- Just ahead on American Black Journal, the award winning musical about The Temptations has arrived here in Motown, I'm gonna talk with the native Detroiter who wrote the show, Dominique Morisseau.

Plus, sports journalist Stephen A. Smith is here to talk about his participation in a fundraiser that celebrates the legacy of Detroit's WGPR-TV 62.

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(upbeat music) - Welcome to American Black Journal, I'm Stephen Henderson.

The Tony Award winning musical about Detroit's own Temptations has come home to where it all started.

Ain't Too Proud, The life and Times of The Temptations is playing at the Detroit Opera House through August 28th, the show tells a story of Motown's premiere male group, a scene to the eyes of it's only surviving original member, Otis Williams.

♪ Bad as you know it ♪ Please don't leave me girl ♪ Don't you go ♪ Ain't too proud to plead ♪ Baby baby ♪ Please don't leave me girl ♪ Don't you go - [Stephen] Ain't too proud won a Tony Award for Best Choreography and it was nominated in several other categories, including two nods for it's writer, Detroit-born playwright Dominique Morisseau, spoke with Dominique about the success of this electrifying production.

(upbeat music) We talked about this show last time we talked, I think it was headed to New York, but it's a bigger deal I think, for something like this especially to play in Detroit because we own this, right?

This is our story and you can't get away with anything.

- No, absolutely not.

- Throwing the story to us.

So, talk about Ain't Too Proud, yeah.

- You know, I just, I'm really happy to have Ain't Too Proud, The Life and Times of The Temptations here in Detroit at the Detroit Opera House, you know?

It's been a long time coming with our Broadway tour, we were supposed to be, Detroit was supposed to be one of the first stops when we were originally gonna do the tour in 2020, but we all know what happened in 2020 and so that delay has shifted things around, and so it feels like it's just been a long time coming to get here to Detroit to do this show and we were on Broadway, you know?

And the COVID shut the show down on Broadway, and so now that we're doing this Broadway tour and we've been to all these cities, it just feels like a new life to be here and it's more important, I mean, being in Detroit, you know, you could just ask the cast, you could see it on their faces when they perform and like it just feels, this feels more important than Broadway, this is like the most important performance you could be doing, is the ones you're doing here in Detroit right now.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, and the story of course of The Temptations is in many ways, a story of Detroit, of course it's a story of Motown as well, but it is a Detroit story in the sense of that perseverance, that focus on who ya are and where it takes you in life, and the celebration of all the things that make us Detroiters, I mean, The Temptations are Detroit in such a special way.

- That's right and I make sure, and I promise in the show that I'm not gonna let you forget that this is, The Temptations are a Detroit, homegrown Detroit group, you know?

That this group was born and raised here in a city that grew all of the rest of their contemporary's, you know?

And I tried to make sure that, that stamp is really clear in this show.

- Yeah, yeah.

Talk about this being on Broadway as well, I mean that was a very big deal when that happened, how did that audience receive this story?

- Yeah.

You know, it was really special, I mean they went bananas for it on Broadway and honestly if not for Omicron, it kind of ravaged all of Broadway really and a lot of shows closed prematurely, just too many and a lot of them were the Black shows, which is like the heartbreak, but there was a moment in which Ain't Too Proud was on 45th, well the theater is on 45th and 46th Street, because the front of it is on 45th and the back of it's on 46th Street, and then my show Skeleton Crew was on 47th Street, so for a very short period of time, like a month, you know?

I had two Broadway shows taking up three blocks of New York City's Broadway real estate, you know?

And that was kind of exciting, I was like, "Whoa, Detroit is taking over New York right now."

And so it's just been really amazing because it was so well received and it just really, it kinda doesn't make sense that we're not still on Broadway except for you know, just everything came, Almost, Broadway almost came back, I won't say too soon, but too fast, you know?

And without enough foresight of how to like maintain if a surge happens, you know?

And so, but the show was so, you know people loved it and they were, it was one of those specials ones and you can also tell I guess that's kinda rare for Black musical theater artists to be able to be their full selves on a Broadway stage, you know?

