Posts Tagged ‘Jersey Boys Review’
Jersey Boys Philadelphia Cast Update – Led by Philadelphia-area Native Brandon Andrus
Brandon Andrus, Nick Cosgrove, Nicolas Dromard and Jason Kappus are Jersey Boys in Philadelphia, Starting December 11, 2013. Jersey Boys north american national tour is currently performing at Forrest Theatre (1114 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107) through January 05, 2014.
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The story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is led by Philadelphia-area native Brandon Andrus (Nick Massi), Nick Cosgrove (Frankie Valli), Nicolas Dromard (Tommy DeVito) and Jason Kappus (Bob Gaudio) as The Four Seasons, with Barry Anderson and Thomas Fiscella.
The ensemble includes Tommaso Antico, Stephen Cerf, Kaleigh Cronin, Marlana Dunn, Larry Esparza, Devon Goffman, De’Lon Grant, Bryan Hindle, Leo Huppert, Ian Joseph, Hayden Milanes, Michelle Pruiett, John Rochette, Rachel Schur and Skye Scott.
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 show will run for two weeks in Philadelphia through January 05, 2014 at the Forrest Theatre. Tickets are still available, Buy Jersey Boys Forrest Theatre Tickets NOW!
Jersey Boys Tour in Philadelphia Through January 05, 2014 – Forrest Theatre Review
Jersey Boys north american national tour is in Philadelphia, PA through January 05, 2014 and currently performing at Forrest Theatre (1114 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107).
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To use one of their song lyrics, “What a night!” – Reviewed By Toby Zinman, Philly.com.
As a Jersey girl, I can tell you that Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, is high-energy musical full of great songs (“Earth Angel,” “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Working My Way Back to You”) and great voices. The show, a Broadway hit that won four Tony Awards, and a Grammy for Best Musical album, was last in Philly two years ago; I had a good time then and I had a good time again.
Valli (Nick Cosgrove has a killer falsetto) was a teenager in a mobbed-up Italian neighborhood who became the lead singer of a quartet who eventually named themselves the Four Seasons.
Tommy (Nicholas Dromard) is his brash, gambling mentor, and Bob Gaudio (Jason Kappus) the forward-looking practical one who wrote all their songs, having written his first hit, “Who Wears Short Shorts” when he was fifteen; Nick (Brandon Andrus), is their bass voice, nearly silent, ironical, and oddly compelling. Their lovable, savvy producer (Barry Anderson) completes the core of the cast, with many others—singers, actors, musicians—giving it a big sound.
When Gaudio was stuck for a next song, he heard Rhonda Fleming say in cheesy movie, “Big girls don’t cry” and there it was. This seems to have inspired the Roy Lichtensteinesque projections that provide backdrop and amusing commentary on the action onstage.
Read the complete review {Via Philly.com}
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Jersey Boys Devos Hall Review – Jersey Boys Rings True with Humor, Conflict
Jersey Boys musical is currently performing at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, MI through October 06, 2013.
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Jersey Boys Rings True with Humor, Conflict – Reviewed BY Sue Merrell Via MLive.com
Oh, what a night!
“Jersey Boys,” which opened Tuesday, Oct. 1, for a fairly full house of about 2,000 at DeVos Performance Hall, is every bit as smokin’ hot as when it won Best Musical on Broadway in 2005.
This tale of the ‘60s music group, The Four Seasons, reverberates with snappy, happy songs such as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.”
And that sound! The contrast of the rich bass line with stratospheric high notes still makes me shiver.
But the show is much more than a musical tribute.
Like the voice of the group’s iconic lead singer, Frankie Valli, “Jersey Boys” rises high above other juke box musicals that try to tack a group’s repertoire onto an unrelated script. This story, written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, weaves the group’s songs into the tumultuous tale of their own roughneck-to-Billboard success.
The story is told by each of the four band members. Tommy DeVito (Nicholas Dromard) , the tough-guy lead guitarist who planted the seeds of the musical group, narrates the “spring” season, as various members and names are weeded out. Then songwriter and keyboardist Bob Gaudio (Jason Kappus) joins the group and narrates the hot “summer” years of success.
In Act II the dour bass guitarist Nick Massi (Brandon Andrus) tells of the group’s “fall,” including legal, money and family problems. Lead singer Frankie Valli (Nick Cosgrove) wraps it up with the “winter” transformation of Frankie fronting for a changing group of backup singers.
Something about rotating narrators gives the story balance and believability. It’s got plenty of humor, conflict, pathos, but mostly it rings true.
