Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations – Broadway in Chicago

Following successful runs on Broadway, both before and after the shutdown, Ain’t Too Proud has come to the Cadillac Palace for a two week engagement. The show tells the story of the Temptations, from their formation in 1950s Detroit through their rise to fame in the 60s and 70s, all through the lens of the incredible music they made.

To say the cast is amazing is something of an understatement. Marcus Paul James, as Temptations founder and last original member Otis Williams, has the job of anchoring the entire show. The show is based on Williams’ autobiography, so he is the audience surrogate and narrator and that means he is on stage almost the entire show, no small task. He definitely nails the combination of nostalgia and regret at what they achieved and what it cost them. Other standouts for me were Jalen Harris as high tenor Eddie Kendricks and Elijah Ahmad Lewis as lead singer David Ruffin. I don’t envy anyone who has to hit those notes while dancing. Both men made it look easy.

The show’s choreographer Sergio Trujillo picked up the Tony for his work on the Broadway run of the show, and it’s easy to see why. I remained impressed throughout the evening at how demanding the moves were and how the cast fully threw themselves into them. As for the music, I’m sure I’ll shock you when I say it was amazing. The combination of the talent on stage and in the orchestra, underscored by that amazing choreography really helped make the music present and vital, and not just running through a greatest hits set list. At a minimum, a musical like this should feel like a good concert, and they more than cleared that hurdle.

I have quibbles, but I don’t know to what extent that’s really important. Like most juke box musicals, a lot of information has to be given the audience in exposition very quickly since there isn’t time to cover so much story on stage. Add to that the fact by the end of the show, nine men variously fill the five slots in the group, that is just a lot of ground to cover. Personally, I think that might be a bit too much ground to cover effectively, but like I said, it’s the nature of the genre, not something this show is doing wrong.

Ultimately, the music is great and the show is brimming with truly gifted performers. Something else I couldn’t help but appreciate was the energy in the audience at the Cadillac last night. Just about everyone in the audience would have encountered this music as teenagers at the latest. For most, I expect it was simply music that was just always around. It helped define an era and a genre of music. It provided the soundtrack to not just the Temptations’ lives, but the audiences’ as well. And whatever my nitpicks about the narrative structure of juke box musicals, I cannot deny that energy, onstage and off, was a delight to see.

Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented May 24 – June 5 by Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre at 151 W. Randolph, Chicago.

Tickets are available at all BIC box offices, at all Ticketmaster retail locations, by calling the Broadway in Chicago Ticket Line at 800-775-2000 or by going to www.BroadwayInChicago.com

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.