Be warned, if you go and see the musical ‘Jersey Boys’ you will be singing their songs all through the next day. Not that’s a bad thing, but you might be surprised by how many of the bands hits you already know all the words to.
Charting the rise of Frankie Valli and his fellow band mates from Jersey to the worldwide fame this musical is slick, fast paced and innovative. Clever lighting and staging bring to life a world of concert areas, television studios and hotel rooms but it’s the knock out performances that make this a musical theatre event that’s not to be missed.
Starring Anthony Harkin as Tommy De Vito, the convener of the band who struggles to leave the world of New Jersey behind when the group finds success. Glaston Toft takes on the role of Nick Massi, who struggles between fame and family responsibilities. Jeff Madden totally inhabits the lead role of dynamo performer Frankie Valli and makes his professional theatre debut Declan Egan plays songwriter Bob Gaudio.
All four performances are captivating but it’s Madden who gets the most show stopping moments as Valli, and Egan who captures the audience’s attention with his boundless energy. It probably also helped that he is cuter than a box of kittens.
While the first few scenes of the show may take a while to get the action going, as soon as the band reach their first hit ‘Sherry’, the familiarity of the catchy songs brings the story to life. Working their way through a barrage of hits including ‘Walk Like a Man’ and ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’.
As the show progresses the hits keep flowing but the band struggles with many challenges and eventually everything falls apart. The shows biggest moment comes with Valli’s solo comeback and unlike other musicals that rely on flying witches or helicopter landings to create spectacle – this is simply a man on stage with a knock out voice.
Unlike other jukebox musicals that take advantage of a bands back catalogue and weave a story around the tunes, this musical tells the real life story of the band using a combination of songs that propel the story forward, and others that appear as performance pieces for the band.
It’s a story that has things to say about remorse, regret, friendships, honour and success through hard work. A rewarding journey with a swag of killer tunes.
Jersey Boys in playing at the Crown Theatre until May 26. Tickets available at ticketek
Graeme Watson, image: Nadine Walker
