When one thinks of jukebox musicals, most often our minds go to a place where Mamma Mia! reigns, where characters breakout into song with each plot point, and where songs from our adolescence retain their nostalgic innocence no matter how carnal our actual thoughts were at the time.

Jersey Boys plays out like anything but this family friendly label. The musical remains true to the denotation, jammed pack with top 40 songs, but is far from that connotation as possible theatrically possible.

The story of the Four Seasons, the true story of crime, gambling, drinking, and the femme spoils of being a pop star is brazenly portrayed in this musical biopic of Nick Massi, Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio, and Frankie Valli.

The vileness of DeVito, the polar warmth of Gaudio, the uncomfortable reluctance of Massi, and the sheer loyalty of Valli are displayed as the story moves from personal confessions to dirty jokes to girls running out of rooms early in the morning. The current cast of Dominic Nolfi (DeVito), Andrew Rannells (Gaudio), Matt Bogart (Nick Massi), and Jarrod Spector (Valli) remains as believably rambunctious, raunchy, and overwhelmed as the original cast.

The voices are spot on, and the charisma of each character oozes as the cast makes you believe that this is more of a musical biopic than a jukebox musical. Anyone expecting anything less than an honest look at the past of pop stars should not bother with Jersey Boys tickets and head right to the discount counter for Shrek tickets.

This story is a rare culmination of honesty and nostalgia, a mix that exists almost nowhere else in any other medium. The show at the August Wilson Theatre is joyfully surprisingly rivaled by the North American tour, as professed somewhat defensively by Wendell Brock of the Atlanta Journal Constitutional.

It seems that the Jersey Boys musical is as universally loved as their long list of hit songs. So whether in search of theater tickets for Broadway or for the local theater in any other city throughout the country, is a good safe quality purchase, eve if the musical is anything but good family friendly entertainment.