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‘Fear of 13’ Starring Adrien Brody in an Incredible Tour de Force
Based on the titular 2015 documentary directed by David Singon, The Fear of 13, directed by Davd Cromer is a prison drama with twists that upends easy assumptions. With Adrien Brody portraying Nick Yarris who spent years on death row. Brody is assisted by the wonderful Tessa Thompson as Jacki Miles, Yarris’ friend, confidante and spiritual lover until she isn’t. The two portray individuals who help each other and then acknowledge they must end their relationship because they have had enough of waking up to dreams that have no hope of manifesting. Currently, the play runs at the James Earl Jones Theater through July 12, 2026.
Written by Lindsey Ferrentino the production opens against a dark stage with a spotlight on Brody who speak as an everyman, Man 1. He discusses the nature of time’s variability: “a blisteringly fast thing, where in the blink of an eye – ten years are gone from your life, but the next week is agony.” “… then you look out the window …and it takes all day for the sun to go down…”
This theme about time relates to Brody’s Yarris who has an intimate, hyper-conscious knowledge of time as an inmate on death row. It is in this setting that we experience events through his perspective and the horrors of incarceration on the death row cell block in a prison in the state of Pennsylvania. On death row where time can’t be “done,” it exists in a state of suspension. On the one hand “time is of the essence,” as the appeals process runs for years and the men like Yarris wait for exoneration or execution. On the other hand, when the final result is achieved, it’s a matter of days to the inmate’s release or death.
We learn about Nick Yarris’ time constructs as the play unfolds and the lights come up on death row, Arnulfo Maldonado’s black, wall cell block with lights by designer Heather Gilbert suggesting the men housed behind the impassive doors closing out freedom. Against this backdrop, the plays events unfold in flashback as Nick Yarris relates his amazing story to Jacki Miles. Cromer stages various events in scenic vignettes with props (Tessa’s home, a pawn shop) but the bulk of the scenes take place against the dark, prison backdrop. Jack’s ability to speak to volunteer Jacki is one of the miraculous occurrences that happen to Nick, who was just out of teenagehood when he received his death sentence.
Ironically, the theme about time reflects the play’s pace. Toward the conclusion from Yarris’ perspective time slows to a crawl. But in the beginning time moves at a clip. Yarris relates events that Cromer theatricalizes when volunteer Jacki Miles visits and eventually has sessions with Yarris alone, becoming a friend. Cromer stages his visits with Jacki stylistically with minimal fan fare, as he stages Nick’s interactions with his appellate lawyer Beau Mullen (Victor Cruz) and others. Nick’s interactions in the prison setting are powerful and terrifying, thanks to Cromer’s direction and the ensemble’s superb acting.
During Nick’s one hour visits with Jacki, he tells her that death row used to be a place where they were buried alive, as Lieutenant Walker (Jeb Kreager) tells him, “you’re already dead.” The inhumanity he experiences is egregious and the play advocates for an end to the death penalty as punishment, as well as an end to the horror of the traumatic, abusive prison atmosphere and barely livable conditions. To make matters worse, when Nick first arrives, there is no redress; there is no communication between or among prisoners or others. When Nick is encouraged to speak by Walker after he’s told he can’t and Nick answers “yes” out of politeness, Walker punches him in the stomach.
Nick tells Jacki about the brutality and sadism of the guards who abuse the inmates to instill hopelessness and fear to keep them in line. He intimates the guards’ personal satisfaction at beating those who can’t fight back to bolster their “masculinity.” Of course the guards allow the prisoners to harm each other and don’t protect them.
