The musical, which opened on Broadway on March 21, 2019, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The glorious hits that the audience is treated to include “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “Get Ready,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and of course the titular “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (Please Don’t Leave Me Girl).

The opening set is the Fox Theatre as seen from the street, featuring The Temptations posters with SOLD OUT legends. The stage explodes with toe-tapping sound as the iconic and legendary R&B powerhouse performs The Way You Do the Things You Do. This cast actually looks like The Temptations, and the opening costumes mimic one of their iconic looks: matching trimmed suits with dapper pocket squares.

The odyssey of the beloved R&B group, The Temptations, is narrated by its founder, Otis Williams (the crowd-pleasing, talented Marcus Paul James). He breaks the fourth wall as he explains, with humility, humor, and occasional solemnity, the founding, fame, and travails of this famous vocal group.

Otis Williams was raised by two strict grandmas in Texarkana, but when he moved to Detroit, “obedience went out the window.” The technical sophistication of Broadway-born shows has accustomed the audience to stories-high video projections of formidable versatility. This production does not disappoint. The grim inner city of Detroit comes to life, morphing into the barbed wire-topped walls of juvie, where Otis Williams served six months. As a teen, he ran with a gang for protection, and the play features a poignant moment where Otis promises the judge to stay out of trouble.

Otis keeps that promise, notwithstanding that the road traveled by The Temptations is filled with, well, temptation. Drugs, drink, and women come and go. Domestic violence, gang violence, inner-city poverty, a shotgun wedding, debilitating mental and physical illnesses, in-fighting, and rioting all affect the group’s story. The overarching theme, of course, is the music.

As Otis puts the group together, he literally chases his base, the hunky Melvin Franklin (Harrell Homes, Jr.) through the neighborhood. Melvin hides behind a tree as Otis convinces Momma Rose to let Melvin join the group. Otis Williams & the Distants add Eddie Kendricks (Jalen Harris) and Paul Williams (James T. Lane). What a gorgeous cast. One is more handsome than the next.

In a hilarious few scenes in a men’s room, complete with urinals, Otis charms Berry Gordy (Michael Andreaus) of Motown fame. A number of scenes throughout the production feature a giant Motown “M” and Gordy at his desk.

Otis reunites with a childhood friend and neighbor, David Ruffins (the dashing Elijah Ahmad Lewis), who rounds out the “original five.” Lewis makes a stunning entrance as he literally glides onto the stage. David Ruffins, Otis explains, was the showman. Catching David “was like catching lightning in a bottle.” Otis draws the audience into the Temptations’ insular world, as explaining their nicknames. Eddie was Corn and Melvin was Blue.

Ruffins has a rocky relationship with the group and is ultimately kicked out for erratic disappearances. Here and elsewhere Otis courts the audience’s attention with great humor. “When he started referring to himself in the third person, we knew the s___ was about to hit the fan,” Otis tells us.

Otis dubs Paul the soul of the group. He is a tortured soul, to be sure. James T. Lane hits it out of the park with the ballad For Once in My Life. Also impressive, is Jalen Harris as Eddie wags his eyebrows at the audience, seemingly effortlessly displays the singer’s sex appeal, and takes his turn commanding the stage.

My only criticism of this joyful production is that I wanted more Al, specifically Brett Michael Lockley as Al Bryant. His is a singularly buoyant performance. He makes singing and dancing look so easy as he seemingly defies gravity. Al Bryant is the first singer to be kicked out of the Temptations, in his case for punching Paul.

Dallas’ own Traci Elaine Lee is a showstopper as the charmingly brash Johnnie Mae, an early Temptations manager whom Otis fires over money. The gorgeous Lee, bedecked in a formidable 1960s ensemble, quips with an endless reserve of self-confidence, “I don’t like where this is going,” and “ain’t a fool in Detroit don’t love a Cadillac.” She is a comic and vocal powerhouse as she jumps into one and drives out of the story.

