Ruffin Tribute at Wiltern Falls Short of the Mark : Concert is a fast-moving and entertaining affair, but misses any real celebration of the singer.

What was missing from Saturday night’s tribute at the Wiltern Theatre to David Ruffin, the former lead singer of the Temptations who died of a drug overdose June 1, was the tribute.

Co-hosted by actor-director-comedian Robert Townsend and Dionne Warwick, the concert--to raise money for Ruffin’s family--also featured Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Dells.

It was a generally fast-moving and entertaining affair, but one thing was missing: any real celebration of Ruffin, the man or the artist--beyond performances of Temptations oldies.

Posthumous tributes to pop artists usually go too far in the other direction, ending up with an endless procession of pals delivering long, maudlin tributes. But at least you get a sense of the person. The only trace of that at the Wiltern was when Warwick made a short, eloquent statement about losing another artist to drugs.

There was an uncomfortable sense in the theater that people steered away from personal remarks because of the sad nature of Ruffin’s death. But you would have thought some of his buddies from the old Motown days might have said some good things about him and enlightened the younger members of the audience who knew little about him.

Musically, however, the 2 1/2-hour concert was a joyous, upbeat affair even though most of the time was devoted to largely unknown artists, including singer Tressa Thomas and comedian Eddie Griffin.

The “names” didn’t really get involved until near the end when the Dells delivered a polished half-hour set. Wonder and Knight were only involved in the finale, leading the entire cast in an emotional medley of Temptations oldies, including “My Girl” and “I’m Losing You.”

Another nagging problem with the show was all the emphasis on Townsend’s recent movie “The Five Heartbeats.” He trotted out just about every member of the cast and was constantly referring to the movie. This approach was somewhat relevant because the Heartbeats were partly based on the Temptations and the lead singer modeled after Ruffin. But there was simply too much Heartbeats and not enough Ruffin in the evening.