The four central actors are all spot-on with Jersey accents, smooth moves and that Four Season harmony. Cosgrove even wowed the audience by doing the splits on one song.
There are several great roles in the ensemble, including Ian Joseph who portrays a young Joe Pesci, with some of Pesci’s aw-shucks mannerisms. Barry Anderson is great fun as the group’s producer/lyricist Bob Crewe. And Thomas Fiscella made a great mob boss Gyp DeCarlo.
To paraphrase one of Frankie Vallie’s hit songs, I can’t take my eyes off “Jersey Boys.” It’s just too good to be true.
Read the complete review {Via MLive.com}
Tickets are selling fast for Jersey Boys performances at DeVos Performance Hall. Click here to Buy Jersey Boys Grand Rapids MI Tickets NOW!
Jersey Boys Touring Musical in Columbus Ohio – Review
Jersey Boys touring musical is currently stop in Columbus OH and performing at Ohio Theatre Columbus (39 E State St, Columbus, OH 43215 ) through September 29, 2013.
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The combination of style and substance, blended by director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, made for great theater at the Wednesday opening in the Ohio Theatre – Reviewed via Dispatch.com.
As far as American musicals about work, family, failure and the price of success go, nothing else compares.
Dividing the two-act musical into four “seasons,” each narrated from a different perspective, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice adopt an effective framing device that evokes the structure of Rashomon or Citizen Kane to give each band member his due.
Nicolas Dromard offers a compelling portrait as Tommy DeVito, who spots the potential of a young Frankie Valli and keeps the group together through the early years.
Jason Kappus projects convincing intelligence and initial youthful naivete as Bob Gaudio, the last to join the quartet but the one with the most talent to sustain it.
Brandon Andrus exerts his quiet presence, with simmering frustrations, as Nick Massi, the Ringo of the foursome.
Nick Cosgrove packs an emotional punch as lead singer Valli, who sacrifices so much to support the band. Despite a voice too nasal at times, the good singer fills the falsetto bill.
Read the complete review {Via Dispatch.com}
Jersey Boys musical will be in Columbus OH for only two weeks through Sunday September 29, 2013. Weekend tickets are selling fast, Buy Jersey Boys Ohio Theatre Columbus Tickets before they go on sale completely.
Jersey Boys Ohio Theatre Columbus Review
Jersey Boys musical on national tour is currently performing at Ohio Theatre Columbus (39 E State St, Columbus, OH 43215 ) through September 29, 2013.
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There is no denying “Jersey Boys” is fun, but overall, it’s the real story of The Four Seasons that makes this musical the Tony-award winning hit it is. – Reviewed via TheLantern.com.
Despite the somewhat older than college-age audience at Wednesday night’s showing of “Jersey Boys,” at Ohio Theatre this musical can entertain Millennials.
The character authenticity elevates this jukebox musical to a level far above others in its genre. “Jersey Boys” encapsulates a biography, musical and concert all in one.
“Jersey Boys” takes the audience on a biographical tour of the rise and fall of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The show is structured into the four seasons — spring, summer, fall and winter — each narrated by a different member of the group.
The show opens in spring on the streets of New Jersey where it all began.
Tommy DeVito, played by Nicolas Dromard, transports the audience to Jersey in the 1960s. Devito proclaims himself leader of the band and spends the better half of the first act setting the boys up for fame.
Summer is narrated by Bob Gaudio, played by Jason Kappus, who writes the songs that puts The Four Seasons on the map. The group begins to fall apart when bass player Nick Massi, played by Brandon Andrus, takes over. Frankie Valli, played by Nick Cosgrove, guides us through the winter.
The show starts slow with the group singing lesser-known Four Seasons songs and covers accompanied by a great deal of character development. Tommy DeVito is the stereotypical, hard-hitting Jersey boy with a big ego and even bigger eyes. He provides a few laughs and much-needed plot development, but I grew tired of DeVito by Act 2.
Nick Massi is portrayed as one of the undervalued members of the group, but I thought he was a star of the show. The comically straightforward singer’s deep voice and staunch appearance brought a fresh dynamic to the Jersey cast. I caught myself watching Massi most during group performances.
Read the complete review {Via TheLantern.com}
Jersey Boys musical run through September 29, 2013 at Ohio Theatre Columbus. Jersey Boys Columbus OH Tickets are selling fast online, buy before they go on sale completely.
