Archive for October, 2010
Jersey Boys Cast Recording Remains #2 in Best-Selling Theatre Recordings
The Grammy-winning, RIAA Certified Platinum Jersey Boys Original Broadway Cast Recording has remained in the Number Two position on the Billboard Top Cast Album chart during the entire month of September, as well as for the first week in October.
Along with the fifth year anniversary of Jersey Boys on Broadway next month, the award-winning Jersey Boys OBCR is soon to be celebrating five years on the Billboard chart.
Picture this–early November 2005–the Jersey Boys Original Broadway Cast Recording arrived in my mailbox from Amazon–about two weeks before seeing the show on Broadway. Although we had a great preview in the fall of 2004 of Jersey Boys’ showstopping story and timeless music at La Jolla Playhouse, playing the future Grammy-winner for the first time turned out to be the best commute EVER! Nearly five years later, it’s still the best part of the morning routine! I can’t imagine a morning without cranking up the “Who Loves You” finale–and the JBB Tech Half attempting to hit that last high note!
Let’s go back to the very first time you heard this phenomenal recording! We’d love for you to share stories about the first time you heard the Jersey Boys OBCR!
{Via Playbill.com’s PlayBlog}
Another Review for Jersey Boys in Philadelphia
Another rave review for the Jersey Boys national tour in Philadelphia.
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You’ll have a good time. My hand to God. My lips should fall off my face if I’m telling you wrong. Jersey Boys, which has been touring the world, winning prizes (Tony, Grammy, Olivier) wherever it goes, is the story of guys who grew up in a tough Italian neighborhood in New Jersey and became the Four Seasons. It’s like a singing Sopranos, with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and directed by Des McAnuff.
Frankie Valli (Joseph Leo Bwarie) is just a teenager with a killer falsetto and melting eyes when he finds his local guy-mentor, mobbed-up Tommy DeVito (Matt Bailey – why, oh, why, am I still falling for the sexy bad boys?). What with one street-corner singer or another going to prison, it’s hard to keep a group together. But eventually, with the addition of Nick Massi (Steve Gouveia) and the songwriter Bob Gaudio (Quinn VanAntwerp), the Four Seasons rock to the top of the charts and, eventually, the Hall of Fame.
The cast members, who can act as well as sing, are also sound-alikes/look-alikes for people who remember the originals. Besides the four, Joseph Siravo, as both the mob boss and a smarmy record producer, is terrific, and a slew of capable others play multiple roles in a show that never lags.
The set is mostly just a stage with a catwalk and some movable furniture, but the wit in Klara Zieglerova’s design lies in the huge Roy Lichtenstein paintings that loom over the stage, illustrating and commenting on the action onstage.
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Jersey Boys playing in Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA. Buy Jersey Boys Forrest Theatre Tickets now and Save $10 on Jersey Boys Ticket Orders over $350! Code AFF$10
{Via Philly.com}
‘Jersey Boys’ dazzles in Philly debut
Steve Gouveia, Matt Bailey, Joseph Leo Bwarie and Ryan Jesse star as The Four Seasons in 'Jersey Boys,' a musical about the 1960s hitmakers now at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia
“Jersey Boys,” now electrifying audiences at Philadelphia’s Forrest Theatre, is an extraordinarily polished production. From its opening moments, this musical about 1960s crooner Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons dazzles and delights with its engaging, incredibly talented cast, its complex staging, its visual detail and its non-stop energy.
Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff and Tony Award-winning choregrapher Sergio Trujillo have put together a show that is full of rocking music, graceful dance steps, engrossing visual details, neon overhead lighting effects and heart.
This musical bio is complex, full of drama, and oh yes, melodrama. Marshall Brickman’s and Rick Elice’s book not only tells the rags to riches rise to musical stardom of the Jersey Boys, but they have captured the uniqueness of Jersey. Brickman and Elice have an uncanny ear for the language, speech patterns and the far-too- many four letter words which punctuate their blue collar/Mafia-influenced conversation.
And then there is the music — 27 classic hits, including “Sherry,” “Oh What a Night,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Rag Doll” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” But what makes this music even more spectacular is the arrangements. Each song is first sung simply and then the arrangement is gussied up with show biz razzle dazzle until it becomes a fully orchestrated extravaganza.
Jersey Boys playing in Philadelphia, PA through Dec. 12, in Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut St., Philadelphia. Get your Jersey Boys Forrest Theatre Tickets now and Meet Broadway’s Jersey Boys now in Philadelphia, PA at the Forrest Theatre.