Get ready! Cause he’s on his way! Get ready! Cause here he comes! And here he comes— Elijah Ahmad Lewis— in the role of David Ruffin currently on The National Tour of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we were given an opportunity to have a phone conversation with the multi-award-winning singer/songwriter and Broadway performer to discuss his experience with The Temptations musical.

Thank you so very much for giving us some of your time today; I’m really honored to get a chance to chat with you! What is it about The Temptations as a group that made you want to be a part of their biopic musical?

Elijah Ahmad Lewis: They’re the number one R&B group ever. I think that it’s a story that needs to be told. It’s a story that a lot of people bypass. The Temptations are still touring right now, which is pretty amazing. They just released a new album, celebrating their 60^th anniversary of being The Temptations. I feel like this story is a true American story. You have a dream, you put your mind to it, you try to go achieve it, you achieve it, and you succeed. And there are things that happen along the way in that story that are part of life. They prevailed. They pushed through all the tough times that they had, as a group and individually, and in society, being black men in society and in entertainment, especially during those troubled times of the war and segregation. I think that it’s just very remarkable how they pushed through. Even today they’re still pushing through so to tell their story is quite an honor.

How is David Ruffin, the character that you’re playing in this tour of Ain’t Too Proud, how is he different or similar to both roles that you’ve done previously and to yourself as a person and as an entertainer? How are you similar, how are you different, and what has this experience of portraying a real-life historical person been like for you?

Elijah: My entire Broadway career has been playing icons. This is my second Broadway show. The first one was Motown: The Musical where I played Stevie Wonder. This time around it’s Ain’t Too Proud and it’s David Ruffin. David Ruffin is the ultimate showman. He is in those elite categories of the greatest showmen of all time. And I am a performer, I’m an entertainer, I’ve been in entertainment since I was seven. Being in front of people or leading things and being the lead or the director of something, that’s a similarity that we have. I am a showman too. I am a front man. I think the unique part about playing David Ruffin is there is a lot of stigma; there is a lot of spotlight on the down part of his life. A lot of people focus on him being a villain or him being uneasy to work with or the drugs that came into play. I, as an actor and as a black African-American man in entertainment, I want to put a spotlight on his humanity.

 He was a human. Like all of us are. We all have situations, we all have things that we go through, we all have things that we are challenged with but because he was a front-man and because he was the icon that he was, a lot his stuff was put on display in front of millions of people. I feel like he is the same— just like us— but if we were in his position and our stuff was put on display like that too? It would be the exact same thing. There’s a part of me that wants people to give David Ruffin the proper grace and respect that he deserves. Through telling this story, I hope that I can shed a light on the other half of his life and the other side of his life— him being a comedian, him being a jokester, him loving his brothers. He loved those men. He loved them so much and so deeply. It’s interesting because around that time, all the things that he went through— how he grew up, how the cards were delt to him— it wasn’t his fault. It was just an era where they didn’t have the help that we have now, where you can go to a therapist or you can go get help for certain things. They had to figure all that out on their own while being these teenage stars.

It’s so easy for people say “Oh, David’s the villain” or “David’s the bad-ass” or whatever they think. I just want people to understand that he’s just like you and me. He was one of the greatest showmen of all time and I would just like for people to put respect on his name.

And I have to say, Ephraim Sykes, who originated this role on Broadway, is an amazing showman and front-man himself. And we’ve been friends for years and also did Motown together. Even with how he originated this role and how they built this— I want to respect and pay homage to what he’s brought to the table too— and bring a little spice of my own to it. Dominique Morisseau, who wrote this show, has made this show so eloquently and poetically great in that it can stand alone as a straight play. It can do anything because of how well she wrote this book. Her working with Otis (original member of The Temptations Otis Williams) and having the opportunity to still be able to speak to him and call him and he tells stories, a lot of the backstory and stuff you just can’t get on google. I think we’re very blessed and fortunate and I think everyone should come and see the show to be able to pay respect to all of that.

What would you say has been your biggest challenge in playing this living icon of David Ruffin?

Elijah: Kind of the same thing that I said before, that people don’t focus on the negative parts of him. Of course, we have to tell the story because that’s a part of the story, but that shouldn’t’ be the focus. It should be an enlightenment and an insight of how this happened and how it took him to where he is while also recognizing that he still stuck it out without having the proper resources to elevate himself above the situation or to get through things properly. I think that he’s an incredible man. I’ve heard so many stories about him. I’m close friends with his son, David Ruffin Jr. I’ve reached out to him during this process because first of all, he bares his name. And there are things that they know that I don’t and I just wanted to make sure that— as you said— playing this living icon is not fictional. That I was doing the absolute justice that I could to and for them and for everyone that sees this show.

What is the moment in the show that really defines what the essence of the show is for you?

