TV: 'Shop Talk' with J. Robert 'Bobby' Spencer

J. Robert Spencer is best known for his riveting work in the Tony Award winning Broadway Musical Jersey Boys. He was also featured in the cast of Broadway's Side Show. On Sunday, September 14th 2008, he will play his last performance as Nick Massi, a role he created and has essayed since the hit musical's very first moments.

Once he takes his final bow in Jersey Boys, he is off to Boston to sing in the heavy metal concert production of Handel's Messiah Rocks, A Joyful Noise alongside Tony Award Winner LaChanze, then its right into rehearsals for the Arena Stage's upcoming Next to Normal. In addition to all that success and most importantly, he is a dedicated family man with a growing brood at home, his fondest production by far. He took some time out of his busy final week schedule to sit down with me and just sort of 'talk shop', about theater, film and the power of creative inspiration, a subject we're very passionate about here at BroadwayWorld.com.

Spencer has recently completed Directing / Producing / Writing / Starring in his first feature film, entitled Farm Girl in New York. It's about two guys who have no luck with women, so they hold a fake audition in New York City to meet hot chicks. Farm Girl in New York screened at the Big Apple Film Festival in New York City at the Tribeca Cinemas on November 15 to a sold out group. The film just signed a worldwide distribution deal and will be available for online purchase shortly. He also just finished up triple duties of actor, director and producer on the new indie film, Heterosexuals. J. Robert Spencer is represented by Nyle Brenner at Polaris Entertainment.

Jersey Boys is written by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and is directed by two-time Tony® Award-winner Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi, 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 production premiered at La Jolla Playhouse, October 17, 2004, where the musical played a record-breaking run prior to the Broadway production. Jersey Boys opened at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway to critical acclaim on November 6, 2005 and continues to be among the five top grossing shows in New York. The Jersey Boys North American Tour opened to rave reviews in San Francisco on December 1, 2006 and played a 44-week, record-breaking run. The show is currently playing in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, London and in cities across the U.S. on a National Tour, and will open in Melbourne, Australia in March, 2009.

Video shot and edited by E. Matthew Cady