Temptations musical coming to Broadway (by 'Jersey Boys' director)

Motown legends The Temptations are subject of a new Broadway musical, Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations, which was directed by the same person who brought you the Four Seasons musical Jersey Boys. Rolling Stone reports:

Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations, a new musical about one of R&B’s premier vocal groups, will hit Broadway in Spring 2019. The production will run at the Imperial Theater in New York, New York, producers announced Thursday, although no opening date has been set.

Ain’t Too Proud launched in September 2017 at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in Berkeley, California, before moving this year to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It is currently playing at the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles, California, where it runs through September 30th; a stint at Toronto, Ontario’s Princess of Wales Theatre is scheduled to open October 11th and run through November 17th.

Director Des McAnuff is a veteran of jukebox musicals, which base stories around pop songs; his credits include Jersey Boys, about pop-rock act the Four Seasons, and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Playwright Dominique Morisseau wrote the book for Ain’t Too Proud, which focuses on the Motown legends’ formation and career.

Portraying the Temptations will be Derrick Baskin as Otis Williams, James Harkness as Paul Williams, Jawan M. Jackson as Melvin Franklin, Jeremy Pope as Eddie Kendricks and Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin.

The current version of The Temptations (with Otis Williams as the last surviving original member) have upcoming tour dates (including NJ and Long Island shows), and earlier this year they released the new album All The Time, which features versions of songs by Michael Jackson, The Weeknd, Maxwell, and more.

We featured their song “Masterpiece” in our list of 30 Essential Psychedelic Soul Songs.