They're used to having to like cover or be told that they're singing too, you know make too many runs, and you know how the theater, yet somehow their speech pathology, that they're not speaking articulately enough, you know for Broadway to be on a stage and I'm like, "No, you need to sound like your elders and your ancestors right now in this show, you need to sound like"- - You need to sound like Detroit.

- "You need to sound like Detroit, you need to sound like around the corner and up the block, you know?"

And so, I think it was kind of freeing for all of the artists who were participating in the show to be able to be their full selves, so when you watch it, you're just blown away by all this Black talent that doesn't normally get to be, do what they can do all the time.

- Yeah, I would be remise if I didn't mention that this play also won a Tony for choreography, talk about that, I mean that's, that's an incredible achievement.

- Yeah, I mean it is, I mean you know, it was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and we took the Choreography Tony, and I was like, "If there was one Tony that we needed besides obviously the Book," which I feel like, that I feel like we got robbed on, you know?

Not just because it was me, but because I knew, I felt really strongly and I think other people did too that, that was someone that shouldn't have gotten it, but I was gonna throw my shoe at somebody if we didn't get that Choreography Tony, because I just couldn't, I mean you can't, the choreography in the show was outstanding and you can't even like, you mean it's The Temptations and then there's also a touch of so many more groups that followed them, you know?

Sorta like does this nod to the past and to the generations that came after them, right?

You know, it's a little bit of a new addition nod and there's a little bit of other styles, and I think that, "How could you not go crazy for that choreography?"

(upbeat music) ♪ When my life doesn't complete me ♪ ♪ I'm so good ♪ 'Cause I can't get next to you ♪ ♪ I can't get next to you babe ♪ Can't get next to you ♪ I can't get next to you ♪ I just can't ♪ I can't get next to you babe ♪ I can't get next to you ♪ I can't get next to you ♪ Next to you - That Choreography Tony went to Sergio Trujillo, who was our choreographer and he got that alongside, you know Edgar Godineaux, who was his associate choreographer, I mean it was a lot of gifted minds and talent that went into that choreography that made it stellar.

- Yeah.

Well and thinking, and speaking about the celebration of Black art on Broadway, that nod for choreography, I mean this is obviously, you know, a very Black show in every way and then the choreography reflects our culture in a way that other plays don't do on Broadway and for those reasons that you're talking about, they always say, "You can't, you can't be that, that much on Broadway."

Here you did it and you know, you're recognized with the best award that they have.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's deserved and then you know, and so, some even more things were deserved as well and I think everybody who got nominated deserved their nomination, like it was a fantastic production, you know?

And so I'm really proud, and this company that we have here in Detroit, some of them were like covers for us on Broadway, some of them came from Broadway, but a lot of them did not, they just joined for the tour and they are, they rival trust me, you're not getting, you know, I get nervous when I look at em like, "Okay are we gonna fall?

Is like something gonna lose some quality?"

and I watch the show, and I'm like, "I've been here from the beginning."

I've been in with this show since we were like in the Bay Area just trying it out before we got to Broadway, we went to like three cities, I've seen a lot of you know, rotations of this show and you're getting a stellar cast, you're getting a stellar cast, yeah this is a great production and a great group of people.

- Yeah.

The success that this had in New York, the success that you've had in New York, do you feel like things are changing in terms of opportunity for African American writers?

African American material?

You know, material that's influenced by African American culture?

I mean, Broadway was so closed to us for so long and now it seems, there's almost a flood of recognition in some ways that, "Hey, that wasn't all right."

- Well you know, coming off of 2022 this past season, 21/22, really I guess it was the end of 2021, but they were, they're in the beginning of eight Black shows on Broadway, which is unprecedented, you know, you'd be lucky if you catch one or two at the same, you know?

In like of several years, you know?

But in one year, all of these Black shows together were on Broadway and while that felt really, it was a milestone and it gives you hope, but I always say you know, don't make that optical, don't make that an optical illusion, you know?

We were also the first ones brought back during the pan, you know, we brought theater back from the pandemic, so we were also the pandemic test dummies, you know what I mean?

