Not many people have heard of Francis Stephen Castelluccio so it's just as well he changed it to Frankie Valli (that's with an “i” and not a “y”, because all Italian words end in “i”).
Jersey Boys
The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
Civic Theatre
Until June 17
Not many people have heard of Francis Stephen Castelluccio so it's just as well he changed it to Frankie Valli (that’s with an “i” and not a “y”, because all Italian words end in “i”).
His name is synonymous with the Four Seasons, the group which along with the Beach Boys changed the American music scene in the 1960’s.
They inserted themselves in the universal consciousness like the Beatles so that everyone knows the words of their songs even if the can’t remember the name of the group.
The string of hits they had included “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” “Walk Like a Man” and “Oh What A Night”, making them one of the great bands of the 20th century and selling up to 200 million records.
Now with the international success of the musical “Jersey Boys”, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, including Bob Gaudio, Tommy de Vito and Nick Massi, are once again becoming household names and they will live on forever because the show will be one of the great musicals of the 21st century.
Back in the 1960s, Bob Gaudio (and the rarely mentioned Bob Crew) wrote a string of songs which went into the top 10 slots for weeks on end.
These songs were bitter sweet reflections on life and love and they expressed many of the feeling of society’s youth of the day.
One of the problems with many musicals is that songs even that are great often don’t really relate to the story.
The disconnection between the two means that there is a lack of drama with the songs not enhancing the story.
With “Jersey Boys” the songs are an integral part of the musical. The narrative follows the lives of the members of the band and so the high points of their careers are their major hits.
While the songs were not written about the lives of the band members, in this carefully constructed musical they become reflections on their interconnected lives.
The story is largely centered on Frankie Valli but each of the band members gives their own take on the success of the band.
There is the slightly mad Tommy de Vito (Anthony Harkin), who manages the group but is always in trouble with the mob, and the bass player, Nick Massi (Glaston Toft), who is always keen to leave and set up his own group.
Then there is the incredibly intense Bob Gaudio, who understood how to write songs which were just so right.
While this combination of a great voice, great song writer, hard-headed manager and a great solid bass player is what made the group, it is the extraordinary falsetto voice of Frankie Valli, sung by Dion Bilios, which gives the show the incredible vibrancy which makes for an extraordinary performance.
The whole story is threaded through with their personal problems, marriages, divorces internal wrangles, the run in with the mob and the band’s breakup.
The show at times feels like a documentary showing how the band evolved.
We get a sense of how bands get to be successful with the various components of song writer, singer, manager and musicians all having to contribute and fame comes when all those people with their skills line up to create a hit.
It's a fast-paced show with multiple mini set changes, great visuals, great dialogue, great jokes and a string of crowd-pleasing songs which had the audience applauding every number.
The singing is fabulous and their act is quite possibly slicker than the original band.
