The Broadway season is in full swing in Durham, and I took in another musical this week. This time I was seated to the right and in the middle tier of the theater. The audience for this one skewed even older than last time, but I expected that since the show was about a group of singers who reached the height of their fame in the 60s and 70s. The show was Ain’t Too Proud, the story and music of the Temptations.

I only knew a few of the songs and even less of the story. This was a true story, but it was hardly less melancholic and morose than the fictionalized one set to Bob Dylan music that I watched in January. It was actually a little jarring to have this story so interwoven with tragedy set to the music of the power ballads and love songs that made the group so famous.

The most impressive thing about the production itself was the number of costume changes that the main actors made during the show. Never mind the dance moves or the singing skills that I don’t have; I don’t think I’d be able to change clothes fast enough to make it in a show like that one. Watching is sufficient for me.

As for more substantive reflections, a line stuck with me and I felt the need to write about it specifically. “Don’t nothin’ rewind but a song.” The line was a motif of the production as the narrator expressed a few of his own regrets. Given my focus on adding activities to my life right now (something almost every night though I’m not sure how long that trend will last), it may be odd that that’s the lasting impression I took from the performance. Nonetheless I’ve been turning that line over and over in my own mind and have decided to interpret it as a warning. It’s well-timed in the midst of this season. Dwelling too long on the places where I didn’t make a home before isn’t going to help me make a home here. Only making a home here is going to help that.