So, it was like, "Why, it looks good, but also whose shows all closed first?"

You know?

- Right.

- Whose shows didn't get to stay up on Broadway because of the fraught time that we were having to do theater in, you know?

And so, you can't look at those Black shows and what happened to our shows on Broadway, and then go, "Well we tried."

And move on, you know what I mean?

You have to be like, "Oh no."

You know?

"Look what you put us up against."

And look how even still there was a hunger, and a desire to see this work on Broadway, so imagine when we're not in the thick of a plague that was like more aggressive than the original plague, you know?

Now, imagine what we could do if not for those circumstances and I think if those things are not taken into consideration, then you're not really trying to change Broadway, but you know, but I do think at their time, there's enough being called for and demanded frankly from theater artists to change, not just Broadway, but theater across the country and make it better, and more affordable, and so I believe in that change more than I believe in the optical illusions.

- In addition to Motown, Detroit is of course home to the nation's first Black owned and operated television station, WGPR-TV 62 went on the air in 1975 and launched the careers of several African American media professionals before being sold in 1995, the site is now a broadcast museum, founded by the WGPR Historical Society and next month, the group is hosting a major fundraiser celebrating minorities in the media, I spoke with the event's keynote speaker, Stephen A. Smith of ESPN and WGPR Historical Society President, Joe Spencer.

So, Joe I'm gonna start with you, tell me about this event at WGPR, this fundraiser.

- Well, the WGPR Historical Society is putting on a fundraiser for the William V. Banks Museum and we have scheduled for September nine and ten, it's actually a two day event and we are raising funds to expand the museum, and to expand our training that we planned for the museum, and you know, just have some new exhibits.

And we have a very, very nice lineup for our enduring legacy banquet of people that we're gonna honor and Stephen A. Smith has agreed to be our keynote speaker, so we are planning to have a very exciting evening on September 10th at The Icon here in Detroit.

- Yeah.

Stephen A. Smith, welcome to American Black Journal, welcome to Detroit, you know, it seems to me when I watch you on ESPN or other places I see you, I think all the time about the kinds of opportunities that you've had as an African American man, that I've had as an African American man in media and I think about WGPR, which you know, went onto the air here when I was about four years old and was the first place I could see people who look me on television doing their thing and being in control of the space, being the owners, being the operators, being the managers.

Talk about how stations like GPR influenced your career.

- Well, to me it's never really been, you know whether it's a station, or it's a company, it's about the individuals because as an individual, that's what you gravitate to, we should think about it a bit more expansively, we should think about institutions that have really played the role as pioneers and spearheading movements that ultimately benefit the African American community and what have you, but on far too many occasions, there's such a level of loftiness that gets attached to it that you don't view it that way, it's the individuals that you attach yourself to, Joe I've come to know because my boss is Mr. Dave Roberts who is a Detroit native, he's one of the elite executives in this game and the relationship that I have with him, what he's done for me, what he's meant to my career, I just can't say enough, but it's not because of the jobs that I've been able to capture, the money that I've been able to accumulate and I've been blessed, and fortunate enough to have a prosperous career particularly over the last decade, the level of guidance that I'm given by being able to have a front row seat to watch him work, enabled me to do other things, 10 years ago, I was an on-air talent and over the years under his stewardship, I've grown and I've matured, and I've become more successful, but now I own my own production company and I'm about to own, and start my own podcast, and I'm an executive producer, and I'm not just making decisions for myself, but for other people, I'm employing, I'm firing, I'm doing a whole bunch of things that come along with, you know, some of it is great, some of it is not so great, but having an individual like that to provide the level of guidance and counsel, and tutelage along the way, and not always directly, sometimes just through osmosis, those are the kind of things that you can't, you know you just can't put a price on because it's so invaluable that ultimately, it allows you to propel yourself to a point where you can ultimately become a company, where you can ultimately become an institution and you can ultimately have a profound, lengthy impact that will potentially effect generations, that's what it's all about and when you find individuals that you can attach, you know, you can identify with, that can provide you the guidance and tutelage through osmosis, through direct counseling, and tutoring, and interactions, or just by being able to play the role of spectator, you just can't put a price on those experiences.

