Jersey Boys

Jersey Boys is a Jukebox Musical, which tells the story of the Jersey Band The Four Seasons, and how Tommy DeVito, created the bank with Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli. The musical is structured as four “seasons”, each narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music, and throughout we hear their famous songs that had everyone dancing, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Sherry’,  ‘December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)’, Can’t Take my Eyes Off You’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’ to name a few! I throrougly enjoyed this musical as although I knew some of the songs, being that my Grandad loved the Four Seasons, there were some that I didn’t know were his, and not knowing the story behind them such as their involvement with the Mob, Frankie’s Daughter, and Tommy’s gambling predicament it opened me up to want to learn more about them. http://www.rosereview.co.uk/?p=796

Jersey Boys is a Jukebox Musical, which tells the story of the Jersey Band The Four Seasons, and how Tommy DeVito, created the bank with Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli. The musical is structured as four “seasons”, each narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music, and throughout we hear their famous songs that had everyone dancing, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Sherry’,  ‘December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)’, Can’t Take my Eyes Off You’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’ to name a few! I throrougly enjoyed this musical as although I knew some of the songs, being that my Grandad loved the Four Seasons, there were some that I didn’t know were his, and not knowing the story behind them such as their involvement with the Mob, Frankie’s Daughter, and Tommy’s gambling predicament it opened me up to want to learn more about them. http://www.rosereview.co.uk/?p=796

Jersey Boys is a Jukebox Musical, which tells the story of the Jersey Band The Four Seasons, and how Tommy DeVito, created the bank with Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli. The musical is structured as four “seasons”, each narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music, and throughout we hear their famous songs that had everyone dancing, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Sherry’,  ‘December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)’, Can’t Take my Eyes Off You’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’ to name a few! I throrougly enjoyed this musical as although I knew some of the songs, being that my Grandad loved the Four Seasons, there were some that I didn’t know were his, and not knowing the story behind them such as their involvement with the Mob, Frankie’s Daughter, and Tommy’s gambling predicament it opened me up to want to learn more about them. http://www.rosereview.co.uk/?p=796

Jersey Boys is a Jukebox Musical, which tells the story of the Jersey Band The Four Seasons, and how Tommy DeVito, created the bank with Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli. The musical is structured as four “seasons”, each narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music, and throughout we hear their famous songs that had everyone dancing, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Sherry’,  ‘December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)’, Can’t Take my Eyes Off You’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’ to name a few! I throrougly enjoyed this musical as although I knew some of the songs, being that my Grandad loved the Four Seasons, there were some that I didn’t know were his, and not knowing the story behind them such as their involvement with the Mob, Frankie’s Daughter, and Tommy’s gambling predicament it opened me up to want to learn more about them.

The performers were outstanding, but this style of show really isn't for me. I don't mind a jukebox musical if it has an interesting story, but the story in this show just didn't interest me that much, I didn't feel like there was much going on. Maybe it's just my age and not being that familiar with the characters (though I was surprised by how many of the songs I knew!) The other major downside was the behaviour of the audience - standing up and dancing during the production, singing at the top of their lungs, clapping along to all the songs - I'm all for people having a fun night out, but when you've paid to hear professionals it can get annoying when all you can hear is the person behind you trying to sing along!

I've seen Jersey Boys once before and was impressed by the slick incorporation of the songs into the narrative. Its a typical feel good musical and I'd highly recommend. The cast are fantastic - extremely coordinated and hold the stage well - and the musicians are talented bunch of people. I'm sad Jersey Boys is closing, as seeing this again reminded me how good a show it is. Definitely catch it whilst you can!

We thoroughly enjoyed the show, it was wonderful. All the cast were excellent and gave a great performance. The likenes of sound of the cast singing compared to the original Four Seasons songs was incredible. Wonderful to hear so many of the great iconic songs from the back catalogue and so well performed. The set was very simple and was used to great effect. Frequent scene changes were seamless and without interrupting the flow of the show by simple lighting changes and moving portions of the set in the blink of an eye. At times it was difficult to follow the story line which is a biopic mainly of Frankie Valli. However this did not detract from our enjoyment of the show and we left at the end feeling very uplifted having enjoyed an excellent performance which was very entertaining.

I had seen the Hollywood adaptation and decided to check out the real thing. It was a matinee performance so the place wasn't full, looking at the posters outside it seemed they were short of dancers for this as well. At the start it felt like watching a rehearsal or something, the ambience seemed a bit off. It started slow however it gained in pace and fun as it went along. By the end everyone was up clapping, singing and dancing. Credit to the cast who would make Frankie Valli proud.

This was the first time I had seen the show since cast change in March, and I had to go in with an open mind as so many of the previous cast who I just adored, left. Sadly I left a little dis heartened. Don't get me wrong - this cast can act, sing and dance! My only critism was that I didn't connect with them - and I felt like they didn't connect with each other. Seeing this show well over 30 times I have seen my fair share of cast changes and never had a problem, until now. It wouldn't stop me seeing it again - I would actually hold out for some understudies on who I know and adore - Special mention goes out to Ben Jennings, Ben Wheeler and Nathaniel Morrison. This is just my opinion however - GO SEE IT BEFORE IT CLOSES IN MARCH (AFTER 10 YEARS!) It is one of the most slick musical in the West End!