JERSEY BOYS Cast Talks Film Adaptation; Zac Efron Dream Casting!

The cast of Warner Bros. big-screen adaptation of Jersey Boys spoke to Variety last night at a New York pre-party premiere of the film.

John Lloyd Young, who received a Tony Award for his performance as Frankie Valli, said that little adjustment was required to make the move to the big screen. "It was much more gratifying for me as an actor," he said. "I actually just allowed it to be. On stage, you have to send it out all the way to the back row."

Young added that he wasn't surprise the Broadway musical made the leap to Hollywood. "Yes, I did think it would make it to the screen," he said. "I hoped that I would. Some of my favorite Hollywood musical movies retained the original Broadway star, like 'My Fair Lady,' 'The Music Man,' 'The King and I,' 'Cabaret' with Joel Grey, many of them were Warner Bros. movies."

Erich Bergen, who portrayed songwriter and backup singer Bob Gaudio in the Vegas production of the show said he used to ponder what a big screen adaptation of the show would look like."We used to sit backstage and dream cast the show, because we thought they were not going to use us," Bergen says. "And so we'd say, 'What part could Zac Efron play?'"

Read the story in full here

The film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys will hit theaters on June 20th. Directed byClint Eastwood, JERSEY BOYS, written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, features the music and lyrics ofBob Gaudio & Bob Crewe.

Jersey Boys follows the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. It is about a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the Tracks who became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty. The show features all their hits including "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Oh What A Night," "Walk Like A Man," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Working My Way Back To You."

Jersey Boys is the recipient of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Musical. The Original Broadway Cast Recording, produced by Bob Gaudio, received the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA). The Broadway production also won the 2006 Outer Critics Circle & Drama League Awards for Best Musical. The London production also won the 2009 UK People¹s Choice and What¹s on Stage Awards for Best New Musical. The Toronto production won three Dora Awards, including the Audience Choice Award for Outstanding Production. The Australian production is 2010 recipient of the Helpmann Award for Australia¹s Best Musical and seven Victorian Green Room Awards.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

To post a comment, you must register and login.