Editor's note: Jersey's Boys returns to Chicago soon. Read a full review of a prior production below.
BROADWAY IN CHICAGO’S
CADILLAC PALACE THEATRE
MAY 3-8, 2022
ONE WEEK ONLY!
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Just as you expect, JERSEY BOYS is tons of fun.
You know it is from the very opener-- albeit you won't really get the import of the more free-wheeling hip-hop like moves that first snag your attention until this musical's choreographic close. The bookend to this opener is vintage Four Seasons-- thin-hipped barely swaying bodies with arms tight to torso. These were moves born early in the decade and before the 60's liberation movements started to let us have it all hang out. (Choreography: Sergio Trujillo) Yes, we've come a long way, baby.
Great music and Broadway stagecraft magic-- it's fun, fun, fun-- no real surprise there.
Maybe the only surprise—at least for this reviewer—is when the Auditorium Theatre audience erupts into spontaneous applause when Frankie Valli explains that his deal with Bob Gaudio was—and is-- entirely based on a handshake. Guess it’s the Jersey way of saying, “First thing we do is kill all the lawyers..”
This was about the only BIG surprise in this experience. Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons hews closely to the winning formula of other musical biopics geared for the Broadway big spectacle audiences. Not boy-meets-girl, this formula is boy-meets-boy-meets-boy-meets-boy. The foursome improbably survives the roller coaster ride powered by Just-Jersey boys thrust onto big stage fame, male egos, unending tours on the road and no short supply of Mafia-lurking-in-the-corners moments. It’s the real life story with the real music from Bob Gaudio.
It’s a story that works! (Book: Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice; Music: THE Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons fame; and Lyrics: Bob Crewe). It’s a window on how the communal nature of Southern Italy transplanted to New Jersey and weathered in a first generation.
Most will likely agree—it’s all about the music! How could it not be? If you grew up listening to The Four Seasons on your transistor radio so much that it was just part of the ether-- this is your show. Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man, My Eyes Adored You, C’mon Marianne, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, and more—the only thing missing to transport you back to your wonder bread years (or teens, for the older boomers) is ..well…the British Invasion.
This is the ultimate tribute band for The Four Seasons—and especially noteworthy that Jonny Wexler as Frankie Valli has a voice similarly able to straddle the octaves. Truth to tell—at least in this musical-lover's view-- his band mates Jonathan Cable as Nick Massi, Eric Chambliss as Bob Gaudio, and Corey Greenan as Tommy DeVito at times sound like their voices are even stronger- but then again the songs just don’t demand much of them.
How fun to note that a healthy chunk of the audience may have been hearing this music for the first time!
RECOMMENDED
Note: This is now added to the Picture this Post round up of BEST PLAYS IN CHICAGO, where it will remain until the end of the run. Click here to read – Top Picks for Theater in Chicago NOW – Chicago Plays PICTURE THIS POST Loves.
Cast:
JONATHAN CABLE (Nick Massi), ERIC CHAMBLISS (Bob Gaudio), COREY GREENAN (Tommy DeVito), JONNY WEXLER (Frankie Valli), ASHLEY BRUCE (Mary Delgado and others), TONY L. CLEMENTS (Swing), RICK DESLOGE (Joey and others), WADE DOOLEY (Bob Crewe and other), TODD DuBAIL (Gyp DeCarlo and others), CAITLIN LEARY (Swing), KEVIN PATRICK MARTIN (Hank Majewski, Norm Waxman and other), JEREMY SARTIN (Swing), CHLOE TISO (Francine and others), KIT TREECE (Swing), JESSICA WOCKENFUSS (Lorraine and others), SUZANNE APICELLA (Production Stage Manager), JOHN “JP” POLLARD (Stage Manager), KAITLYN FOUTS (Assistant Stage Manager), JONATHAN SMITH (Music Director), ALAN J. PLADO (Music Director)
When:
Running through April 7, 2019
Where:
Auditorium Theatre (50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr.),
Chicago
Tickets:
30$
Call at (312) 977-1710 for more information please visit Broadway in Chicago website.
Photos courtesy of JERSEY BOYS
About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