When Nick describes a brutal murder he witnessed in the shower, Nick asks whether Jacki believes him. She hesitates. He tells her his assigned appellate lawyer Mullin didn’t believe him either. When Nick mentions he’s been waiting 7 months for the appeal process to begin, Mullin tells him coldly, “Before you go on, know that I am a Christian… and an officer in the U.S. Army, and so I fully support the death penalty.” Then Mullin tells Nick, “You are guilty due to overwhelming evidence.” The play turns into the abyss as we watch hope leave Nick and are swayed to believe Mullin’s comments that Nick raped and murdered a woman. Nick doesn’t speak or communicate to anyone for two years. Years later when Nick shares Mullin’s comment with Jacki, she leaves abruptly and we note she realizes she is speaking to a killer and a rapist. Why would she ever return?
However, she does. As Thompson’s Miles continues to visit Nick, though she questions herself, she drives miles to see him. Clearly, a bond forms and as a result Nick is able to tell her how everything changed when they found drugs in the music room and gay lovers Wesley and Butch, who were in the men’s choir, were moved into their cell-block temporarily. Brody’s Nick moves between the present with Thompson’s Jacki to the past as he relates the situation between Wesley (Ephraim Sykes) and Butch (Michael Cavinder). The scene is powerfully drawn and theatricalized, thanks to the superb acting by Sykes and Cavinder and the ensemble who sings creating a high point emphasizing how Nick’s hope is stirred. Even the guards change after the event. Communication is allowed and volunteers like Jacki are brought in.
The events well staged by Cromer are thrilling and more adventures follow as Brody actualizes Nick’s story and makes us hope that Nick, who says he is innocent, gets off on DNA evidence. Brody is mesmerizing, heartfelt, amazing. Thompson gives him a superb performance to exchange emotional resonance against. Brody conveys the extremity of emotions that Nick goes through with each encounter as he smashes into the penal system and shocked, we empathize with him. We learn how Nick is able to maintain his psychological well-being because he reads voraciously. It is his reading which brings his discovery in 1988 about DNA being used. Nick, tells Jacki he is innocent. And he affirms his innocence saying, “If DNA is getting people convicted, why can’t it get people released?” Then he tells Jacki, “I love you.”
The interaction is another turning point in a series of unexpected occurrences, one of which is Nick’s incredible escape during a sheriff’s transfer which the ensemble humorously activates. Unfortunately, the adventure ends up in Nick’s arrest and return to death row. But gradually, Nick reveals his life to Jacki and together they work to unravel “the evidence” that Mullin said was overwhelmingly against him, but which they find out is non-existent. Then, the action and events slow down to stasis. Mullin employs the use of DNA evidence and we understand that Mullin is right when he says the process can take a long time. But undeterred, Jacki’s and Nick’s love blossoms. She receives his calls from home and their hopes and anticipation lead to a marriage in prison.
The problem is neither Nick nor Jacki understand the import of Mullin’s words about the DNA process. And it is at this juncture when the play has been unfairly criticized for dropping its pace. At this point the themes about time’s variability apply and “ten years are gone from your life, but the next week is agony.” It is at this juncture that we realize how “it takes all day for the sun to go down.” We and the characters agonize. Yet, Nick cannot reveal his deepest secret to Thompson’s Jacki: the mystery of how and why he ended up doing drugs, getting kicked out of his house, stealing cars and getting arrested by a cop which led to his incarceration on death row. Sadly, she never finds out. But we do and in Nick’s revelation of trauma and darkness, his salvation comes.
The Fear of 13 runs 1 hour 50 minutes with no intermission through July 12 at the James Earl Jones Theater. thefearof13broadway.com.
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‘Ain’t Too Proud, The Life and Times of the Temptations’ is Just WOW!
Ephraim Sykes (kneeling) and the cast of ‘Ain’t Too Proud’ (Matthew Murphy)
At the Imperial Theatre for 2 and 1/2 hours, there are musical numbers and dance moves that will so send you into the realms of the fabulous, I doubt you will want to come down to earth. The magic, history, poignance and joy displayed by the production company creatives of Ain’t Too Proud, are bar none. The show is one of the best on Broadway.
