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Wed 3/2/2011 
"Jersey Boys"  Raging Success on Broadway of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Four Italian Americans:  Francis Castelluccio, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi - New Jersey guys the world came to know as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Their career peaked and valleyed between a failed early audition at the Four Seasons bowling alley and the quartet?s 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 

"Jersey Boys" had its world premiere in October 2004 at La Jolla Playhouse,CA, won the best musical Tony Award in 2006,  and is still one of Broadway?s solid hits, still setting off "nuclear" reactions. 


"Jersey Boys": The Story of Four Friends Going to Hell and Back 
Miami Herald; By Christine Dolen; Wednesday, March 3, 2011 

Tarnished though the American dream may seem these days, hard work, talent and well-timed luck can still take someone from humble beginnings to the top of the heap. In the early 1960s, that?s exactly how the dream played out for Francis Castelluccio, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi ? New Jersey guys the world came to know as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

On the strength of Valli?s distinctive falsetto and Gaudio?s genius for crafting hits, the Seasons seemed to ride an express train from Newark to the top of the charts, beginning with Sherry  in 1962. These blue-collar Italian Americans got gold records and life?s brass ring: fame, success, money, women. 

But between a failed early audition at the Four Seasons bowling alley and the quartet?s 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there were plenty of valleys along with the peaks. Gambling, the mob, acrimonious personnel changes, record-label troubles and commercial failures also figured into the group?s journey. And that warts-and-all story, nestled around an unforgettable array of hits, is what helped turn the musical Jersey Boys  into a Broadway smash. 

Previewing Wednesday and Thursday, then opening Friday for a three-week run at Miami?s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Jersey Boys  transcends the "jukebox musical" label to become a compelling, joyous melding of the storytelling power of theater and the adrenaline rush of a concert. 

Gaudio has had the odd experience of watching a string of actors play the younger Bob Gaudio since Jersey Boys  premiered at California?s La Jolla Playhouse in 2004.

When he and Valli are at a performance together, they?ll focus on the details of a sometimes-surprising story: Gaudio, we learn, was introduced to Valli by future Oscar winner Joe Pesci, who was then just another young guy from the neighborhood. Always, the sound of the music has their attention. Yet every now and then, Gaudio admits, he watches the show in the way Four Seasons fans watched him.

?I?m understanding what an audience feels when it falls in love with something," he says.

That love affair has been raging since those early performances at La Jolla. Rick Elice, the former Broadway advertising whiz who wrote the Jersey Boys  script with Annie Hall  screenwriter Marshall Brickman, says that on the night of the first New York preview, "They went nuts. There were 2? times more people than at La Jolla, and it was the same reaction, but nuclear." 

Jersey Boys  went on to win the 2006 best musical Tony Award and is still one of Broadway?s solid hits, still setting off "nuclear" reactions. 

Beyond the enduring, pop-rock power of songs like Big Girls Don?t Cry, Dawn (Go Away), Rag Doll, Can?t Take My Eyes Off You  and the myriad other hits crafted by Gaudio and Four Seasons producer Bob Crewe, what accounts for the wide-ranging appeal of Jersey Boys? 

Des McAnuff, the director who played a central role in structuring the show, points to its powerful yet not-so-simple story. 

?When we started doing our excavation on the story of the four guys, it became clear and obvious that they had an extraordinary rags-to-riches story," McAnuff says. "The road that leads to the top of the mountain is great. But when things start falling apart, it is interesting and every bit as dramatic as when they achieve success and fame." 

The show?s evolution began after Elice was approached about doing some sort of Four Seasons musical in 2002, and he got Brickman involved. The two spent a long lunch with Valli and Gaudio, getting hooked on the stories about the Seasons? evolution and adventures.

?I had no idea they?d done so much. Bob and Frankie told us this fantastic story about how they rode the rocket when they hit," Elice remembers. "I knew everything about the Beatles and the Stones. But no one except the diehard fans knew about the Four Seasons. We stumbled upon a treasure trove. These were blue-collar guys with no glamour quotient. They were never written about. They came from the wrong side of the river." 

By 2003, Elice and Brickman had a treatment for the show and took it to Dodger Theatricals producer Michael David. David suggested McAnuff as director. McAnuff offered a world premiere slot in October 2004 at La Jolla Playhouse, where he was then artistic director, before a word of the script had been written. And after months of intense work, magic happened. 

?It had the right chemistry. If we could figure out how we did it, we?d do it again," McAnuff says with a laugh. "The piece is inherently theatrical. It?s a great ride: four friends going to hell and back." 

That the show would be jam-packed with hits ("I jokingly say I wrote the score for this 45 years ago," Gaudio says) was a given.

What was less clear was whether Jersey Boys  could, like Mamma Mia!, be that rare jukebox musical that becomes a monster hit. 

?We arrived into this maelstrom of hate. It was hard to raise money," Elice says. "The only two people who knew [the show would work] were Bob and Frankie. They kept saying, ?You don?t understand.?"

Gaudio and Valli were sure that if Jersey Boys  could make it to Broadway, it would be a hit.

?Frankie and I had final approval, and I don?t think we focused on it being a biographical show. That was a different twist and a little scary. There was a lot to deal with, with both the guys in the group and other characters," Gaudio says. "But in La Jolla, we looked at each other at intermission and said, ?My God! If this ever hits New York!?" 

As for the jukebox label, Gaudio says of Jersey Boys, "It?s a damned good show, period." 

A longer version of this story ran in The Miami Herald on April 5, 2009. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/01/v-fullstory/
2085450/jersey-boys-the-story-of-four.html#
 

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