Elijah: I think that this show is very unique because it is the only Broadway show at this moment that is telling a true, authentic story about what’s still happening today. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you see the identical parallels. There’s a scene in the show where we’ve just finished a TV show— I don’t want to give too much away—

Is this the bus scene?

Elijah: Yes. The bus scene— it’s a very short moment in the show, but it is so loaded. And it is things that happen today and things that have happened to me in my personal life, being an African-American male, that I can relate to this. This is something that we are hoping that— yes, you’re being entertained by this amazing music and by our Tony Award-winning moves by [choreographer] Sergio Trujillo, but also— it’s a history lesson that what’s happening today is not the first time. And as African-American people we have been sustaining this and dealing with this for years and years. And all we want people to understand when they see this show is that I am just as much alike like you. And the thing that brings us together is the universal language, which is music.

Speaking of the music, do you have a song that really just gets to you on a personal level every night that either gets your spirits elevated or really grounds you in the show or that is the song that makes the show for you?

Elijah: This will sound very cliché, but “My Girl”. That was the number one that put them on the map, and especially once Ruffin came into the group after the first lead had left. It’s such an iconic song and to sit on the stage and to sing the song and watch people in the audience go down memory lane— just to see their faces glow up— this was the type of music that was the soundtrack to America’s life. You can remember where you were, who you were with, what the smell was, what you were wearing; it’s just that kind of feel good music that we have the pleasure of letting people remember. And I would say the other song, the one I like to perform, is the title song, “Ain’t Too Proud.”

There are some very flashy costumes in this show. Which is your favorite ‘Ruffin’ outfit to wear for the performance?

Elijah: Oh I have a few! Paul Tazewell, who incredibly did our costumes, has given me some great pieces. I like my super-star outfit, which is this white-studded, bell-bottom suit that I wear at a specific point in the show after I get released from the group— but I’m not going to give away too much about that! I also love this outfit that I wear at the top of Act II. We go through several decades throughout the show. The top of the show is the late 70’s almost early 80’s where everything was flashy and lapels were long, bell-bottoms were over your shoes and leather— it was wild. All the costumes in the show are quite amazing. This show is great about the music and great about the story but it also shows this history line of African-Americans in fashion through the years, showing what we did with clothes to bring us up in society where people didn’t think we fit in.

If David Ruffin was still alive and you could ask him one question, what would you ask him?

Elijah: That is an amazing question. I have so many questions in my brain and I’m trying to narrow it down. I would ask him a question that I get asked a lot. I get asked this question a lot because of how long I’ve been in the industry and because of all the ups and downs of the industry. I would ask him— if you had to do it all over again, would you? And if you had to do it all over again, would you change anything?

The interesting part about life is the challenges that we go through are really lessons and tests for later parts of our life or to prepare us for something down the line. I get asked that question all the time. And my response is, “Yes, I would do it all over again but I would not change anything in my life.” Every downfall or lowest moment that I’ve had has made me better to where I am now. And I’m not sure if I didn’t learn those lessons that I would be the same, grounded person that I am now. Now, in his case, he passed away— which is why I would be very curious toward his answer.

What has been your biggest personal learning lesson from this experience on the road with Ain’t Too Proud in the role of David Ruffin? What has your big, personal takeaway been here.

Elijah: Life is only what you make it. And you cannot get the second, minute, or hour before back. So what are you going to do with this moment? Looking over this show and knowing their history and how quickly it went, you wonder if you took a mental stamp or time stamp of these amazing moments as they happened. That goes for The Temps winning The Grammys, the concerts, the tours, the albums, the accolades. And it’s the same with this tour. Sure it’s amazing to be a lead and a principal telling this story, meeting people, and doing all of this stuff— and our Broadway schedule is very strenuous on top of it. It’s eight shows a week, you get one day off and that day normally turns into a travel day if you’re going from city to city every week. And you’re just going with the motions of what you know you should do, but you need to make sure you’re taking the time to live in the moment that is present.

What is the big thing that you hope audiences are going to take away from seeing Ain’t Too Proud?

Elijah: This may be very loaded and probably political, but I would like the audience to walk away knowing that African-Americans don’t have a problem with any other race. We love just as much as you love. We’re like you just as much as you’re like us. So we should keep it that way. And Barry Gordy always says “the truth is a hit” and he wanted to make ‘feel-good’ music. When they had those quality-control meetings about songs before they were released, they were measuring how true it is and how much it was universal. And that’s why everyone loved the music. Because it wasn’t race music. It’s not black music or white music; it was music that made everyone feel good. That’s why music is the universal language. So I want people to leave at the end of the show, knowing that we are more alike than we are different.

If you have to sum up the Ain’t Too Proud experience in just one word, what word would you use:

Elijah: Timeless.  

Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations plays through May 8, 2022, at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre in the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center— 12 N. Eutaw Street in the Bromo Seltzer Arts District of Baltimore, MD. For tickets call the box office at (410) 752-7444 or purchase them purchase them online.

To read the TheatreBloom 5-star review, click here.