Orchestrator Harold Wheeler on Receiving the Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement, Reworking the Music of The Temptations & More

Harold Wheeler is not only a 2019 Tony nominee for his Ain't Too Proud orchestrations, he is also the newest recipient of a Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement for his incredible Broadway career. "It's very special," Wheeler said to Paul Wontorek in a recent interview on Broadway.com's #LiveAtFive about the recognition. 

Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award was such a shock to Wheeler that he didn't believe it at first. "I got a phone call a Sunda,y a week before the official announcement came out," Wheeler said. "I picked it up and it was the chairman of the American Theatre Wing saying I'm receiving the award and then there was silence on my end. They put Kenny Leon on, who is also on the committee and a friend, and I still haven't uttered a word. Kenny would not play a joke on me, so that's how I knew it was real. It's such an honor because I don't do this for any awards, I do it because I love it. To be recognized means the world to me."

Ain't Too Proud marks Wheeler's seventh nomination and 30th Broadway production, and he never gets tired of going to the theater. "My mother took me to the Muny in St. Louis from when I was seven years old up until I graduated from high school," he said. "She took me to every musical. My love for theater and understanding about how it all works started there." After falling in love with musicals, Wheeler got involved with it anyway he could, which eventually landed him his first Broadway gig. "I was accompanying a singer who was auditioning for Promises, Promises when [composer] Burt Bacharach heard me," he said. "The singer didn't get the job, but I started playing piano in the pit."

While Ain't Too Proud involves music of The Temptations, Wheeler still had to make the show stand on its own. "You have to honor what people are expecting to hear from The Temptations and stay true to the Motown sound, but this is not a record; this is a dramatic production," he said. "I hate that word 'jukebox musical.' I understand what it is, but I try to put drama into my orchestrations there's a point where I depart from anything Motown did because now we're focused on actors that are performing and a storyline that has a meaning."

Be sure to celebrate Wheeler's orchestrations by checking out Ain't Too Proud, now playing at the Imperial Theatre.

Watch the full #LiveAtFive interview below!