Chicago just witnessed the 2006 Tony Award Winning Jersey Boys at the LaSalle Bank Theater—it is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons told through the magic of the music that they performed.
Here is a wonderful mixture of storytelling and concert—in fact, the action stopped twice as the audience rose to its feet with a thunderous ovation. While I am certain Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice took poetic license with their book, one can forgive them for bending the truth for the songs and the music tell the real story: four blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the hottest pop sensations of their time. Think about their songs: "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," "Who Loves You," "Rag Doll," "Let's Hang On," "Walk Like A Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Dawn," "Sherry," and lots more. This is in fact almost like an oldies but Goodies concert with a great story weaving the songs together. Directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo this stunning production might be able to stay far past the scheduled closing date because I have a feeling Chicago will not want to let this one leave (I know a few people who are planning to go back again).
The cast that has been assembled for this production is solid from the smallest of roles to the top. Most of the actors take on many roles so it seems as though there are about 40 actors while actually there are only 17 and four of these are Frankie Valli (Jarrod Spector is amazing in this role—close your eyes and you truly hear young Frankie Valli), Bob Gaudio (Drew Gehling), Nick Massi (Chicagoan Michael Ingersoll) and Tommy DeVito (Jeremy Kushnier). These four give dynamite performances as they depict the lives of these music industry icons. While it is easy to fill the stage with the marvelous music (under the direction of Jonathan Smith) by relying on some great musicians, the story still has moments of sadness as the Jersey Boys had to overcome obstacles on their way up. (Remember, in Jersey things were a little mob-related, and the story doesn't miss any of this.)
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other brilliant members of this small but very talented ensemble—Jonathan Weir, Dominic Bogart, Lyndsey Cole, John Michael Dias (who plays Frankie on Wednesday and Sunday matinees), Mike Erickson, Jenny Lee Ramos (a strong Mary DelGado), Steven M. Goldsmith, John Hickman, Lauren Marshall, Kraig McCreary, Rashad Naylor, Jake Speck, Kara Tremel, Chuck Webb and Ryan Quinn West.
Alan Bresloff writes theater articles for the Chicago area. An error occurred on the server when processing the URL. Please contact the system administrator.
The LaSalle Bank Theatre
18 West Monroe
Tickets: 312-902-1400 or online at www.ticketmaster.com
Closes: April 13