Thus, the Temptations’ first Cadillac is lost to a contract dispute. There is no progress without sacrifice, Otis assures us. We see the Temptations being interviewed for Jet, performing a last-minute song change on American Bandstand, on their tour bus, in the recording studio, rehearsing with Smokey Robinson, arguing with Berry Gordy, and of course, singing and dancing. At one point, the whirl-wind nature of their touring life is cleverly illustrated by staging: the Temptations face different directions as they sing and dance their way through numerous engagements. This staging also affords us a side view of the complex choreography.

The choreography is masterful. It is true to the original, in that the singers are largely stationary and for the most part dance in place. The moves are rhythmic, and visually heavily reliant on arms that sometimes sway and undulate, but at other times crisply snap or chop pieces of air. In a delightful early scene, the performers debate their moves, settling on waiving arms that caress an imaginary curvy woman’s body. The traditionally iconic steps and hand gestures are occasionally broken up with gymnastics feats.

Not surprisingly, a theme is the hardship of life on the road. The song Since I Lost My Baby is quite cleverly the chorus for a montage of broken relationships. While references to illegal drugs flit in and out of the storyline, Otis explains that the worst drug of all is the spotlight.

This production packs quite the drama, including a masterfully staged scene from a bus tour that is interrupted by Civil Rights era violence. The group debates whether touring the South is worth getting shot and killed. One of the many issues Otis grapples with is what role The Temptations can or should play in the landscape of American politics and social change. He certainly gets the last word in one of the more bitter disputes the group had with Berry Gordy. The Temptations’ prodigiously talented songwriter Norman Whitfield (Brett Michael Lockley) wrote the song War (what is it good for) for the Temptations, who originally performed it. Gordy insisted that they stop, and the song reached number one but with different performers. This dialogue, among others, addresses the issue of black performers “crossing over” to a general audience, and the price to be paid for appeasing white fans.

Another ballad that is interspersed with the often-tragic events, including MLK’s execution, is I Wish That It Would Rain. Outside the world was exploding and inside so were we, Otis tells us.

This production squeezes an amazing array of events and locations into a short period of time. Massive, razor-sharp video projections transport us from indoors, outdoors, and around the world. Be it crowds of adoring young fans or newspaper headlines of Detroit burning, the projected scene changes are a technological feat. The set also displays the artistic effects of the era. One clever visual clue to the groups’ changes is different tour posters that flash on and off the set at various times.

In terms of composition, the play frequently chops up the singing numbers so that the songs present a chorus to the dramatic life events. Pieces of the same hits are reprised, but changed, as life changes the singers. While a musical about music is a staid genre, Ain’t Too Proud achieves something special by illustrating how the same song can be different from one performance to the next. While this happens throughout this magnificent play, the point is most explicitly explained to the audience through the metamorphosis of the classic Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone. In the first recording, the harmony is gorgeous, but the Temptations reluctantly sing. After it becomes a hit, the music morphs into an exuberant declaration of self-knowledge. By interrupting the musical numbers, the audience also gets a feel for what it was like to transition from the spotlight and glory of performing, back into life as an ordinary man when the music stops.

As is the expectation for Broadway tours, every cast member can sing and dance magnificently. The harmonies were hauntingly gorgeous. The production is amazing in that the musical numbers are joyous, funny, and tragic by turns, with first-rate vocals and choreography, but at the same time, the cast looks and sounds like The Temptations. They are all fantastic while strictly adhering to the style, sound, and look of the iconic group.

The set sports the utilitarian features of moving furniture and the occasional cast member on and off the stage by smooth slides. The sound design allows for perfect balance and mix in the large Music Hall auditorium. The set and multitude of painstakingly designed period costumes coalesce for one beautiful visual after another. As the music is the focus in every way here, there are no “pops” of neon or fire-engine reds. The look is awash with earth tones, or muted lavenders, or black and white dichotomies.

We get to see the phenomenal live band at the end, having the time of their lives performing.

This musical tour is clearly first-rate, and the Music Hall at Fair Park remains a comfortable venue. The clapping and cheering audience absolutely loved this production. I highly recommend not missing Ain’t Too Proud.

Broadway Dallas
Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 1st Avenue, Dallas TX. Plays through September 18, 2022
For information and Tickets go to https:broadwaydallas.org