has managed to stay connected
in their downtime in the age of Zoom.
Performing and appearing in a number of live stream events
and online musical numbers.
♪ I know to you ♪
♪ It might sound strange ♪
♪ But I wish it would rain ♪
♪ Oh how I wish that it would rain ♪
- This time we've used to really bond together
more outside of our contracts
and what we're supposed to be doing.
We talk almost every day, and I love
that we have that relationship with one another.
This is like, this is the best cast
I've ever gotten to be a part of.
They say what they mean on stage and off.
- Watching the world change, and watching it unfold
has given me such perspective and appreciation for,
you know, the material that we have.
That's actually living right now.
To be able to do it and to feel it, how I'm feeling it.
And to get to emulate it.
It's going to be such a therapeutic
but also a real and raw experience as well.
- Watching this electrifying show play out on stage
is a genuinely amazing experience.
♪ Papa was a rolling stone ♪
♪ My son ♪
♪ Wherever he laid his hat was his home ♪
- Of course, the music of the Temptations
is always spectacular.
But as we mentioned, the story of the group's journey,
the book, is every bit as spectacular as their iconic music.
And the same goes for the Tony Award-winning
choreography of "Ain't Too Proud: The Musical."
We also had the chance to speak with
the show's playwright, Dominique Morisseau,
as well as a man who choreographed some of the
smoothest moves on the Broadway stage, Sergio Trujillo.
- You know, I always like to say about stories,
why I'm a storyteller for life, is
because I have the power to resurrect, you know?
And we can bring people,
we can bring your memories back to you,
we can bring people back to you who are gone.
We can bring them back in stories.
And for those who've never lived it,
you get a chance to know what it was like
for the people that came before you, you know?
You get a chance to live in their story a little bit,
and it sort of jump into your lap.
And like, when history can come alive
and get in your lap and sing and make you cry
and dance at the same time, like,
there's nothing more electrifying than that.
- When I read the script, you know,
I sit up as I was reading it, you know?
I just thought, wow this is a really cool
interesting way of telling this story.
And as I, you know, choreographically
I gotta do the same thing, you know?
It'll be important for me to make sure
that when the audience comes in
and they're looking at the five guys
that they look at them and they think
yeah, that's what I remember them like,
but I got to go beyond that.
They broke ground with the way they move,
with the way they dance, the way they perform.
But I can take all of that information
from the last few decades
and really reinvent a new way for them to dance
and create these great performances.
- That's what I love about our choreography.
Sometimes they're like in the Temptations move
and sometimes you're in like, you know,
all of these generations that came after them.
And like, you might not always know what era you're in.
And I love the choreography of our show.
Sergio has pushed these artists
past the places where they thought they could go.
And I think that's why it has such a special energy.
- It's going to bring joy.
I mean, our finale of "Ain't Too Proud" is like,
oh my God, you're in church.
It is spiritual, it is like you have gone to church.
♪ And I'm gonna make you love me ♪
♪ Ooo yes I will ♪
♪ Yes I will ♪
- I definitely think our audiences
are going to be transported.
- You can't help but to have a innate reaction
when you come and leave there feeling great,
refreshed, overwhelmed, you know?
Consumed with all of these emotions.
- We are not going to compromise
the quality of what we're going to bring
to the audiences all over the world.
We're not.
Here in America and wherever we get to go.
- And I think inside of the story of The Temptations.
They went through one civil rights movement, you know,
when they made their music and we're in another one now.
And I can't wait for this show to talk
to our audiences again and ask us to figure out
who we're going to be moving forward.
- Once again, "Ain't Too Proud:
The Life and Times of The Temptations" is headed your way.
For more information on the national tour,
visit ainttooproudmusical.com.
Until next time, I'm Tamsen Fadal,
and this is the Broadway Profile Show Spotlight.
(upbeat pop music)