JERSEY BOYS
GETS A RAVE REVIEW
IN THE PALM BEACH POST
The West Palm Beach, FL engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning musical JERSEY BOYS began performances March 10 and opened March 12 at the Kravis Center where it will play through Sunday, March 28. JERSEY BOYS will next play Charlotte, NC’s Blumenthal Center from March 31 through April 18. The Palm Beach Post gave it a rave review:
‘Jersey Boys’ musical delivers full entertainment value
By Hap Erstein
Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. Four seasons, four consecutive narrators, four versions of the behind-the-scenes story of the uneasy rise, sudden success, constant ego battles and resentments of the pop music sensations, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
Sure, there have been plenty of backstage biographical musicals before, but few have the emotional impact of Jersey Boys, the 2006 Tony Award-certified Best Musical. Currently in residence at the Kravis Center through March 28, the national tour is well cast and as tightly staged and fluidly cinematic as the original Broadway production.
Of course, the show has the distinct advantage of a song trunk of Four Seasons hits — such soundtrack-of-our-lives numbers as Big Girls Don’t Cry; Walk Like a Man; My Eyes Adored You; Oh, What a Night; and on and on. But it is the who-knew back story told with humor and Garden State attitude by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice that lifts this evening far beyond just another jukebox musical.
Perhaps because they rose to prominence just before the media spotlight routinely exposed every dark recess of celebrities’ lives, the tale of these Jersey Boys unfolds with unexpected fascination. Complicating the group’s ascension are the financial mistakes, the marital strains, divisive side deals and personal tragedies that take their toll over time. As one of the group says in a don’t-judge-us-too-harshly aside to the audience, “Sell 100 million records and you see how you handle it.”
It takes quite a while for the quartet to settle on the right personnel, name and sound. Then, almost an hour into the first act, it all clicks into place with an explosive appearance on American Bandstand, as The Four Seasons and their high-pitched, nasal lead singer Valli deliver their career-making number, Sherry. From there, at least for a while, their upward climb is propelled by a string of hits, each with its four-part precision choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
Most of the show’s 33 songs are presented as nightclub act selections or live television performances. But a few are shoehorned into the show to further the narrative, like the plaintive Bye Bye Baby, sung by Valli as his daughter and then his girlfriend walk out of his life.
Reprising the role he played when Jersey Boys played the Broward Center last year, Joseph Leo Bwarie has the acting chops and freakish vocal range to be a very convincing Valli. Matt Bailey, Steve Gouveia and Ryan Jesse each get a turn relating the story as his back-up singers, with Bailey a standout as abrasive, irresponsible group originator Tommy DeVito.
Des McAnuff stages the show for maximum momentum, moving his 17-member cast around Klara Zieglerova’s Erector Set set crisply. Adding to the story’s impact and visual appeal are pop art projections by Michael Clark.
If only every Broadway tour took the production care that this show does, audiences would not be scratching their heads so often wondering what the hype was all about. Jersey Boys delivers in full on entertainment value. If you were not a Four Seasons fan going in, you will be by the end of the evening.
Click here to read the entire review:
The cast of JERSEY BOYS is lead by Matt Bailey (Tommy DeVito), Joseph Leo Bwarie (Frankie Valli), original Broadway cast member Steve Gouveia (Nick Massi), Ryan Jesse (Bob Gaudio), with Jonathan Hadley and Joseph Siravo.
The ensemble of JERSEY BOYS includes Michelle Aravena, Candi Boyd, Sarah Darling, Christopher DeAngelis, John Edwards, Graham Fenton, John Gardiner, Buck Hujabre, Leo Huppert, Denise Payne, Nathan Scherich, Brian Silverman, Courter Simmons, Ryan Strand, Kara Tremel and Kevin Worley.
JERSEY BOYS is the winner of the 2006 Best Musical Tony Award®, the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album and the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS is written by Academy Award-winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
JERSEY BOYS opened at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway to critical acclaim on November 6, 2005. The JERSEY BOYS National Tour opened to rave reviews in San Francisco on December 1, 2006, played a record-breaking run in Los Angeles and is still breaking house records in cities across North America. There are six current productions of JERSEY BOYS: New York, London, Las Vegas, Toronto, a US National tour, and Melbourne, Australia.
JERSEY BOYS is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. It’s a journey of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were thirty.
The Original Broadway Cast Recording of JERSEY BOYS was produced by Bob Gaudio, and was recently certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The cast recording is now available on Rhino Records. JERSEY BOYS: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (Broadway Books) is the official handbook to the smash Broadway hit.
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