- Yeah, so Stephen, talk a little about barriers and obstacles that you might've faced as a younger journalist before you got opportunities that were about race and opportunity.

- I remember when I was an intern coming out of college and I thought I had an impeccable resume, and I was competing against thousands of students, and I missed out on the opportunity because the person's name was Allan, A-L-L-A-N and I spelt his name A-L-A-N, and I was immediately disqualified from that opportunity, and when you see experiences like that, I'd like to believe that, that person regrets not giving me the opportunity, but the reality of the situation is, is that if you're comparing it to other resumes that didn't make that common mistake, then they deserved the opportunity and I didn't.

And so when you talk about obstacles, you're talking about the need to make sure that you maneuver, you find out where the minefields lie, you find out how to maneuver your way through those minefields, you take stock of the obstacles and the barriers that are placed before you, being Black, being a Black man, being from an impoverished background, not having a proverbial silver spoon in your mouth, not necessarily knowing people well enough to you know, to ingratiate yourself in such a way that you've cultivated relationships that will span potentially a lifetime or at least your career, all of these things are things that you're learning and the classroom can't teach that to you, it can tell you about it, but it can't teach it, only practical experience gets out there, who you're communicating with, how you communicate with them, how do you present yourself?

How do you articulate whatever message that you wanna say?

When you go before somebody that is interviewing or talking to you, are you talking to them in a fashion that you're telling them the kind of things that would benefit them?

Or are you telling them the kind of things that would benefit you?

While you got your hand out for their help, who are you going to be more inclined to help?

Somebody that's looking to help you or somebody that's looking to help yourself, or looking to help themselves.

These are all the kinda things that you think about, but you don't think about nearly as much as you should when you're young, Black, impoverished, didn't have the connections to those people who are in the know, that could provide you the counsel, the tutelage so you don't make those kinda mistakes these are the kinda things that happen, that no one ever tells you and those are barriers in, and of itself, it's the barrier of the unknown and you gotta hope, and pray that you learn as much as you possibly can as early as you possibly can make it, while also hoping that you're lucky enough to run into somebody that will give you the benefit of the doubt because they understand what plight you're trying to fight through.

- Yeah, yeah.

Joe, just sitting here listening to Stephen talk about this, you know, it makes me think of all those barriers you all broke in 1975 and all the people who benefited from you breaking through those barriers.

- Well, there's two things that Stephen said that is to me just rings home so true.

Number one, as she spoke of a David Roberts and WGPR gave David Roberts his very first job, and he got his initial training, and so much about the success of the person depends on as Stephen has said, who you know, who gives you the opportunity and that's what WGPR did, it gave opportunities to many young journalists, as well as technicians and writers, and sales people who would not have been in the broadcast game, had it not been for William V. Banks, who is our intern legacy and is part of what we are celebrating in our event fundraiser come September 10th.

The enduring legacies of so many men and women who have laid the ground work, and a lot of other people step on their shoulders, and you know, David Roberts is a perfect example because I would not know Stephen A. Smith if it had not been for David Roberts, and David Roberts began with us as an intern, now he's a executive vice president of a major network and that shows you the impact of WGPR, and we're just so glad to speak (audio cutting out).

- Yeah.

All right, well congratulations on the fundraiser, of course congratulations on all the great work at that museum at WGPR, really is, it is mind blowing to walk through there and feel all the things that happened there, and see all the results up on the walls, and of course Stephen A., thanks for coming to town- - I'm looking forward to it.

- We're gonna have to have you come back on the show to talk about the Lions later this fall so- - You don't wanna do that.

(all laughing together) You don't wanna do that.

(audio cutting out) You wanna make sure you keep yourself in high spirits, you got a lot of things to look forward to in that city of Detroit, the Lions ain't one of em.

(laughing) - All right, thanks guys.

- Take care.

- Thank you.

- That is gonna do it for us this week, you can find out more about our guests at americanblackjournal.org and as always you can connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter, take care and we'll see you next time.