In the first national tour of “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations,” Broadway actor James T. Lane, 44, transforms into Paul Williams, the embattled original lead singer, and choreographer of the legendary Motown singing group. The tour will begin a six-day residency at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on March 8. Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, and winner for Best Choreography, “Ain't Too Proud” tells the thrilling story of brotherhood, family, loyalty, and betrayal, as the group's personal and political conflicts threatened to tear them apart during a decade of civil unrest in America.

For eight shows a week, the openly gay actor embodies the highs and lows of a tortured artist incapable of escaping his own demons. It’s a story that parallels a period in Lane’s life that makes his casting feel more like a divine assignment than an additional credit on an already impressive resume. From the moment he showed up to audition for the role, to belting out Williams’ signature song, “For Once In My Life,” Lane has been appointed for such a time as this.

“The final audition was an in-person audition in New York City at Pearl Studios and there was no one there for the role,” Lane says. “I don't know what was happening, but I was the only one there. I couldn't get through the song [“For Once In My Life”] in the audition without bursting out into tears because it just meant so much,” he said.

Since 2009, Kandi Burruss has opened up her life to millions of viewers across the country on the hit Bravo reality show The Real Housewives of Atlanta. But long before she became a crossover success, the Grammy award-winning producer was already a household name among Black audiences as a member of 90s R&B group Xscape. Over the last decade, Burruss has displayed her unwavering public support of the LGBTQ+ community on camera and off, endearing her to legions of Black LGBTQ+ fans—one of whom started as an admirer and has become a frequent collaborator and friend—queer recording artist and choreographer Victor Jackson.

Victor Jackson deserves your attention. Throughout much of the pandemic, the quadruple threat (singer, actor, choreographer, creative director) never stopped creating. Over the last year, Jackson has longed for the moment supporters of his latest EP, “Man. Muse. Magic.” could convene in the same space for a live performance absent the threat of COVID-19. On July 28, at Parlor, a Black-owned bar and performance space in downtown Atlanta, he partially got his wish. Jackson kicked off “Man. Muse. Magic. neat,” an intimate live performance residency scheduled to run once a month through November.

Xavier Logan, 18, wasn’t even an idea in his parent's mind when the legendary Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant said the famous line to a studio of hungry dancers in the beloved 80s dance series “FAME.” But for nearly a decade, Logan, an Atlanta native and recent North Springs Charter High School of the Arts & Sciences graduate has arrived at this moment through nothing less than sweat and determination, and it all appears to be paying off.

Lyrik London is not interested in being the token gay man for heterosexual consumption, nor is he interested in dimming his light, his strut, his speech, or his art to make others comfortable. To paraphrase the great Black lesbian poet Audre Lorde, he insists on defining himself for himself, rather than being crunched into other people’s fantasies and eaten alive.

Victor Jackson’s father tossed his first pair of ballet shoes into the trash. It was a failed attempt to derail his son’s desire to study dance, restrict access to what he believed to be queer affirming spaces, and to suppress a noticeably burgeoning queer identity. It didn’t work. But that didn’t stop his minister father from trying, nor did it extinguish Jackson’s fire for an artform that would catapult him into his purpose. When Jackson saw his ballet shoes in the trash, which were purchased at Goodwill and gifted to him by his babysitter, he said he knew that he’d be solely responsible for finding ways to receive the training he needed and to create ways to learn and to lean into his passion.