Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (1,043)
See it if great music, great staging and interplat between cast, great stage performances
Don't see it if some of the characters are less developed.
See it if So so good. The dancing is even better than the singing. A fabulous tale re: the music industry. Huge amount of talent. ALSO
Don't see it if Sorry that we missed Jeremy Pope. Read more
See it if You're a fan of the Motown sound and a really well made jukebox musical.
Don't see it if Jukebox musicals aren't your thing. Read more
See it if You are a fan of the Band or if you liked Jersey Boys or just want to have a good time at the theater. See this show.
Don't see it if You don't like musicians that tell the story of a band or dislike the Temptations
See it if love the dancing and singing and the memories of the Temptations!
Don't see it if you don't appreciate great dancing or no nothing about The Temptation!
See it if You enjoy musicals, you like The temptations and you want to have a fun evening.
Don't see it if There isn't anything not to like about this before musical except the chairs in the theater is super tight, especially in first mezzanine
See it if The BioMusical has it all:interest charact you want to know more abt,exquisit voices ,dancing,grt costu/set& illuminating story.BRAVISSIMI
Don't see it if you are not a fan of Motown,nor wish to leave the theater with high energy & humming the great songs.
See it if If you love the music. if you don't know the music see it anyway. super talented cat and a very gripping story.
Don't see it if I can think of no reason not to see it.
Critic Reviews (50)
"Long-winded narration takes away from a powerful story of true grit, sacrifice, and loss...Playwright Morisseau wrote the show’s book based on Williams’ memoir but somehow under the direction of McAnuff the show comes across as a live audiobook presentation featuring the magical music of The Temptations. However, it is the classic Temptations’ musical catalog and a stellar group of talent that keep this show grooving and the audience dancing in their seats."
Read more
"Sergio Trujillo’s choreography is a thrilling upgrade of the group’s trademark dips, snaps, splits, sways and twirls. The performers are talented enough as singers and dancers to be members of the actual Temptations...The general outline of rising to the top and falling from grace, feels overly familiar. And with so many songs and so many incidents to get through, there is little time to keep the story from coming off as generic...The show’s savviest move is in the casting."
Read more
"Morisseau sticks close to the source, and as the action propels forward, one can understand Williams’ decades-long struggle to keep five big personalities in the spotlight...Deftly navigates between the personal and the public under McAnuff’s swift guidance...'Ain’t Too Proud' spoonfeeds its soul food, and audiences will eat it up...For those who can snag a ticket to 'Ain’t Too Proud' while its original Broadway company remains intact, you’re in for something wholly spectacular."
Read more
"Musically, however, the show is on much surer footing. One cannot underestimate the invaluable contributions of the other men playing the so-called 'classic five': the electrifying Sykes as the egotistical if supremely talented singer David Ruffin; the extremely charismatic and angelic-voiced Pope as the strong-willed Eddie Kendricks; the fleet-footed and intensely likeable Harkness as Paul Williams; and the endearing Jawan M. Jackson as the usually agreeable Melvin Fredericks."
Read more
"A sprawling, by-the-numbers musical journey…Its biographical and dramatic values are far less compelling-because they so closely fit a familiar pattern-than the rousingly entertaining ones of the music…There's nothing very new here in terms of celebrity fame, fortune, and fatality but the show packs its biographical ups and downs into a neatly packaged, exceptionally well-staged and performed sequence of scenes that incorporate both original Temptations songs and covers."
Read more
"Thrillingly performed and dramatically static...The book is a cavalcade of banalities and bromides...So why see 'Ain’t Too Proud'? For the songs, of course, and the undiluted pleasure of watching five superb singers and dancers perform them...The choreography is a little more athletic than what the Temps actually performed and Sykes an Alvin Ailey-trained dancer is electric as is his every vigorous pas de deux with the microphone stand. No one should be too proud to applaud that."
Read more
“This jukebox musical is a cut above the rest. What suffers here is the book by Morriseau that seems more like a memory play of Otis Williams, than engaging scenes that draw us into the action...If you love the music of The Temptations, amazing singing, smooth dancing, a show light on book, then you will adore the electrifying ‘Ain’t Too Proud’...There is never a dull moment in this show.”
Read more
"Derrick Baskin’s impersonation of Otis Williams defines the word 'innocuous,' even though late in the musical he is accused of being a control freak...If only Ruffin/Sykes were narrating 'Ain’t Too Proud.' For one thing, we’d be spared the cliched build-up to the group’s success and the endless parade of funerals at the end...McAnuff’s direction of 'Ain’t Too Proud' gives us both the alluring razzle-dazzle and the underlying nightly grind of touring."
Read more