Jersey Boys Musical at Le Theatre Des Arts Paris Hotel – Review
The Jersey Boys Musical is a standing production in Las Vegas NV. Jersey Boys performance at Le Theatre Des Arts – Paris Hotel reviewed by Shella Sebay at Las Vegas Informer. Here is the review:
There is a single line on the “Jersey Boys” poster that reads, “The crowd goes wild.” The New York Times could not have been more dead-on. The show is phenomenal.
In regards to the music, the quality is unmatched. Close your eyes and it is almost as if you are sitting on a 1960s living room sofa, listening to a Four Seasons record. The four main guys of the cast are dead-on with the impersonations of the legends they play. (Travis Cloer and Graham Fenton play Frankie Valli. Jeff Leibow plays Nick Massi. Rob Marnell plays Bob Gaudio, and Deven May plays Tommy Devito.) Not a single song is left out. The men perform every major hit in the order they were released, and they also share the background stories and inspirations of each song.
“Jersey Boys” new home is at the Paris Casino, and buying a ticket will be well worth your while. This show is guaranteed to give you goose bumps, and, in return, will receive a guaranteed standing ovation.
Read the complete review {Via Las Vegas Informer}
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Jersey Boys Musical Tour at Fisher Theatre – Review
The Jersey Boys Musical first national tour currently performing at Fisher Theatre through January 6, 2013. Jenn McKee reviewed the musical at PrideSource.com. Here is the review:
The show tells the story of the 1960s pop sensation Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, consisting of: band founder and leader Tommy DeVito (John Gardiner), who has run-ins with the law and runs up gambling debts; routine-obsessed bass Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda); talented young songwriter Bobby Gaudio (Miles Jacoby); and the young guy with the angelic, high voice that made everyone sit up and take notice, Frankie Valli (Nick Cosgrove).
What you’ll notice within minutes of “Jersey Boys” is what capable hands you’re in, in terms of the storytelling. Book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice masterfully cherry pick salient details from the group’s biography, and not a word or moment is wasted; meanwhile, director Des McAnuff keeps the pace snappy without ever losing clarity, so that even though we’re quickly hopping to different locales in the opening moments while absorbing the necessary exposition, the energy stays high, and the audience stays engaged.
It doesn’t hurt either, of course, that the cast is uniformly outstanding.
Lomenda is hilarious as quirky Nick; Gardiner makes Tommy self-assured and witty, but also low-burn menacing; Jacoby’s Bobby is unabashedly candid, aware of his strengths and weaknesses, and wise beyond his years; and Cosgrove is a knockout, with vocals that soar.
Klara Zieglerova designed “Jersey Boys” steel-girded set, which features a raised bridge across the stage that provides a second level for the play’s action. Jess Goldstein’s costume design helps The Four Seasons come to life more fully on stage, while also, with other characters, hinting at the passage of time. Michael Clark’s Roy Lichtenstein-inspired projections sometimes help establish setting, sometimes just echo the action; and Howell Binkley’s lighting design keeps the audience’s eye where it needs to be as the fast-paced tale unfolds. Finally, Sergio Trujillo’s choreography perfectly captures The Four Seasons’ crisp, synchronized dance moves; it’s a joy to watch.
Interestingly, “Jersey Boys,” in some ways, shouldn’t work as well as it does. When biographical adaptations try to focus on a broad range of time (as “Jersey Boys” does) instead of a specific, pivotal moment, they often feel shapeless, baggy and unsatisfying. And as a rule, I’m not a big fan of the juke box musical – the shows often feel painfully labored and self-conscious. But Brickman and Elice have cracked the code by letting each of the band members tell their side of the story, and incorporating The Four Seasons’ ear-candy music at perfect, and thematically relevant, intervals.
Read the complete review {Via PrideSource.com}
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Jersey Boys at Orpheum Theatre TN – Musical Review
Jersey Boys Musical is currently performing at Orpheum Theatre TN through December 16, 2012. Jon W. Sparks reviewed the musical at CommercialAppeal.com. Here is the review:
“Jersey Boys” is making a return engagement to the Orpheum, bringing the memorable tunes of The Four Seasons and enough sharp writing and storytelling to make the production more than a collection of hits.
Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice wrote the book, and their approach and style make all the difference. They found the story of the rise, peak and breakup of the group to be compelling and they gave it a Rashomon-like narrative, with each of the four members telling their own version of the tale.
The result is a story arc with changing perceptions, but with plenty of the songs that to this day have that pure pop appeal; the group has sold 175 million records, after all. For a production with so many songs, however, there is a lot of dialogue, and it is as catchy as the tunes.
