As you can imagine, Broadway has been hit hard by the pandemic with shows closed for months and likely to remain so until next summer at the earliest. So how did this show come to be? The host, Tiny Fey, certainly had a lot to do with it.

Not only has she starred in two hit shows for NBC (Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock), she is also the writer of the book for the musical, Mean Girls, based on the 2004 film she wrote and starred in along with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The musical was still running when Broadway was shut down.

Amongst the musicals being represented in One Night Only are Ain’t Too Proud–The Life and Times of The Temptations, Chicago, Jagged Little Pill, Diana: The Musical, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls and Rent.

Diana: The Musical has yet to open on Broadway. Rent hasn’t been on Broadway since 2008. Jersey Boys is off-Broadway after concluding its Broadway run. The latter two shows remain amongst the most popular shows of all-time.

Cast members from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will also appear.

Joining Fey in the two-hour broadcast are Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Antonio Banderas (A Chorus Line in Spain), Lance Bass (Hairspray), Kristen Bell (The Crucible), Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sutton Foster (Anything Goes), Peter Gallagher (On the Twentieth Century), Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sunday in the Park with George), Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises), Ron Cephas Jones (Of Mice and Men), Patti LaBelle, Nathan Lane (The Producers), Camryn Manheim (Spring Awakening), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill), Jerry O’Connell (A Soldier’s Play), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Mary-Louise Parker (The Sound Inside), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), John Stamos (Bye Bye Birdie), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl), Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge – The Musical), Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Play), Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods) and Susan Kelechi Watson (A Naked Girl on the Appian Way).

The show will raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway airs at 8:00 PM local times.

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Trujillo, was Tony nominated for this choreography for On Your Feet! (now at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa through September 2nd.) In addition to Jersey Boys, he has choreographed such shows as Summer (the currently running Donna Summer musical on Broadway), Leap of Faith and Memphis.

When The Temptations were rising up the charts, Charles “Cholly” Atkins (with assistance from Paul Williams) did the group’s relatively basic choreography. Trujillo knew that wouldn’t be enough to sustain a Broadway show.

“It was important to create my own version of how The Temptations danced,” he says by phone after a rehearsal for the upcoming touring production of A Bronx Tale (playing the Pantages November 6-25). “Knowing full well the responsibility I have to make sure that I pay homage to them and do justice to the genius that was Charlie and to some degree Paul Williams. Those were big shoes to fill. The show has to sustain 2-1/2 hours and every time I go up to bat with a number, that particular number has to have its own style, its own signature. Basically I’m creating, number for number, each one has vision and conceit.”

Even though the demands of the show require something bigger than what The Temptations did themselves, Trujillo can’t fully ignore their history either. “I made a decision right form the top that basically I was going to do one number in the entire show that would be close to what they did. And the rest of it would be what Sergio would do as a choreographer of The Temptations. Some of this stuff was corny. It was of the period; wonderful and evocative. But looking at it through the lens of 2018, dance has come a long way. I made an effort to use their inspiration as a platform for me to create my own version of their platform.”

Apparently Trujillo did something right. “Otis told me, ‘I’m borrowing a couple of your steps.'” Otis is Otis Williams, one of the founding members of The Temptations. They are on tour supporting their new album, All The Time. The Temptations have multiple stops in Southern California including one at The Rose in Pasadena on September 13th and at The Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on September 15th.

Trujillo doesn’t call shows like Summer, The Jersey Boys or Ain’t Too Proud jukebox musicals, but rather “autobiographical” musicals. “We’re taking the lives of these groups and putting them on stage. A jukebox musical is where you take a group of songs and put a story around it.”

In his mind what separates Ain’t Too Proud from other “autobiographical” musicals is the book by writer Dominique Morriseau (Skeleton Crew.) “I think the thing I admire most about the book that Dominique has written is how authentic it is. And the soul she has put into it. She has infused it with history and the truth of the culture and the pain that…all of the things that this particular group of five men have gone through to become The Temptations and how Otis has persevered to go through. It has heart and authenticity.”

That authenticity is also what makes Trujillo believe that the show is very topical. “Have we really changed? Have we really made progress? I don’t know. Last summer we were at Berkeley in previews and there was that White Supremacist March that was going on and I’m coming to rehearsal and there are SWAT teams near City Hall two blocks from the theatre. When we’re dealing with this tension in the country and we’re dealing with it on stage from 50-60 years ago, have we really? That’s what makes it different and makes it relevant.”

