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The smash hit of the Broadway musical season isn’t the well-meaning but unmoving adaptation of
The Color Purple or Andrew Lloyd Webber’s leaden The Woman in White – it’s
Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The show took Broadway by surprise. Nobody expected much more than another jukebox musical for undiscriminating baby boomers, driven by a bunch of pre-sold hit songs from the ‘60s. But it turns out to be several leagues better than duds like
Lennon, Good Vibrations, and All Shook Up. It’s actually got a smart book, written by Marshall Brickman (who co-wrote two of Woody Allen’s best movies) and Rick Elice, and the cast is excellent, especially John Lloyd Young, who eerily replicates Frankie Valli’s endearingly freaky falsetto, and Christian Hoff, a star-in-the-making who narrates the show as Tommy DeVito, the group’s founder and resident bad-boy. What’s extra-cool is that the show acknowledges the gay guy who was instrumental to the Four Season’s success, producer and lyricist Bob Crewe (played by Peter Gregus), without needing to camp him up or put him down. Both the script and the actors have been whipped into shape by director Des McAnuff, who’s always great at staging both male bonding and authentic rock music. His best work since
The Who’s Tommy, Jersey Boys is also the most exciting backstage musical since
Dreamgirls.
The Advocate, January 31, 2006
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