Special accolades go to Des McAnuff for his seminal direction and staging and Sergio Trujillo for choreography. But the rising glory must land on the actors and ensemble responsible for the breathtaking portrayals of the “Classic 5 Temptations,” Derrick Baskin (as Otis Williams) James Harkness (as Paul Williams) Jawan M. Jackson (as Melvin Franklin) Jeremy Pope (as Eddie Kendricks) and Ephraim Sykes (as David Ruffin), not the least of which include those portraying the additional Temps. These are just fantastic, the “stuff that dreams are made of.”
By the conclusion of Ain’t Too Proud, I felt like I had spent time with loving family who passed, but for a moment were returned to me by an act of grace so I might delight in the music of a pivotal time in the tumultuous 1960s. Brought back to life by the astute genius and prodigious talents of the performers, one more uniquely magnificent than the other, each manifested the perfection of golden-voices and harmonies synced to fluid gestures.
Christian Thompson, Saint Aubyn, Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Derrick Baskin, and Jawan M. Jackson in ‘Ain’t Too Proud, directed by Des McAnuff (Matthew Murphy)
The story of The Temptations in Ain’t Too Proud (book by Dominique Morisseau based on the The Temptations by Otis Williams with Patricia Romanowski) is crucial to understanding our country’s vitality in progress through grinding work and sacrifice. And it is a reminder of how the human spirit can strive in the face of prejudice and discrimination to overcome and burgeon into greatness. The production highlights the personal sacrifice it took to be world renown, as Otis (Derrick Baskin) reveals very poignantly at the conclusion what happened in his life and in the lives of each of the “Classic 5.” And it is a story of possibilities, forgiveness and reconciliation.
Most importantly, Ain’t Too Proud is the chronicle of two individuals who united in a vision to transform The Elgins into The Temptations and ultimately crossover artists who would be play in London and other cities off US shores. Founder/organizer/creative genius in his own right, Otis Williams was the “engine who could.” He is still going strong as the last of the “Classic 5.” He is still creating and has established the 24th iteration of The Temptations whose name he owns. The other individual is Berry Gordy. He is the maverick, genius promoter, visionary of the Motown label who had more hits and strategies up his sleeve than Houdini (one of them was songwriter Smokey Robinson of The Miracles) coupled with an acute sense of the historical and cultural timing to create his own brand of
When Williams and Gordy met in the men’s room of a place where Gordy was scouting talent, Williams introduced himself and lightening struck. R & B, and the future of soul was indelibly made and both men’s destiny as well as the destiny of black people in our nation was shaped forever by these two future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers: Gordy in 1988, Williams in 1989 as a Temptation.
The cast of Broadway’s ‘Ain’t Too Proud (Matthew Murphy)
Motivated by money and the example of Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Gordy understood that one way to best racism was through music. He helped to make those who sported the Motown label (The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, The Commodores, Marvin Gaye, and so many more) ambassadors of good will. This was during a time when there was little good will to be had because of racial divisions and bigotry especially from those who embraced generational hatreds fomented by the Southern planter class. Jim Crow had even filtered to the North with redlining neighborhoods separating communities into wholly white or wholly black.
The planter class who lost their lucrative “peculiar institution” along with their place of gentrified greatness after the Civil War, whipped up the discriminatory sentiments of economically impoverished or working class whites. These wealthy brainwashed whites to believe they shared a common heritage in being “white.” The irony was, none of the wealthy ever sat down to eat with the economically challenged whites or associated with them in the same society or culture. They were kept far away in the “low rent districts” on the other side of the railroad tracks near the town dumps or sewage treatment plants.
When Gordy has the Temptations tour parts of the South and their bus is shot at and nearly stopped (if it had been they wouldn’t have made it to the next day) we see the extent of the Jim Crow hatreds. These echoes from the past unfortunately have currency for us today. The show reminds us that we have progressed, but must remain steadfast with what has been accomplished, which certainly The Temptations and Berry Gordy’s incredible vision helped to achieve.
