Jersey Boys is a documentary-style musical about The Four Seasons, one of the most popular rock and roll bands of the 1960s. The musical’s focal point is The Four Seasons’ lead singer, Frankie Valli. However, it’s his interaction with Tommy DeVito, the group’s original driving force, and song composer, Bobby Gaudio, that makes the group’s story so compelling.
Jersey Boys is one of the most entertaining shows I have ever seen, which is indeed high praise when you consider that I normally find musicals boring and tedious and usually see them as a collection of corny songs strung together by contrived stories. I went to see Jersey Boys because I already knew I liked the music, which is terrific, and figured I’d bide my time between songs. I had no idea that the original group members had been such interesting characters. Their personal similarities are probably more obvious to most than their differences, but how they came together against tremendous odds to become a music sensation is really rather amazing.
You’ll be entertained by the telling of the story, which is done through an effective mix of both dialogue and song. You’ll pick up some interesting factoids about the group, such as which current Hollywood star actually introduced two key members of the group, how “Sherry,” the group’s first big hit came into being, and which movie star inspired the song “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” Did you know that the group struggled with the music world to record a song that was to become one of Frankie Valli’s biggest solo hits from the late 1960s? Dozens of their hits and other popular songs of the period are performed during this two-act show.
Jersey Boys also provides a view of how city teenagers grew up in the 1950s and 1960s and what it was like to break into the rock and roll business in those days. At the risk of saying too much, I must say that if those four guys hadn’t ended up stars, they might have ended up in the mob, in jail or worse. Whether you grew up in New York or New Jersey in those days or wonder what it must have been like, you’ll want to see this show. It’s absolutely terrific.
Jersey Boys is based on a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and premiered at the LaJolla Playhouse in LaJolla, California. I was fortunate to see the show in South Florida at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Jersey Boys won the Tony Award in 2006 for best musical.