Photo from “Ain’t Too Proud” by Doug Hamilton

Images of Sergio Trujillo courtesy of Sergio Trujillo

Update:  This post has been updated to include the announcement of a Broadway booking for the show at the Imperial Theatre in New York for the Spring of 2019. No other details are available at this time.

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I recently spoke with Young who was refreshingly candid and not afraid of talking about the pros and cons of a career that, so far, has been primarily defined by that one role. But if it comes with some baggage, it also appears to come with plenty of rewards.

In Stephen Holden’s New York Times review of your show at Café Carlyle in 2016 he said, “For all the security that Jersey Boys gave Mr. Young – he could presumably have a career singing Four Seasons hits ad infinitum – that musical style loomed as a musical straitjacket. He has successfully freed himself.” Did you feel straitjacketed by your success with the show?

I wouldn’t say straitjacketed. My eyes were wide open. I definitely understood that there was the risk of being associated with something so huge. There was the risk of running into Yul Brynner territory with that character. But, everyone knows Yul Brynner. I consider myself fortunate to be so closely attached to something forever. In the musical world you could be associated to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” or “Itsby Bitsy Teenie Weenie Polka Dot Bikini.” It could be a lot worse. This was a feather in my quiver, but where do you go from here?

Let me ask you your own question then. Where do you go from there?

Everyone who has some passing association with Jersey Boys is doing a Jersey Boys tribute show. I’m the only one now going in a different direction and I made it difficult for myself in some regard. I’ve been able to do my own songs and covers of other work. I’m always going to cover some Jersey Boys songs. Just like when you see Patti LuPone, you’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t sing from Evita.  I have songs that are Jersey Boys-adjacent: The Platters, Roy Orbison, so if they come with Jersey Boys on the brain, they will certainly get that flavor, but I can also spin off into other directions.

What expectations did you have for you career after winning the Tony Award and did what followed meet your expectations?

What else can you feel but unbridled joy when everything is going the way you wanted? But even in the midst of it, I’m a very different person than the impression that people got from my playing a character who had an 8th grade education. I’m saying this with humility, as an introduction to an anecdote. I was so convincing that I was this kid from Jersey that once I was in a restaurant and people were in the booth next to me and they were talking about Christian Hoff. [He played Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys.] “That guy earned his Tony, he was acting. That other kid is just a kid from Jersey.” Someone is insulting me and complimenting me and not realizing it. [Young was born in Sacramento.] I came up in off-Broadway with avant garde stuff. Spring Awakening was the kind of aesthetic that got me excited. I was doing do-wop. It was confusing for me.

How long did it take for you to get out from under Jersey Boys?

Years later a lot of interesting things happened. I developed a vital and successful art career. I made my own album [My Turn] and have gone into clubs with a successful club career. I was a member of The President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities during the Obama administration. These are things that were unexpected. I went into another direction. Sometimes it was lonely, but it was definitely rewarding.

The show you are doing on Saturday is called Introducing John Lloyd Young. What does that ultimately mean in the context of this performance?

I’ve evolved this set over time where I touch on Jersey Boys, but also give the audience a sense of who I am – which is a singer who can do a lot of different styles and is very steeped in the interpretation of lyrics. My main influence was Sinatra growing up and he was a real interpreter. I really get under the lyrics. I feel this is the perfect stage to call it an introduction to me.

Your first appearance in Los Angeles was back in 2008 when Lea Michele had her show at Upright Cabaret. She brought you on stage to do a little battle of Sondheim songs. I can’t remember for the life of me what she did, but I know you sang “Multitudes of Amys,” a song written for Company. What are your memories of that night?

It was rapturous getting to sing with Lea at that point and also just playing an LA club for the first time. I was new then. It was exciting to me. I’m a Sondheim fan – always have been.

In April this year you did a press event at 54 Below where you talking about Broadway singers being asked to do a 2-1/2 hour take straight through. What motivated that comment and do you feel like there isn’t enough respect for Broadway performers today?

We know discipline. We show up on time and we do our job. We don’t peter out on the 20th take. I did 1300-1400 performances of Jersey Boys. If you can sustain a performance for 2.5 hours and then you show up on set and you are only doing 2 pages per day – it’s a walk in the park for someone with theatre training. We have chops and discipline. You are showing up live every day and you have to give the 1000th performance the same energy you gave on the first performance. [Director] Des McAnuff taught me a really great lesson – and I’m probably most grateful to him for this lesson. It’s obvious. He said, “Every time you get up on stage, it’s their anniversary, their birthday, their first time at a show. It’s a big experience for them. You can’t walk through a show when you are a special occasion for somebody.” And I’ve never forgotten that.

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