Review: Aint Too Proud offers stellar music, a meaningful trip to Eccles

The touring Broadway production of ‘Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations’ – featuring hits such as ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ – takes just 2.5 hours to conquer and satisfy His public.

Hits from Temptation, sung by Broadway-caliber performers, along with a plot to provide context, added to a great night of theater with a score with embedded meaning for generations of fans. The opening night audience cheered as they rose to a standing ovation.

The show stop in Salt Lake City, at the Eccles Theater, lasts until Sunday. It has adult content and would not be suitable for children.

“Ain’t Too Proud” takes its name from the Time song “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”. (Yeah, I can’t get used to The Temps, but that’s apparently what they were called privately, to save a few syllables.)

“Ain’t Too Proud” debuted on Broadway in 2019, earning 11 Tony nominations and a win for Best Choreography for Sergio Trujillo. It’s a key victory for a show featuring the male quintet, whose members perform a synchronized dance, blending fluid movements with their velvety voices. Des McAnuff directed the show.

The show, which mainly focuses on the early days of The Temptations (there have been 26 singers over the years), is based on the memoirs of the group’s surviving founder, Otis Williams, who serves as an executive performer.

The show is all about the singing, of course, and the actors perform all the required vocal acrobatics with hits from the 60s and 70s such as “My Girl”, “I Can’t Get Next to You”, “What Becomes of the Broken Heart”, “I’m Going to Make You Love Me”, “Just My Imagination”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” and “War”.

The show could roll along to his songs and sing on his own.

But the book, by Dominique Morisseau, adds a level of history and heart to the musical. The audience learns about a member’s goal to make a living and not go to jail. Several members develop substance abuse issues. One of them, victim of serious violence in his childhood, did not seem to be able to leave this darkness to enter the light.

And the personal stories play against the backdrop of the early civil rights movement. Certain Times want to sing songs that support the fight against racism. But Motown Records pushed the band to stay non-controversial to protect their mainstream audience. A black band with white fans was rare and a pioneering achievement for that time.

The show doesn’t offer a deep dive into the story, but what it does offer is far more context than the average “musical jukebox” provides.

The costumes reflect the period and the dance moves seem perfect. The set is minimal, with grainy black-and-white image projections offering still or moving cityscapes for the illusion of travel.

The star cast included Michael Andreaus as the relatively stable Williams, who told the story, so was talking or singing at all times.

Harrell Homes Jr. was also terrific as Melvin Franklin, Elijah Ahmad Lewis as David Ruffin, Jalen Harris as Eddie Kendricks, providing a complex and comprehensive backdrop for the tracks.

“Ain’t Too Proud” features 31 songs, most by The Temptations, but some of their contemporaries, including the Supremes, also briefly featured on the show.

Know that this is not a feel-good musical, but based on the real lives of flawed humans who struggle when they find themselves in the global spotlight.

“Ain’t Too Proud” is a big show, but not kid-friendly.

Ultimately, William’s character emphasizes that life is a temporary thing, but music that touches the soul lives.

“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” presented by Zions Bank Broadway at Eccles, continues with performances at 8 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main St. For more show or ticket information, click here.