Jeremy Pope and Candice Marie Woods (center) and the cast of ‘Ain’t Too Proud,’ directed by Des McAnuff (Matthew Murphy)
Ain’t Too Proud’s book by Dominique Morrisseau is based on the book The Temptations by Otis Williams with Patricia Romanowski. The show features the music and lyrics from “the legendary Motown Catalog.” These elements plus the grist and hard work to bring them together in one ineffable, miraculous meld make this a sensational production. As I walked out after the standing ovations, I saw folks still sitting in the audience either chatting excitedly or just staring off in delighted appreciation in awe at what they had just experienced.
What makes this such a sterling production is that the incredible performances of the “Classic 5” (Baskin, Harkness, Jackson, Pope, Sykes) are brought to life singing favorites in the chronological order of their growth and evolution. Otis Williams (Baskin) narrates this development, and we follow him as he leads us through the arc of their glory to become the #1 stars of the Motown label. The songs are recognizable. Some favorites include “Baby Love,” “Ball of Confusion” “For Once in My Life,” “Get Ready,” “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” “My Girl.” As Otis (Baskin is just gobsmacking as he weaves the threads through to the present day) relays each event in their various lives, we see the parallels with the appropriate songs.
Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Derrick Baskin (forground) Jawan M. Jackson, and James Harkness in ‘Ain’t Too Proud,’ directed by Des McAnuff, book by Dominique Morisseau, based on the book ‘The Temptations’ by Otis Williams with Patricia Romanowski (Matthew Murphy)
So special is this song selection that pegs the songs to the emotional resonance of the group’s life situations! When we hear the backstory or see the dynamic of their personal relationships, the songs vibrate with energy and transcendence. This is powerfully effected with “Cloud Nine,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” and “War.”
Another thrilling element of the production is its retrospective of the 1960s, and how through the reflection of music, our culture and history changed forever. Music and transformation was mirrored during the 1960s movements, The Civil Rights and Peace Movements, as well as the Cultural and Sexual/Gender Revolution. The songs parallel, symbolize and manifest that time. Their lyrics and beauty, however, are for all time.
(L-R) Derrick Baskin, Jawan M. Jackson, Jeremy Pope, James Harkness, and Ephraim Sykes (front) in ‘Ain’t Too Proud,’ directed by Des Manuff (Matthew Murphy)
The director Des McAnuff folds in The Temptations’ viewpoints about Detroit’s unrest, Martin Luther King’s assassination and the rise of drugs which were flooding college campuses and spreading like a flood in all parts of the music scene. The film clips and projections of the Detroit riots, the marches, the King Jr. assassination are integral to the story of the Temptations.
Primarily, the show is a loving encomium for the “Classic 5” Temptations who were the founders of the original chart-busting group. It is also a reveal about how the genius of Motown and the transcendent talents of these five prodigiously hard-working performers shaped cultural attitudes against racism and prejudice at a time when the South was still lynching blacks, and when assassinations of Malcolm X, the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. rocked the nation, fomenting profound sadness and hopelessness.
Through all of it, is the ineffable sound of this group and its add-ins as some left and others came back. After a decade out on their own, Kendricks (Pope) and Ruffin (Sykes) returned to perform. All the while The Temptations soared to Top 100 charts and even bested The Supremes’ position at Motown. Their music was the golden thread that transformed national attitudes toward race and reinforced that as citizens we can be decent. The Temptations drew opposing sides away from polar extremes. They encouraged that the shared love of R & B can take us beyond division and hatred.
Special kudos go to Orchestrations by Harold Wheeler and Music Direction and Arrangements by Kenny Seymour. Recognition also goes to Robert Brill (Scenic Design) Paul Tazewell (Costume Design) Howell Binkley (Lighting Design) Steve Canyon Kennedy (Sound Design) Peter Nigrini (Projection Design) and other creatives whose collaborations make the production a smash hit out of the park.
Ain’t Too Proud is at The Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street). This must-see show runs with one intermission. For tickets go to their website by CLICKING HERE.
CAROLE DI TOSTI 