Why does "Jersey Boys" succeed - and
it does, exuberantly - when most
jukebox musicals have been a pain in
the Broadway butt?
For starters, the creators of the
show about Frankie Valli and The
Four Seasons don't just love this
blue-collar DNA-pop music from the
'60s. Authors Marshall Brickman and
Rick Elice, director Des McAnuff and
choreographer Sergio Trujillo
obviously also understand why they
love these dopey romantic lyrics
with the simple song structures, the
gorgeous harmonic blends and the
immaculate yet easygoing doo-wop
beat.
Unlike the dim-bulb shows that use
made-up stories as excuses to plug
in hits by Elvis or the Beach Boys,
this one is a straightforward
biography of the group that defined
a slick, street sound. Unlike the
recent John Lennon bio, "Jersey
Boys" doesn't get artsy with the
material or overly selective about
history. Nor is this a sanitized,
glitz-revue in the tainted tradition
of the long-running "Smokey Joe's
Café."
JERSEY BOYS TICKETS BROWSE OR BUY ONLINE
Although the Seasons' story has the
celebrity genre's usual
rise-and-fall trajectory, there is
no plane crash or drug overdose by a
primary player, no victimization by
the Man or The Beatles, no
tumultuous trouble with strong drink
and weak women.
So this is an upper kind of downer
story. Each of the four guys has a
chance to narrate his own idea of
the glory days of falsetto-highs
with "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't
Cry," "Walk Like a Man" and "Rag
Doll." The worst thing that happens
involves tax evasion and gambling
debts accumulated by Tommy DeVito,
the hustler who found Frankie at 15
and put the group together. Besides,
Christian Hoff plays him with such
sweet grandiosity that, really, it
is hard to process the impact of his
irresponsibility.
And most of all, we always have
Frankie, embodied by John Lloyd
Young with unpretentious
street-corner swagger and just the
right nice-guy ambitions. Young also
happens to have a voice that can be
buzzy and rough in the middle
registers and fly with the beat of
pubescent hearts in falsetto.
JERSEY BOYS TICKETS BROWSE OR BUY ONLINE
Sure, this is clone theater,
note-by-note coverage of songs that
combine soapy, commercial sounds
with the deep-leaning pulse of a
pre-counter-cultural parallel
universe in which pop groups wore
suits and skinny ties and nobody
discussed Vietnam.
McAnuff keeps the show from feeling
animatronic. Things are pleasantly
underproduced. Klara Zieglerova's
set is mostly a chain fence, a metal
catwalk and lots of colored lights.
Occasionally, a projection of one of
those ripoffs of Roy Lichtenstein
cartoons will show a woman in tears
- useful bits of emotional subtext
for a male-driven show in which
women are peripheral scolds and
bimbos.
Daniel Reichard manages to be both
part of the group and above it as
Bob Gaudio, who knows T.S. Eliot but
still writes hit songs that make
"Cry" into three syllables. J.
Robert Spencer brings an outsider
dignity to Nick Massi, who feels
like "the Ringo" of the group. Peter
Gregus seems surprisingly gay for
the era as producer Bob Crewe, whose
contribution as lyricist is glossed
over. Gangsters are credible and
there is even a guy playing the real
Joe Pesci.
JERSEY BOYS TICKETS BROWSE OR BUY ONLINE
There are a few lines - about
flyovers and day jobs - that sound
too contemporary. Otherwise,
Brickman, screenwriter for "Annie
Hall" and a head writer for Johnny
Carson, makes us believe the guys
are speaking for themselves. And
Trujillo's choreography finds the
joy in unisons of pumping elbows and
snapping fingers-best of all,
without a wink of parody.
JERSEY BOYS TICKETS BROWSE OR BUY ONLINEIf you need Jersey Boys tickets for the August Wilson
Theatre, then you’ve come to the right place!
tixx.com
has a great selection of Broadway show tickets. This Tony
Award winning hit musical has been selling out and getting
great reviews, so order your Jersey Boys show tickets today.
Tickets to see
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were always hard to come by
when these legends took the stage, and now they are back in the
Broadway hit Jersey Boys; since opening last year at the August
Wilson Theatre, Jersey Boys has been packing them in and tickets
have been going fast.
tixx.com
has Jersey Boys tickets right now.
This musical is billed as the “story 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 - Frankie
Valli and The Four Seasons. They wrote their own songs, invented
their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all
before they were 30!” These guys would put bands like ‘N Sync
and the Backstreet Boys to shame. The New York Post raved that
Jersey Boys is “too good to be true! It’s terrific. The cast is
just plain wonderful.” So take a trip back to the 1960s to hear
hits like “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Oh What a Night.”
Get your Jersey Boys show tickets today.
Jersey Boys stars John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli,
Christian Hoff as Tommy DeVito, Daniel Reichard as Bob Guadio
and J. Robert Spencer as Nick Massi. Although they are all
relative newcomers to Broadway, they have been winning over
audiences and critics alike.
tixx.com
has the best Jersey Boys Broadway show tickets waiting for you
right now.