Review: JERSEY BOYS at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Saturday 10th August 2024.

You can take the boys out of Jersey but you can’t take the Jersey out of the boys. You can put the Jersey Boys on stage at the Arts Theatre. This stylish biography of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, aka the Jersey Boys, is as educational as it is entertaining. Indeed, without the many songs, it would be an engrossing study of the power struggles within an important musical group. With the marvellous songs, it’s a great entertainment. The quartet doesn’t try to copy that original sound but their performance of all those songs, Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, and Walk Like A Man, for example, is really impressive. Choreographer, Linda Lawson, has caught the vibe of the time so well. The quartet could break free and conquer Adelaide.

Tommy DeVito wants to start a band, and Trevor Anderson brings to his portrayal all the arrogance of the born fixer whose contacts in the underworld help build the band and then almost destroy it. Nick Massi is a sturdy cohort, who comes into his own narrating the second act. Sam Davy took over the role at very short notice but you couldn’t guess. Philip Quaziz stands out as Bob Gaudio, the great songwriter whose partnership with Frankie is fundamental to the success of the band. He sings superbly and plays the piano really well.

Frankie Valli is still singing and touring in his nineties and Lindsay Prodea , the focus of the show, gives you the sense of that commitment and strength. Vocally, he has a new sound, even if his falsetto isn’t as forceful as the original.  Maybe it’s the hair, maybe it’s the suit, but he’s in charge all the way.

Leeanne Saville has caught the sound of the sixties and the seventies with her amazing band in the pit. Bravo.

Jude Hines directs her large cast with skill. The many changes of character and location are effective and it must be chaos backstage. There are so many changes of character and costume that it’s hard to believe it’s actually a small cast. Sam Wiseman stands out as the money man, Joe Pesci , and three other people, and Tom Adams sparkles as the campy producer, Bob Crewe, and four others. The company can field two other quartets, one of a vivacious 60’s girl group, and the other, the replacement Four Seasons as the show and the career go on. Gary Anderson’s spacious two-level set, with one sweeping staircase to the side, is exactly right, and carefully lit by Tim Bates. The four seasons, not the Vivaldi, nor the pizza, are projected on the back wall of the stage, marking each step of the way.

The matinee audience, which filled the Arts Theatre, took to heart the instruction not to sing along, which was a pity. They were so quiet but appreciative that the energy pouring out from the stage was not amplified and returned. The link between the stage and the seats raises the temperature and the dynamic. Nighttimes will be much more fun. Go and find out for yourselves.