Ain’t Too Proud Takes Audience on a Trip Back in Time

Harrell Holmes Jr., Jalen Harris, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, E. Clayton Cornelious and Michael Andreaus from the National Touring Company of Ain’t Too Proud. Photo by Emilio Madrid.

Last night, I got to see “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations” with my parents. My parents were both born in 1947 and grew up listening to the Motown group in their teens and early twenties. And in turn, I grew up listening to this same music as a young kid, riding in the back seat of the family station wagon. I could probably sing “My Girl” by heart if you asked me to, because my favorite movie growing up carried the same title.

Music was a big part of my life as a child, and so many of these Temptations’ songs – “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “Get Ready” – often played on repeat on the radio station Oldies 103 FM — hey Boston – and are tied to memories of being dropped off at soccer and softball practice or our long family drives to our beach house in York Beach, Maine. I spent hours and hours in the car listening to music and hearing songs so many times that I automatically memorized the lyrics in my head. I even performed oldies’ music at grade school talent shows through solo song and dance numbers. Obviously, back then there were no cell phones, iPods or Internet to distract me from looking out the window, soaking up radio tunes, and searching for every license plate in the United States on cars along the highway.

When I called my parents to see if they wanted to come visit me from my hometown of Methuen, Massachusetts, to go see the show in Providence, I wasn’t sure if they would make the two-hour drive. They are both seventy-seven and my dad’s health is failing; add on the 195 highway debacle, and I wasn’t counting on it. He uses a cane to walk and even a short jaunt across a parking lot is challenging. Piling on ice and snow to the mix along the roads and sidewalks makes it even more of a struggle for someone with physical disabilities (even if they are in denial about it). But my parents were up for the adventure as the PPAC gift certificate I had given them for Christmas more than three years ago was still burning a hole in their pocket (or a junk drawer with a million other uncashed gift cards). I prompted them that it was finally time to use it.

They arrived at my house yesterday afternoon, we had a nice family dinner with my two kids, ages seven and ten, then made the trek back to Providence with my dad riding in the front seat and mom in the back seat, where I once sat when they used to drive me around all day. There wasn’t too much traffic coming from the East Bay on 195 after 6 p.m., but I gave ourselves an hour to drive, park and get to the theater. We pulled into the lot across from PPAC, and then navigated along the sidewalk, my dad supporting himself with his cane, and me directing him to the parts of the sidewalk that were less covered in slush. Once we got inside the theater, we found our seats in row P, with a comfortable aisle seat for my dad.

Once the stage lit up, telling the story of how the Motown group the Temptations came to be, I saw the look of youth return in my dad and mom’s eyes. They recalled moments when those familiar songs meant something to them. The acting and music is extraordinary. The storyline is captivating with historical moments sprinkled in – tales of the tumultuous South during bouts of racism and riots, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the untimely deaths of some of the members of the group due to suicide, lung cancer and drug addiction – brought tears to my eyes. I literally had to bite back emotions. We talked about what some of these historical moments were like for them and where they were when it happened. My dad is a Vietnam veteran so he listened to these iconic songs while overseas. When the political controversy between the Temptations and their manager over the song “War” became a scene of the show, I knew it took him right back to that Godforsaken place and time with the Vietcong.

National Touring Company of Ain’t Too Proud. Photo by Emilio Madrid.

The musical was phenomenal. Memory recall had me singing along to each hit in my head with the lyrics coming back to me easily. The songs brought me right back to my pre-teen years riding along in the family station wagon.

As we were sitting in our seats during intermission, my mom asked me for one of the ticket stubs so she could save it. Normally, I discard tickets in the trash, but as I sat there with both my parents, not sure when we’d ever be able to do this again, I also took one of the tickets and stored it in my wallet for sentimental reasons. I’ll make sure I keep it safe, and years from now, when I’m much older, I will hold it in my hand and remember this moment with mom and dad.

The author, Jamie Coelho, with her mom and dad at PPAC.

“Ain’t Too Proud” is showing at Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) January 23–28, 2024.

Tickets are available now at the PPAC Box Office (220 Weybosset St.), by phone at 401-421-2787 and online at ppacri.org.  For a limited time, use the code IMAGINE to access $50* orchestra seats to the Wednesday and Thursday evening performances.