In the beginning (Detroit, 1950s) were the Primes and the Distants, little-known singers of doo-wop. The Primes and the Distants merged and became the Elgins. And Berry Gordy, who was gathering power under the banner of Motown at that time, proclaimed that he liked the Elgins but did not like their name, and suggested (as if Gordy ever just suggested anything) that they change it to the Temptations.
The Temptations went on to unleash a mighty torrent of hit songs — 42 that made the Top 10 — from the finger-snapping early simplicity of “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “The Way You Do the Things You Do” to the grittier psychedelic soul of “Cloud Nine,” “Ball of Confusion” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”
Thus they landed among the most prolific, not to mention sharpest-dressing, contributors to the Vast Boomer Soundtrack of the ‘60s and ‘70s that lives on and on, forever and ever.
“It’s music that you can’t get away from. It follows you in the supermarket and everywhere,” says Michael Andreaus, the former Atlantan who plays Gordy in the Broadway in Atlanta touring show of “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.” The jukebox musical version of the group’s story opens at the Fox Theatre March 8.
“Culturally the Temptations are a household name and have been the blueprint for so many acts,” says Jalen Harris, also a former Atlantan, who plays the silky lead tenor Eddie Kendricks in the show. “The Temps were always a name I heard, even though they came from a different era.”
Credit: Emilio Madrid
Credit: Emilio Madrid
“Ain’t Too Proud” opened on Broadway in March 2019, where it continues to play. Playwright Dominique Morisseau adapted long-time Temp Otis Williams’ memoir, and the “Jersey Boys” team of Des McAnuff (director) and Sergio Trujillo (choreography) added the production dazzle of that ground-breaking, and-then-they-sang musical to build another hit that appeals to multiple generations.
Like “Jersey Boys,” “Ain’t Too Proud” bounces among big medleys and backstage drama, with Temps coming and going due to drugs, ego clashes, and the standard “artistic differences.” Although the “classic five” Temptations were the original core (Kendricks, Williams, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams and David Ruffin), there have been 26 members over 62 years. The group still tours, with Williams the only original left.
“You get to see a lot of ego, a lot of pride,” says Harris. “Especially David and Eddie. These guys were really just trying to figure it out while the whole world was watching them.”
Harris, a native of Memphis, moved to Atlanta after high school to launch his theater career following his appearance on season 10 of “American Idol” as a teen.
“I have always felt a connection to Eddie Kendricks, one of my biggest vocal inspirations,” he says, " ‘Just My Imagination’ [with Kendricks’ lead vocal] was the first Temptations song my dad played for me. And then so many of the high tenor falsetto vocalists that came after him modeled their vocal style after Eddie: Prince, Maxwell, Robin Thicke.”
(Fun fact: Kendricks originally was Eddie Kendrick, but Gordy made him add an “s” to his last name; Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar was named after Kendricks, who died in 1992 of lung cancer.)
Andreaus was born in Atlanta and spent his childhood here, attending Snapfinger Elementary School in Decatur before his military family moved on.
“I’ve been a big fan of the Temptations for 20, 25 years,” he says. “I actually was part of a Motown tribute show for many years at a non-profit dinner theater in Oklahoma City. We performed a lot of the Temptations’ music as well as other Motown songs.” Ironically, that musical background doesn’t help him much in this show as Gordy does no singing.
As he did with all the Motown acts, Gordy sometimes micromanaged.
“There’s a scene where they come to Berry Gordy about the song ‘War,’ which was originally pitched for the Temptations,” Andreaus says. “And Berry shut ‘em down and said this is not what the Temptations are known for, this is not what we do. He eventually gave the song to Edwin Starr and it became a huge hit.” But that made Berry change his tune, and the group started having hits with more political material. (They later did their own version of “War”, but it was not a hit.)
As Andreaus sums up, with understatement, “Everybody didn’t always agree about the right direction.”
But nevertheless, they ended up with their own Broadway musical.
THEATER PREVIEW
“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations”
March 8-13. $40-$129. Broadway Over Atlanta at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 855-285-8499. foxtheatre.org.
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