A musical about the Temptations was always going to have a phenomenal songbook. The band became one of the most celebrated Motown acts of the 1960s and 70s and this production is stuffed full of their hits, such as My Girl and Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone – all of which sound red hot to this day.
The actors sing with vigour and perform the athletic dance moves that made the group so distinctive, with nice period choreography by Sergio Trujillo. But the narrative in Dominique Morisseau’s book, which should bring these men to life, feels so skating, sketchy and divorced from the songbook that the production feels hollowed of an emotional centre. Rarely has a show of its kind felt more like a jukebox musical by numbers.
