Life Lessons From The Temptations

Crowds are swirling on the sidewalks – billboards are flashing merrily – theatres are filled to capacity. I hear the excited hiss of the audience as the opening notes from the orchestra reach our ears and the stage set is exposed. Even our ever-present masks can’t dim the thrill of being among a live audience after so many months of COVID darkness.

Amidst re-openings and re-awakening, BROADWAY IS BACK – a celebration of resilience, transitions and breakthroughs. 

It’s December 1, 2021 and I’m part of this joyous moment in time. I am actually in a low lettered row in the 98 year-old Imperial Theatre – just off Times Square – to see up close and live Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. The 1417 seat theatre is filled almost to capacity. The crowd claps wildly as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band appears before us.

 
According to Wikpedia, Ain’t Too Proud debuted in 2018 as a jukebox musical with music and lyrics by The Temptations and a book by Dominique Morisseau. The Temptations, whose roots scream Motown, opened at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre in March 2019 after a series of regional productions.
 
The production closed down for COVID and re-opened on Oct 16 of this year. 
 
Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the 2 hour and 30 minute show, but I learned a few hefty life lessons too – life lessons worth repeating: 
 

On-the-road touring as a band has a price.

Otis Williams, the only original Temptations member still performing with the band, married and divorced numerous times over the decades. In 1961, his wife, Josephine, gave birth to what would be his only child: Otis Lamont. Otis laments that he missed a lot of time with his son when he was growing-up. He never re-captured that time. Otis Lamont died on a construction work site in 1983 at age 23 from a freak accident.  
 

Don’t blindly trust anyone.

Wikipedia reports that The Temptations were the original vocalists of the anti-Vietman, protest song “War.” After Motown began receiving repeated requests to release “War” as a single, a co-writer of the song and producer decided to re-record the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist. Motown withheld The Temptations’ version from single release so as not to alienate their more conservative fans. Starr’s version of “War” was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQHUAJTZqF0
 
 

Stay open minded.

Otis Williams thought the lyrics to “The Way You Do the Things You Do” were kinda trite:

You got a smile so bright
You know you could’ve been a candle
I’m holding you so tight
You know you could’ve been a handle
The way you swept me off my feet
You know you could’ve been a broom
And baby you smell so sweet
You know you could’ve been some perfume
Well you could’ve been anything that you wanted to
I can tell
The way you do the things you do
I like the way you do the things you do

 
Luckily, he recorded it anyway. The 1964 hit single written by Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers became The Temptations first charted single on Billboad Hot 100 and went on to become an America top 40 hit in four successive decades. 

Remember: Everyone is replaceable.

The Temptations, called by the editors of Rolling Stone, “Indisputably the greatest black vocal group of the Modern Era…,” started with five core members and claims 26 performers came and went over the years, constantly shaking up the make-up of the group. Out-sized egos and drugs led to fragmentation. Their nickname became “The Temps” because of the large number of performers cycling in and out of the band over the years. 
 

The power of music is the one lasting component.

The product rules – not the people – in the group or cast.  
Throughout Ain’t Too Proud, Otis keeps referring to “the 
whole being greater than the sum of its parts.” (I learned that in my college freshman Psych class as the Gestalt Theory). Broadway certainly reflects that philosophy.
 
I’ve already marked down on My Broadway Bucket List my desire to see Billy Crystal in Mr. Saturday Night – a new musical comedy previewing March 1, 2022 at the Nederlander Theatre. 
 
I ain’t too proud to admit that at times life can be pretty damn grand.
 
Keep Preserving Your Bloom, 
 
Iris Ruth Pastor
 
PS: Late-breaking news – the December 14th performance of Ain’t too Proud was cancelled due to a breakthrough COVID case. The theatre appears to have re-opened on Dec 15^th.