#BlackStarPower - Michael Andreaus joins The Day With Trae to talk about his role in Ain’t Too Proud

Michael Andreaus and Trae Holiday in the Black Media Matters Studio. Andreaus joined The Day With Trae on Wednesday.

Michael Andreaus, who plays Otis Williams in Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, joined Trae Holiday on The Day With Trae to discuss his acting career and what is so special to him about this role.

“I grew up singing locally, but it wasn’t until I saw Dream Girls in the theater that I realized I could have a role in the industry,” Andreaus said. “I was never exposed to musical theater, I didn't really think it was something that I could make a living at. Then I saw Eddie Murphy and Beyonce and Jamie Foxx up on the screen singing and dancing and I was like, oh, maybe this is it. Like maybe this is something that I can do.”

Andreaus went back to school and got a degree in Musical Theatre at the University of Central Oklahoma before moving to New York and embarking on the journey that has led him to be part of a nationally touring cast with Ain’t Too Proud.

“It was about a two year audition process for me to get to be a part of this production. First I played Berry Gordy and was covering Otis, and now I get to play Otis every night and tell this story with all these amazingly talented performers,” Andreaus said. “I just love it.”

The role itself is unique in musical theater, and Andreaus says he feels the responsibility that comes with it but is excited by its scope.

“It's not very often in musical theater and the arts in general that you get to tell somebody's full life story,” Andreaus said. “Getting the opportunity, there's such a weight of responsibility that comes with that with with telling the story and telling it well every single night.”

Andreaus says he played the role about 40 times per year before taking it over officially, and now he plays it 8 times a week. Through that experience, he’s been impacted by the full scope of Williams’s life experiences, saying that often we put celebrities on a pedestal but at the end of the day it was a very difficult existence for Williams and the rest of The Temptations.

“Especially in that time, there were a lot of people that didn't want to see them succeed. There were a lot of forces at play in navigating the South and segregation and one of the main goals of Motown was to really integrate music and just make it music,” Andreaus said. “It was to not to have it separated into the Black charts and the White charts, but really to make it just about bringing people together with that music.”

He said seeing how Williams dealt with things he relates to and has lived as well is impactful.

“I’m realizing that these were just men who were doing the best with what they had and dealing with a lot of the same things that we still unfortunately face today,” Andreaus said.

Andreaus said the participating how has been an incredibly powerful experience, and he loves his castmates and the work they put together every night.

“I think that what makes it great is that you don't have to pretend to be anybody else,” Andreaus said. “You just step into the circumstances of the show and of these men's lives, and hope that what you bring to it resonates with the crowd.”

The show features an up-tempo and wide open look at the life and times of the legendary group. It is currently running until February 5th. You can get tickets here