INTERVIEW: Joshua Morgan portrays longtime manager of the Temptations in ‘Ain’t Too Proud’
Ain’t Too Proud stars, from left, Christian Thompson, Derrick Baskin, Jahi Kearse, Candice Marie Woods, Jawan M. Jackson, Jarvis B. Manning Jr., Joshua Morgan and Saint Aubyn. Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy / Provided by DKC O&M with permission.
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations is a brand-new, infectious Broadway musical set to one of the most famous songbooks in music history. The Temptations dominated the Motown era in the 1960s and 1970s, overcoming many obstacles along the way and surviving as a musical group, albeit with some lineup changes, all the way to the present day.
Now they are the talk of the town again, and the show is vying for 12 Tony Awards in the coming weeks.
One of the people included in the history of the Temptations is Shelly Berger, the group’s longtime manager, portrayed on stage by Joshua Morgan.
Morgan, an alumnus of Broadway’s Les Misérables, is part of a cast that includes Derrick Baskin, James Harkness, Jawan M. Jackson, Jeremy Pope and Ephraim Sykes. They are under the helm of director Des McAnuff, bringing to life the Temptations’ songs and Dominique Morisseau’s book.
“I was actually considering moving out to L.A. shortly before this even came about,” Morgan said in a recent phone interview. “[My agent] said, ‘They’re interested in seeing you for this part, the role of Shelly Berger in Ain’t Too Proud, which is this new musical. … And I’ll be very honest with you, I was a little hesitant. … It’s a jukebox musical, and there’s such a bias against them, or as our director likes to call them bio musicals. So I just didn’t know what that was going to be.”
However, when Morgan saw that Morisseau was writing the book, he was hooked. The book writer is the scribe behind The Detroit Projects, and Morgan has been impressed with her work for some time.
“I’m a huge fan of hers, so I happily agreed to go in,” he said. “And the signs were good, although I still didn’t have the script. In fact, I never actually read the script until I had got the part and was preparing for rehearsals, but I went through a series of rounds of auditions. And there was every kind of Shelly Berger you could possibly imagine. I think they didn’t quite know what direction they wanted to go in, and I had auditioned for Des before. It just fell into my lap, but you should also know that it wasn’t necessarily for Broadway. I was auditioning for at that time just the D.C. production, and they were still heading to L.A. and Toronto after that. But I don’t think anything was sure. I think it might have been like a seven-month extended audition to see if they wanted to keep me for New York.”
When he landed the role, Morgan had to brush up on his Temptations history, but honestly most people who like music know about the group’s influence and songs. What they may not know are some of the behind-the-scenes memories brought to life in Ain’t Too Proud.
“Everybody knows or has a relationship to the Temptations one way or another, like everyone has a relationship to other pop cultural iconic moments or movements, like Lucille Ball or Judy Garland or the Beatles,” he said. “I think the Temptations have been part of my life in one way or another, but, no, I really didn’t know their backstory. And I really didn’t know much about Shelly Berger and how iconic he was, and I still don’t think people know what an important player he was in Motown. He very happily is very prideful about his role.”
Berger managed the Jackson 5, the Supremes and the Four Tops, among many others. He was at the nexus of music history, helping to shepherd the groups along.
Morgan said he has met with Berger on multiple occasions. The manager communicated that the Motown sound was special, so it was his job to sell it to the world. Morgan used these anecdotes to help build the character on stage.
“We develop spines as actors, what essentially motivates characters from beginning to end, that’s based on their actions, not point of view, not emotion, not ideas, but what they literally do,” Morgan said. “And what Shelly did for me in that moment was fascinating because he sort of unlocked my spine. It’s just to support these men in any which way I possibly can, separate from any opinion, point of view, feeling, idea, and that was very helpful for me.”
Morgan added: “I think Shelly and I are similar but very dissimilar. His family, his daughter continually refers to me as dad. She just calls me dad now. A lot of his family and friends will say, ‘You sound like Shelly. You have his energy down to a science.’ But that was not my goal. I’m not doing an interpretation of Shelly Berger. I’m just playing his actions, and I don’t even think he realizes how much he helped me because I take those things as compliments because even though I’m not doing an impersonation of him, I feel like when people say that to me, that I’ve somehow captured the essence of what his motivation was in helping to build the success of that group.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations is currently playing the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
