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| Michael Lomenda, Nick Cosgrove, Miles Jacoby and John Gardiner in Jersey Boys. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. |
Jersey Boys
Music by Bob Gaudio
Lyrics by Bob Crewe
Directed by Des McAnuff
Reviewed by Craig Nolan Highley
Entire contents copyright © 2012 by Craig Nolan Highley. All rights
reserved.
Jukebox musicals come and go a lot these days, but very few of them
carry the heart and soul of a show like Jersey
Boys. Unlike other popular examples of the genre like Across the Universe or Mamma
Mia, this winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical doesn’t just take
the song catalog of a beloved music group (in this case The Four Seasons) and
create a new story around them. This time the songs are used to tell the
group’s true story, and the result is a fun and uncomplicated musical that
plays like an ’80s-era TV biopic set to music.
One of the show’s many clever touches is its story structure, broken up
into four parts, each represented by a season and each narrated by a different
member of the band. We start with Spring, as told to us by Tommy DeVito (Colby
Foytik), the group’s founder, and learn of their beginnings and their ties to
the mafia and other skirmishes with the law. Next we get Summer, narrated by
Bob Gaudio (Jason Kappus), the songwriter of the group, and chronicling their
rise in popularity. Nick Massi (Brandon Andrus), the group’s quietest but
surprisingly most profound performer, then takes us through Fall, in which
things start to fall apart for the group. And finally, Frankie Valli (Brad
Weinstock), the silver-throated lead singer, gives us Winter, filling us in on
how the band became basically a solo act: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
It’s compelling stuff, though it occasionally gets a bit too
melodramatic. When one character loses a loved one, for example, he breaks into
the song “Fallen Angel,” which I’m sure was intended to be a heartbreaking
moment but just seemed a bit too calculated. On the other and more light-hearted hand, another
character’s loss of virginity during the “Oh What a Night” number is inspired. But
for the most part, it all works – and works very well.
All four of the lead performers are fantastic in the roles, even if they
don’t necessarily resemble the real people their playing. Weinstock in
particular is truly incredible, playing Frankie from his shy teenage years
through his sixties. Andrus also makes quite the impression as the soft-spoken
(until he is outraged) Nick, and nearly steals every moment he’s on stage.
Director Des McAnuff (who mined similar ground when he turned a Who
album into the show-stopping Broadway show Tommy)
has done an incredible job of staging all this on a deceptively simple stage
(as designed by Klara Zieglerova) and complimented by Howell Binkley’s
fantastic lighting design. And speaking of the lighting, be warned: It does get
blinding at times; the transition lenses in my glasses darkened several times!
If for any reason you miss the Louisville performances of this show, it
might be worth your while to seek out this touring show’s next stop. It’s worth
seeing and fodder for a fantastic evening of theater. “Oh, What a Night”
indeed!
Jersey Boys
Featuring Barry Anderson, Brandon Andrus, Thomas Fiscella, Colby Foytik,
Natalie Gallo, Jason Kappus, Christopher Messina, Rachel Schur and Brad
Weinstock.
November 20 –December 2, 2012
PNC Broadway in Louisville
The Kentucky Center
501 West Main Street
Louisville, KY, 40202
502-584-7777
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