The performers are fine, conveying plenty of energy and wit. The arrangements are carefully re-created from the original and not “Broadwayed up,” as Elice puts it, so what you hear is what you heard on the radio back in the day. The singing reminds us of the groups’ vocals but doesn’t quite replicate them, and sometimes the punch is missing.
And while the music is pleasantly pop and OK for any ears, be advised that the language used by those boys from New Jersey gets pretty rough. A warning in the lobby advises that “Flashing strobe lights, loud gunfire and authentic, profane, Jersey vocabulary are special effects used in this production …”
Read the complete review {Via CommercialAppeal.com}
Still there are few tickets left for this Broadway Hit musical. Buy Jersey Boys Orpheum Theatre TN Tickets Online at discounted prices, SAVE $10 when you spend $350+ by using code AFF$10.
Jersey Boys Musical at the Jubilee Auditorium – Review
Jersey Boys national tour is currently performing at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium and continue through Sunday July 15, 2012. The review of Jersey Boys musical by Louis Hobson at Calgary Sun is presented below:
It’s a big, brassy, crowd-pleaser of a musical about the rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi who, as The Four Seasons, were the chart-topping sensation of the 1960s.
From the nightly standing ovations this musical is receiving at the Jubilee Auditorium, their music is every bit as infectious today as it was when it first made history.
The moment Joseph Leo Bwarie (Valli), Preston Truman Boyd (Gaudio), John Gardiner (DeVito) and Michael Lomenda (Massi) belt out such Four Seasons anthems as Sherry, Walk Like a Man and Big Girls Don’t Cry, you can feel the electric charge that surges through the audience.
It takes almost 40 minutes of the first act for this to happen because it took years for DeVito, Valli and Massi to find Gaudio, who was to write the songs that exploited Valli’s incredible falsetto.
Before that they covered other people’s music, but once Gaudio joined the group, the magic happened for The Four Seasons, as it does again for Jersey Boys.
As far as this Jersey Boys goes, Boyd brings as much magic and electricity to the show as Gaudio brought to the music. He is a mesmerizing quadruple threat of a performer who can act, sing, dance and play keyboard. He gives Jersey Boys the boost it needs and his part of the storyline brings some genuine tension and pathos to the musical.
Then there’s Bwarie. Without a ticking time bomb of a performer like Bwarie you simply can’t have a Jersey Boys. Valli had a distinctive sound and an amazing falsetto and Bwarie goes beyond just replicating it. He doesn’t just sing from his diaphragm and voice box. Bwarie’s sound comes from his heart and soul.
Jersey Boys works a bit like a concert inside a musical. When the quartet sings The Four Seasons’ hits and the audience goes wild, it’s near impossible to tell whether Bwarie, Boyd, Gardiner and Lomenda are accepting the applause as their characters or themselves. Either way, it is a love affair between performers and audience.
Jersey Boys is not the kind of musical you analyze. You just sit back and revel in its flash, glitz and pulsating energy.
Read the complete review {Via CalgarySun.com}
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Jersey Boys Second National Tour Performance at Winspear Opera House – Review
Jersey Boys second national tour is currently performing at Winspear Opera House and continue through Sunday July 15, 2012. Jersey Boys musical reviewed by Mark Lowry at The the Star-Telegram.
On its second national tour stop in Dallas, this time at the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Winspear Opera House, Jersey Boys is still too good to be true. The 2006 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical, which chronicles the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons — and is packed with their unforgettable music — is playing through mid-July in the Lexus Broadway Series.
And there’s good reason to believe that the show will continue packing the houses for its five-week stop here. That’s partially because the show, a jukebox/bio musical, is better put together than any other example of this genre (the book is by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; music is by Bob Guadio and Bob Crewe, two of the original Four Seasons).
But more to the point, it’s because the music is so impeccably performed by the foursome in this case, not least of which is Brad Weinstock nailing the booming falsetto voice of Valli.
When they start such songs as Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Dawn (Go Away) and Walk Like a Man, the crowd goes wild.
You might be a little confused in the opening number, though, which shows a contemporary French hip-hop version of Oh, What a Night. That’s to set up the idea that the Seasons’ music has transcended time, geography and style. From there, we get a somewhat chronological look at this story, from the formation of the band in the 1960s, to rising and then wild stardom, and, of course, the fall as members are released (some by their own choice), and then it fast-forwards to a performance at the group’s 1990 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Read the complete review {Via Star-Telegram.com}
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