Reviews 2018
Reviews 2018
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by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Des MacAnuff
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto
October 16-November 17, 2018
“You try hard to hide
The emptiness inside” (from “I’m Losing You”, 1967)
The Broadway-bound musical Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations is an obvious attempt by director Des MacAnuff to create another mega-hit using the same model as his Jersey Boys (2005). It is so obvious as to be embarrassing. The problem is that the story of the Temptations is not as compelling as that of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Besides that, the Temptations as group featuring its original founder Otis Williams still exists and tours widely. Would you rather see a musical about the group or the group itself?
In Jersey Boys a different one of the Four Seasons served as a narrator for each of the four seasons into which the musical was divided. The Temptations don’t have a name that MacAnuff and book writer Dominque Morisseau can use to structure the musical. So they rely on having Otis Williams, the only surviving member of the “original five” Temptations serve as the narrator throughout. Though Ain’t Too Proud is based on Otis Williams’s memoir Temptations (1988), the general story lines of the two shows are very similar.
The narrator from the lower class (Tommy DeVito in JB, Otis in ATP), wants to found a group that sings in close harmony. He searches for people to fill out the group (to four in JB, to five in ATP). The group changes its name until they reach the name we know. The groups works in obscurity until it finally finds success. Success means constant touring which leads the early marriage of one member (Frankie Valli to JB, Otis in ATP) to divorce. Jealousies form within the group. Things take a bad turn (with debts to the mob in JB, with alcohol and drugs in ATP). Members get fed up and leave. The one with the early marriage meets his child from that marriage too late in life (Frankie Valli to JB, Otis in ATP).
The primary difference in the two stories is that Jersey Boys has a focus on Frankie Valli throughout from being discovered as a teenager to marriage and fame and finally becoming a solo act with the other three as backup. In Ain’t Too Proud, Otis is mostly on the sidelines. With the Temptations the problem is the constant firing of members. First Al Bryant (Jarvis B. Manning, Jr.) has to be kicked out after he gets into a fight with a fellow member. Then, twice, the lead singer lets fame go to his head, becomes involved in alcohol and drugs and has to be let go. Three dismissals may be true to history, are still repetitive and already make the story less interesting that Jersey Boys’ single focus.
When Otis starts to concentrate on how the group lost the remaining two of its original five members to disease and drink, the story is simply depressing. Yet, through constant replacement of its members, the group still exists today. In fact, Otis tells us that from its formation until today there have been 24 Temptations. This is somehow meant to be impressive, but the only constant through all the years is that Otis remains as background tenor. Otherwise, one could say that the Temptations has over time become its own tribute group.
The continual change in personnel means that, unlike Jersey Boys, it is difficult to become attached to any one member since you don’t know how long they will be around. Book writer Morisseau tries to make the story about the group’s slow triumph to become” the number one R&B group of all time”, which, at the time, meant beating the Supremes in the quantity and time spent at Number One in the singles chart. In framing the story as a rise from poverty by hard work and achieving not just success but becoming top of the heap, Morisseau is repeating the antique Horatio Alger myth that the only thing holding Americans back from success is the lack of desire to work hard. With drugs and alcohol portrayed as the main temptations to the Temptations’ lead singers’ downfall, the show has an unpleasant correlation with the views of the American right in opposing a social safety net in the US.
The show may claim that it presents more than 30 songs in its two and a half hours, but how it does so is very annoying. The usual pattern Morisseau adopts is for Otis to give the background to a song, for the song to begin and for Otis to interrupt it with more information whereupon we fast-forward to the song’s last stanza and chorus. The majority of the songs are presented this way or, as in the case of the Supremes’ hits, as abbreviated versions. To anyone who really enjoys the music of this period, it will be extremely frustrating not to hear a song all the way through without interruption or to hear it in a shortened form. Most of the songs are presented as songs performed either privately or publicly, but Morisseau oddly chooses to have three of the songs sung by singers in character as if part of the plot.
