The Temptations join the Rhode Island Philharmonic for a pops concert Saturday at PPAC.

The Temptations’ show tomorrow with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Pops Orchestra promises to be a glorious re-creation of the classic Motown sound. It’ll include not only the voices of the current lineup of the legendary vocal group, but the Philharmonic playing the gorgeous arrangements of masterful producing and arranging individuals and teams such as Whitfield and Strong, Holland-Dozier-Holland and Dave Van de Pitte on songs such as “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Just My Imagination” and “I Wish It Would Rain.”

To those who have become sadly accustomed to the canned and synthesized re-creations of orchestral sounds, particularly strings, that road economics make necessary these days, the show has been circled on the calendar for weeks, if not months. The people who are putting the show together haven’t had the time for that kind of anticipation.

Temptations musical director Bob Farrell will rehearse with the orchestra at about 1 p.m. tomorrow. “We bring the music in with us on the day of the gig … just like we come in with the horn parts on the day of the gig.”

They’ll go for about three hours, and that’s about it.

Along with the rhythm section of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, The Temptations’ usual show calls for a 10-piece horn section that’s hired locally and learns the music before the show. For this show, along with the trumpet, saxophone and trombone parts that the band usually travels with, the arrangement book has parts for first and second violin, cello, viola, French horn, flute, piccolo and clarinet.

Farrell, 57, says that the group’s work with orchestras is on an upswing. He was with The Temptations from 1992 to 1996, and they’d do an orchestra show a couple of times a year. Farrell rejoined last April, and by his anniversary the group will have done four such gigs.

In the regular show, without strings, Farrell and another keyboard player will handle not only keyboard parts but synthesized string parts. With a real orchestra in place, Farrell says his duties will mostly be limited to conducting and “a few acoustic piano things.”

Getting it together sounds like a daunting task. Along with the original arrangements from the records, Farrell says, the Temptations’ book has parts that have been added over the years by Farrell and his predecessors. “You’ve got 10 horn players sitting there at the show, so you should have something for them to do on 90 percent of the songs, anyway.” And, in order to fit in all the hits and a few new songs, there are two medleys in the set list, according to Farrell. So turning to the records to find out how many verses come before the bridge, or how many choruses before the solo, will be of limited value.

None of this fazes the Philharmonic players, says principal trumpeter Joe Foley.

Foley, who lives in Wellesley, Mass., and is in his 17th year with the Philharmonic, has played with The Temptations before, including in Boston at the Fleet Pavilion, and played with the Philharmonic at their other recent pops shows, including the Beach Boys Christmas show in 2005. He says this sort of thing happens all the time.

“When you first start playing in orchestras,” Foley says, “you’re shocked by that.” The conservatory aesthetic of classical music gets a player into the mindset that “you practice for a month before you do a concert.”

In the real world, Foley says, that’s not the case. Players are running from gig to gig and group to group, so the ability to sight-read impeccably and play together in unfamiliar settings and pairings is paramount. He quotes a recording engineer he met several years ago who said, “It’s not that other people can’t do the job; it’s that we can do it right the first time.”

The Temptations and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Pops Orchestra will perform Saturday night at the Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St., Providence, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $68 and $38; call (401) 421-2787 or go to www.ppacri.org.

rmassimo@projo.com