Ain't Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations, which is currently playing an extended, record-breaking limited engagement at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre through November 5, will not arrive on Broadway this season.
Producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman (Spring Awakening, American Idiot) told Variety that due to the lack of a suitable theatre—one with more than 1,000 seats that can hold a cast of 16—the critically acclaimed musical, which charts the rise of the R&B group The Temptations, will arrive in New York in the fall of 2018. To keep momentum high, the producers will stage another limited engagement in the U.S. in either summer or early fall 2018.
Berkeley recently announced that Ain’t Too Proud is the highest-grossing production in its nearly 50- year history with box office receipts already exceeding $3.1 million.
“We are thrilled with the success of this show,” Berkeley Managing Director Susan Medak said in a statement, “and equally thrilled that its success will help us support so many other productions that are also wonderful but may not have as monumental a reach
Ain't Too Proud features a book by Kennedy Prize-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau and choreography by Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo. The new musical features such classics as “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone."
Directed by Tony winner Des McAnuff, the world premiere, presented by special arrangement with Pittelman and Hulce, features Derrick Baskin as Otis Williams, Shawn Bowers as Lamont, Jeremy Cohen as Shelley Berger, E. Clayton Cornelious as Richard Stret, James Harkness as Paul Williams, Taylor Symone Jackson as Johnnie Mae, Jared Joseph as Melvin Franklin, Jahi Kearse as Berry Gordy, Jarvis B. Manning, Jr. as Al, Jeremy Pope as Eddie Kendricks, Rashidra Scott as Josephine, Caliaf St. Aubyn as Dennis, Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin, Nasia Thomas as Mama Rose, Christian Thompson as Smokey Robinson, and Candice Marie Woods as Diana Ross.
Rounding out the company are Esther Antoine, Rodney Earl Jackson, Jr., and Devin L. Roberts.