As became all too evident in Des MacAnuff’s short stint as Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, there is no such things for him as too many production values. Robert Brill’s set is entirely in black, whites and greys. Given this tiresome lack of colour, MacAnuff attempts to animate it by having designer Peter Nigrini project the names of cities on tours and the titles of songs constantly in motion over the set mixed with zoom-ins and -outs of photos of historic events of the time. At least Howell Binkley’s lighting helps us keep focus on the Temptations when they perform amid all these visual distractions.
Choreographer Sergio Trujillo accurately recreates the kind of suave synchronized movements that the Temptations were known for. Individuals may show off with spins or the splits, but by the end of the Act 1, Trujillo seems to have exhausted the repertoire of synchronization and then has to rely on variations in the size of the group to keep interest alive – moving from five to seven (when the Temps have a brief reunion tour) to using the entire cast at the end to celebrate the history of the 24 Temptations.
With a less compelling, more diffuse story, and the constant change in personnel, individual characters don’t really have enough stage time to make much of an impression. The main exception, of course, is Derrick Baskin who plays Otis Williams. Williams makes Otis a warm, sympathetic presence as a narrator, but it’s amazing how quickly he can shift from narration to singing, dancing and acting as the younger Otis and back without losing a beat. Besides the Temptations’ music, it is Baskin’s performance that holds Ain’t Too Proud together.
Of Otis’s three backup companions, Jawan M. Jackson as Melvin Franklin, nicknamed “Blue”, makes the greatest impression. His deep bass voice in both speaking and singing is as unmistakable as the mission he has Blue adopt to try to keep the group together as long as possible. Jeremy Pope re-creates the famous falsetto of Eddie Kendricks, nicknamed “Corn”, but is best remembered for his contributions to the singing in the show than for creating a well-defined character. The same is true of James Harkness’s portrayal of Paul Williams, who is most notable in the show for his drinking problems.
Of the Temptations’ two lead singers in the show, Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin stands out more than Saint Aubyn as Dennis Edwards. Sykes has the advantage because Morisseau has written Ruffin as a larger, showier part allowing Sykes to play up Ruffin’s humour as well as his volatility. Sykes also has a fine voice for the high vocals in the Temptations’ first hit single “My Girl”. Oddly, both Sykes and Aubyn are so engaged in showing off their characters’ dancing abilities that they tend to swallow their consonants when singing.
Marqell Edward is a very staid Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records and the Temptations’ exacting producer. Joshua Morgan, the only White man in the show, is fairly bland as Shelly Berger, the Temptations’ manager. And Christian Thompson, surprisingly, has virtually no personality as producer Smokey Robinson but that is Morisseau’s failing.
Women have little role to play in this story of male success. Rashidra Scott is very sympathetic in her brief appearances as Otis’s wife, then ex-wife, Josephine, and Candice Marie Woods has the sound of her character Diana Ross but is lacking the charisma.
Ain’t Too Proud is aimed at those who wish to indulge in 1960s and ‘70s nostalgia without having to become emotionally involved in an intriguing story. The “and then, and then, and then” style of narration Morisseau gives Otis too often becomes a dry recital of facts and events. Having so many songs interrupted or abbreviated may drive some fans up the wall. Nevertheless, with Ain’t Too Proud, Des MacAnuff has delivered a typically slick product. But then the whole show feel like a product rather than the creative expression of a passion or idea and has the consumerist phrase “If you liked Jersey Boys, you might also like ...” written all over it.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photos: (from top) Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Jawan M. Jackson, James Harkness & Derrick Baskin; Ephraim Sykes, Jawan M. Jackson, Jeremy Pope, Derrick Baskin and James Harkness; Christian Thompson, Saint Aubyn, Ephraim Sykes (in front), Jeremy Pope, Derrick Baskin, Jawan M. Jackson and James Harkness. ©2017 Matthew Murphy.
For tickets, visit www.mirvish.com.
2018-10-22
Ain't Too Proud