Jersey Boys

This past Friday night, I headed off to catch the first show of our 2007-08 Broadway Across America season... though it was a bit of a nailbiter! 

First, I had a late afternoon appointment to get Toby his pre-boarding shots, next one of my West Coast clients had pretty typical post-5pm on a Friday tizzy fit that I had to deal with, and since Todd wasn't around (he arrived home safely on Saturday night!) I just gulped down some dinner before heading off to the show. 

I am one of those chronically "get there early" people.  I am trying to be better about it.  But it is not unusual, if I have control of the situation, that we are in our seats for at minimum a half hour before a show.  I planned to arrive about a half-hour before showtime.  I did, but the theater lot was full and I had to head over to an alternate parking garage, which everyone was headed to at this point.  To make a long story short... breathlessly made it to my seat 10 minutes before showtime (and likely due to the later-arriving crowds, the show started 10 minutes late).

Onto the show... Jersey Boys -- the 2006 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical (+ 3 more).  Now I had my doubt.  It is one of those "jukebox musicals" that are increasingly littering Broadway -- where a show is crafted around the music of one artist/group.  Typically, they are pretty weak in the plot department.  However, the recognition and popularity of the music make them instant crowd-pleasers.  It's similar to being at a concert, with the crowd going nuts when they hear the opening notes of a beloved song.

Thankfully, Jersey Boys wasn't burdened with a bad plot... since it was the true story of the rise and fall of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  But that begged the question, would I care?  Valli slipped in with only one hit song into my memory bank of my youth... granted a pretty big one, the title song of the movie version of Grease (not performed in the show)... but otherwise he was not of my generation.   But as I have aged, I have a greater appreciation of music from before "my time"... and it was a losing battle not to get swept up hearing the pure pop genius of songs like Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like A Man... and they kept on coming... December 1963 (Oh What A Night), My Eyes Adored You, Let's Hang On, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Working My Way Back To You, and Who Loves You.

Near the end of the show, one of the original members of the Four Seasons addresses the audience asking "Is this a f&cking time warp, or what?!"

And given the crowd reaction, you would think we had been transported back to the 1960s and the young version of Valli and the Four Seasons had been magically re-incarnated right in front of our very eyes. At the end of those above hit songs, the crowd simply erupted... stopping the show on more than a couple of  occasions.  At times, the ovations were a tad too crazed for my taste, but I'll admit that some extended applause was deserving.  I have read that it is quite vocally-taxing task to replicate Frankie Valli's signature falsetto... and all credit and kudos to "our Frankie," Christopher Kale Jones, who very ably captured it.

Now, as a former Jersey Boy myself... the show does not do a good job at all erasing any stereotypes of my home state.  For the record, in my 20 years living there, I never (knowingly) knew anyone who was in the mob... and a morning conversation in our house did not include something like: "Ey Ma!  Quit your yappin' and shut your pie-hole and get me another f&ckin' cup of caw-fee!"   Okay, I'll give you the classic "caw-fee" dialect.. but that's all!

Overall, a very good and well-done show.  Unless you have a real aversion to that particular era (or style/sound) of music, I would recommend catching it if the tour comes through your town... or if you are headed to NYC.  Two years into its Broadway run, it is one of the few shows regularly at full capacity.. and a Vegas version is scheduled to open in April 2008 (though doubtful it will be at its "full"/current 2.5 hour run time... casinos do not seem to be willing to have folks sitting still and not spending money for more than 90 minutes).