A popular Broadway show has dropped a new music video that encourages viewers to vote while supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
The video features the Temptations hit “I’m Losing You” performed by the cast and orchestra of the Broadway hit “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations.” Produced by the show’s musical director and arranger Kenny Seymour, the video was shot virtually with musicians and performers recording their sections in isolation.
The video contains dual messages supporting Black Lives Matter and encouraging viewers to vote in the upcoming election.
“When I think of our show and its relationship to the movement for Black Lives and the civic unrest that waves across our nation, I think of ‘I’m Losing You,’” said “Ain’t Too Proud’s” Tony Award®-nominated librettist, Dominique Morisseau. “I wrote the scene for this number to address the Temptations’ conflict with being popular national artists at a time when their hometown was in social turmoil. In hindsight, I was actually writing about more than that. The emotion in this number always makes me remember that there is such thing as righteous rage, and when used productively, it can create a national movement for progressive change. The movement for Black lives didn’t just start today, it’s being continued from Ferguson 2014, from LA 1992, and from Detroit 1967. History continues to repeat itself until we get it right.”
Prior to the pandemic, “Ain’t Too Proud” was playing at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre. The show, which follows the journey of the Temptations, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical and won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography.
Leading the cast of Ain’t Too Proud as The Temptations are Nik Walker as Otis Williams, James Harkness as Paul Williams, Jawan M. Jackson as Melvin Franklin, Matt Manuel as David Ruffin, and Jelani Remy as Eddie Kendricks. In addition to Aubyn, Ain’t Too Proud also features Esther Antoine, Shawn Bowers, E. Clayton Cornelious, Tiffany Francès, Taylor Symone Jackson, Marcus Paul James, Jahi Kearse, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Jarvis B. Manning, Jr., Morgan McGhee, Joshua Morgan, Christian Thompson, Correy West, Drew Wildman Foster, Curtis Wiley, Jamari Johnson Williams, and Candice Marie Woods.
The first national touring production of “Ain’t Too Proud” will launch in 2021 and visit more than 50 cities coast-to-coast, including a homecoming to The Temptations’ roots in Detroit.
Check out the music video below:
