Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical Jersey Boys current ‘Franki Valli,’ John Lloyd Young, will play his final performance on 28 Jul 2013. The producers of Jersey Boys announced July 11 that Dominic Scaglione Jr. and Joseph Leo Bwarie will alternate in the role of Frankie Valli in the Broadway company at the August Wilson Theatre beginning July 30.
A veteran of the Broadway company, Scaglione currently plays the role at Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances, and has also performed the role in the Chicago and Las Vegas productions. Bwarie, who will be making his Broadway debut, played ‘Frankie Valli’ across the country in the musical’s first national tour.
Scaglione will play ‘Frankie Valli’ six times a week, while Bwarie will perform the role at the Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances.
The cast of Jersey Boys also includes Matt Bogart (Nick Massi), Drew Gehling (Bob Gaudio) and Andy Karl (Tommy DeVito) with Peter Gregus and Mark Lotito, Miles Aubrey, Erik Bates, Candi Boyd, Jared Bradshaw, Ken Dow, Russell Fischer, Renée Marino, Rashad Naylor, Katie O’Toole, Joe Payne, Jessica Rush, Nathan Scherich, Sara Schmidt and Taylor Sternberg.
Jersey Boys is written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, direction by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
Jersey Boys first national tour cast members Preston Truman Boyd, Joseph Leo Bwarie, and Michael Lomenda were interviewd at KRMG. Listen to the KRMG interview here – Jersey Boys Cast Interview – KRMG
Nick Cosgrove playing as one of the Jersey Boys, two performances each week at the Bank of America Theatre through June 3, 2012. Cosgrove in the role of Frankie Valli, he performs on Tuesday nights and at Wednesday matinees in the current national tour of the Jersey Boys in Chica.
Nick Cosgrove in Jersey Boys at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre
The 24-year-old actor, with a four-octave vocal range, talked with suntimes.com about playing to the hometown crowd.
Q: How did you decide that a life in theater was the road you wanted to take?
A: I sang before I could talk, and I didn’t talk until I was 3. But then I started watching “Sesame Street” and my mom got me these Disney DVDs and suddenly I was singing all over the house. Then I started singing in church at Our Lady of Ransom in Niles and cantoring when I was in second grade. I was so short I couldn’t even reach the podium. But I liked singing in front of people. The first time I officially performed in a play was at Maine South when they were having auditions at my grammar school for third-graders [to play the kids] for “The Will Rogers Follies.” I played the youngest one, Freddie Rogers. That led to a talent show at my grammar school where I dressed up in a pinstriped suit and sang Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
Q: So Sinatra’s music was a big part of your childhood?
A: I grew up hearing Sinatra. My mom loved him. My Grandpa Cosgrove would listen to Sinatra and then hear me sing and he would call me The Voice. We’d listen to “Mob Hits,” Tony Bennett. I was listening to oldies and Etta James.
Q: You portray Frankie Valli twice a week. How similar is your voice to his, which is just so distinctive — and high?
A: (Laughs.) Growing up I was a boy soprano. Then my voice changed, but it’s always been a very high tenor voice. I was trained classically as a singer and it’s been such a huge help with my vocals. In college I started singing more pop and getting my voice the kind of training that really helps in this show, but I wasn’t necessarily working on a falsetto. That was just ingrained in my voice since I was a kid, so it just comes naturally.
Q: Was it hard for you to be the guy with the soprano voice in high school?
A: (Laughs.) Actually, it was cool because I had so many different interests. I was president of student council, taught dance class, was a Phys Ed counselor. So in some ways I kinda made it cool to do theater and sing and be in musicals and be a physical education champ. I got picked on by some jocks, but then I actually beat them out for a Phys Ed award.
Q: Were you a fan of the Four Seasons before you joined this show?
A: I knew a lot of Frankie’s music growing up, like “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” and all the covers of that, especially Lauryn Hill’s version. But I love what they call “the big three”: “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” It’s just a dream role to sing 27 songs in two and a half hours. “Jersey Boys” is why I went into musical theater. I saw the play in Chicago when I was in high school and from that day I said that’s what I want to do with my life. So in a way, Frankie Valli is like my Mama Rose (from the musical “Gypsy”).
Q: You and other “Jersey Boys” castmates got to sing
the National Anthem at
Wrigley Field in April. What was that like, and why is that song so hard for singers to perform?
A: That was just beyond awesome. I grew up a Cubs fan, so it was just a dream come true. I do love the Sox, too. I just don’t know why people have so much trouble with the song. I got to sing it as part of a group so it was cool. Singing it solo? Maybe they’re just nervous because it’s the words that throws them. There’s really nothing to the melody that’s difficult.
Q: What are some of your favorite haunts in Chicago?
A: I’m gonna definitely go to the Shedd Aquarium because that jellyfish exhibit is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I love Navy Pier so I’ll be going there. And hopefully catch some theater, if I have time.
Members of the touring company for the musical “Jersey Boys” visited campus after being invited by student group Broadway Cares. Four cast members and a manager from the musical ran a dance workshop and vocal workshop for students in Eppler Complex. Jersey Boys is currently showing at Stranahan Theater in Toledo.
Jersey Boys National Tour Cast singing Little Drummer Boy at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec 1, 2011. The people singing are Joseph Leo Bwarie (main vocals), John Gardiner, Preston Truman Boyd & Michael Lomenda. Joseph Leo Bwarie also has an amazing album out, “Nothin’ But Love”.
Tony-winning musical Jersey Boys will celebrate this year’s holiday season with the release of their new Christmas album. Seasons Greetings: A Jersey Boys Christmas features Tony winner John Lloyd Young, current Broadway star Jarrod Spector and cast members from around the globe singing a selection of Christmas classics in the style of The Four Seasons. The Rhino record is set for digital and physical release on October 4.
Jersey Boys Christmas - Featuring Tony Winner John Lloyd Young
The holiday album features performances by six stars from various Jersey Boys casts, including Joseph Leo Bwarie (national tour), Travis Cloer (Las Vegas), Rick Faugno (Las Vegas), Bobby Fox (Australia), Ryan Molloy (London), Jarrod Spector (Broadway) and John Lloyd Young, who won the 2006 Tony Award for his portrayal of Frankie Valli in the original Broadway production.
A Jersey Boys Christmas was produced by Bob Gaudio, a founding member of The Four Seasons and the group’s principal songwriter, who also produced the show’s Grammy-winning original cast album. Jersey Boys arranger Ron Melrose served as musical director and arranger on the project, and the album was engineered by Pete Karam, who also won a Grammy for his work on the Jersey Boys original cast recording.
Jersey Boys is the first Broadway show to release a holiday album. It includes holiday favorites like “Joy To The World,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
According to press notes, “Many of the melodies and choral harmonies that catapulted the quartet from the streets of Newark into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are woven into classic holiday songs on ‘Season’s Greetings: A Jersey Boys Christmas.’ Listen for hints of ‘Come On Marianne’ and ‘Oh What A Night’ in the album opener ‘Joy To The World/O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ plus traces of ‘Bye Bye Baby’ in ‘Winter Wonderland.'” The album will also include a new arrangement of “O Holy Night,” a song that the Jersey Boys cast recorded in 2006 and was featured on a Christmas album to benefit Broadway charities.
Here’s the track listing for “Season’s Greetings: A Jersey Boys Christmas”:
Joy To The World/O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Winter Wonderland
Little Drummer Boy
Santa Medley: (Santa Claus is Coming to Town/Here Comes Santa Claus/I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus)
O Holy Night/Rise Up Shepherd
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Jingle Bell Rock
A King Is Born
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
White Christmas
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Angels From The Realms Of Glory
Silver Bells/Silent Night
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Breath Of Heaven/We Three Kings
Carol Of The Bells/Angels We Have Heard On High/Auld Lang Syne
The Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award-winning hit musical Jersey Boys is moving to Omaha September 07, 2011. The musical will make its Orpheum Theater Omaha premiere on September 07 and play through September 25, 2011.
The cast of Jersey Boys will be led by Matt Bailey (Tommy DeVito), Joseph Leo Bwarie (Frankie Valli), Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi) and Quinn VanAntwerp (Bob Gaudio, Sept. 7-11) and Preston Truman Boyd (Bob Gaudio, Sept. 13-25) as The Four Seasons, with Jonathan Hadley and Joseph Siravo.
The ensemble of Jersey Boys includes Candi Boyd, Christopher Deangelis, Lauren Dicierdo, John Michael Dias, John Gardiner, Buck Hujabre, Hayden Milanes, Denise Payne, Brian Silverman, Courter Simmons, Kara Tremel, Mark Verdino, Donald Webber, Jr., Kevin Worley and Adam Zelasko.
Jersey Boys Las Vegas Hero Rick Faugno, who originated in the “Frankie Valli” role, will be ending his run on Sunday, October 9, 2011.
In an interview, Rick said about his decision to leave Jersey Boys after five years – “Being in a role of this magnitude shaped me as a performer, Playing the Frankie Valli role was an amazing training ground for the next phase of my life.”
Rick will be focusing on his new weekly showcase, “Body and Soul,” at the Las Vegas Hilton’s Shimmer Cabaret each Monday night at 8:30 PM.
On August 21st, at 9pm at The Living Room at 154 Ludlow St, The Cast of Jersey Boys is singing selections from The Hall And Oates songbook, including hits like: Maneater, Private Eyes, Rich Girl, You Make My Dreams, and many more.
The performers include Miles Aubrey, Brad Bass, Erik Bates, Matt Bogart, John Edwards, Peter Gregus, Dominic Nolfi, Dominic Scaglione, Sara Schmidt, Jarrod Spector, and Taylor Sternberg.
Also joining the cast will be a special performance by The Spangles Dance Company (http://spanglesdancecompany.com/).
All profits will be donated to Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS. Jersey Boys is the winner of the 2006 Best Musical Tony Award®, the 2006 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Show Album, the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical and the 2010 Helpmann Award for Best Musical (Australia).
