JERSEY BOYS…An Unforgettable Portrait Painted in Song and Words
With most juke box musicals, how you feel about the music largely determines how you feel about the musical. But you don't even have to be familiar with the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to be wowed by JERSEY BOYS, the Tony winning musical now playing at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, in association with McCoy Rigby Entertainment, and presented by 3D Theatricals, winner of the prestigious Joel Hirschhorn Lifetime Achievement Award.
The show is directed by T.J. Dawson ("Sunday in the Park with George") and plays through Sunday, May 12th in La Mirada.
It also doesn't hurt JERSEY BOYS that the Four Seasons were rivaled in popularity only by the Beach Boys in the early 1960s and that the group, fronted by Valli, kept turning out hits into the disco era despite the musical revolution that began with the Beatles arrival in America in 1964.
Shaped by the scriptwriters Marshall Brickman (who collaborated with Woody Allen on the screenplays for "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan") and Rick Elice (five Tonys for “Peter and the Starcatcher”), JERSEY BOYS trademarks a biographical approach, sprinkled with some likably sassy dialogue as they chart the evolution of their main characters from street kids in the urban wastelands of New Jersey to pop gods enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Conspicuous in that makeup is that it actually features singers that sound like the singers they are portraying along with a technology-enhanced band that approximates the original sound of their music in their Top-40 glory. But it’s really much more than a redemption narrative full of inaugural breeziness that’s “got a good beat, and you can dance to it.”
In fact, the real thrill is that Noah Rivera’s Rudy Valli has crossed the line from impersonation to melting into a perfect wax effigy complete with Mr. Valli’s distinctive nasal crooning, and a spot-on evocation of a voice still dominating golden oldie stations in 2024. Inhaling the cheers of the crowd, Mr. Rivera’s Valli glistens with a copious mix of tears, humility and prominence in a performance as real and vivid as the sting of your hands clapping together.
Brickman and Elice’s book also lends clarity and crispness to a shifting narrative that lets the different Seasons tell their own sides of their story. They are, in addition to Mr. Valli, Tommy DeVito (Chris Fore), the group's bad-boy organizer; Bob Gaudio (Taubert Nadalini), the genius songwriter whose credits include—quite apart from the ones he sang himself—"You Don’t Bring me Flowers’ (Neil Diamond/Barbra Streisand) and hits for top names like Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson; and bass player Nick Massi (Blake Burgess, with a beautiful bass voice to match), the self-described Ringo of the bunch.
As a group, there is an uncanny, mimetically precise rendering of songs like "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Rag Doll" and "Walk Like a Man," composed by Mr. Gaudio with lyrics by Bob Crewe (portrayed here as a gay diva of a record producer by Adam Lendermon). With their three-part-harmony behind Mr. Rivera’s hearty falsetto, the songs are exasperatingly infectious.
That theme reverberates throughout JERSEY BOYS as a mythopoeic tale emerges from thick accents (dis, dat and da odder), false starts, personnel shifts and name changes. Joey, a.k.a. the future Joe Pesci (yes, that Joe Pesci), is played by an amusing Gian Raffaele DiCostanzo, who’s got Mr. Pesci’s “O.K., O.K.” nailed solid. Other notables include Michael Ray Fisher as Hal Miller and Johnny DiGiorgio as Norm Waxman, Maggie Ek, Mel Mehrabian, Marlana Dunn and Dayna Sauble, along with an outstanding supporting cast.
At the end of JERSEY BOYS the actors have just performed their last song on a set and you half-expect the Sharks and the Jets to leap into the scene with them. Instead, Jersey music man Frankie Valli and the other Seasons gather one last time together as they warble and fancy-foot down a back-lot street. They finish big and then they all freeze, staring straight ahead as sweat pops and bodies tremble under the now harsh lighting. Now that’s entertainment, baby, and it is hard work.
LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT presents the Tony®, Olivier®, & Grammy® award-winning smash-hit Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, with Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice, Music by Bob Gaudio, Lyrics by Bob Crewe, Musical Direction by Allen Everman, Choreography by Dana Solimando, and Direction by T.J. Dawson. Set Design by Stephen Gifford; Lighting Design by Jean-Yves Tessier; Sound Design by Josh Bessom; Costume Design by Adam Ramirez; Hair/Wig/Make-up Design by Kaitlin Yagen; Properties Design co-designed by Gretchen Morales and Melanie Cavaness. The Casting Director is Lindsay Brooks. The Production Stage Manager is Jill Gold. Original Broadway Stage Production by Dodger Theatricals (Michael David, Edward Strong, Rocco Landesman, Des McAnuff); Joseph J. Grano; Tamara and Kevin Kinsella; Pelican Group in association with Latitude Link Rick Steiner/Osher/Staton/Bell/Mayerson Group. World Premiere Produced by La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, CA, Des McAnuff, Artistic Director & Steven B. Libman, Managing Director.
The Cast of JERSEY BOYS features: Noah Rivera as “Frankie Valli,” Taubert Nadalini as “Bob Gaudio,” Blake Burgess as “Nick Massi;” Chris Fore as “Tommy DeVito;” Gian Raffaele DiCostanzo as “Joey & Others;” Adam Lendermon as “Bob Crewe & Others;” Marlana Dunn as “Mary Delgado & Others;” Maggie Ek as “Francine & Others;” Michael Ray Fisher as “Barry Belson & Others;” Mel Mehrabian as “Lorraine & Others;” Dominic Pace as “Gyp De Carlo & Others;” Quintan Craig as “Hank Majewski & Others;” and Johnny DiGiorgio as “Norman Waxman & Others.” Swings are Joe Abraham, Dayna Sauble, and Eran Scoggins.
JERSEY BOYS will run from April 20 at 8 pm, and run through Sunday, May 12, 2024 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 pm; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 pm & 8 pm and Sundays at 1:30 pm & 6:30 pm. There is no performance on Sunday, April 21 at 6:30 pm. There will be Open-Captioned performances on Sunday, April 21 at 1:30 pm and Saturday, May 4 at 2 pm. Talkbacks with the cast and creative team will be on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30 pm and Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 pm. For tickets, purchase online at LaMiradaTheatre.com.
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Niedle
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