Jersey Boys Announce Tour Cast; Begins December '06

The producers of JERSEY BOYS, winner of this year's Tony® Award for Best Musical, have announced the cast that will launch the National Tour in San Francisco. Directed by two-time Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS will begin its National Tour in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre in December, 2006 (previews begin December 1, opening night is December 10, and the production runs through February 11, 2007). JERSEY BOYS will play in Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre for a limited engagement May 25 through August 5, opening June 3, and will play a limited run in Chicago at the LaSalle Bank Theatre beginning October, 2007.

JERSEY BOYS is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons – Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi, and how this group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sound and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were thirty.

JERSEY BOYS will star Erich Bergen as Bob Gaudio, Michael Ingersoll as Nick Massi, Christopher Kale Jones as Frankie Valli and Deven May as Tommy DeVito.

Also in the cast are John Altieri as Bob Crewe, Joseph Siravo as Gyp DeCarlo, Miles Aubrey, Erik Bates, Sandra DeNise, Jennifer Evans, Rick Faugno, Eric Gutman, Nathan Klau, Brandon Matthieus, Jackie Seiden, Jarrod Spector, Taylor Sternberg, and Melissa Strom.

JERSEY BOYS is directed by two-time Tony® Award-winner Des McAnuff. The musical, which won a total of four 2006 Tony® Awards and continues to set new weekly box office records at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway, is written by Academy Award winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.

The JERSEY BOYS design and production team comprises Klara Zieglerova (Scenic Design), Jess Goldstein (Costume Design), Howell Binkley (winner of the 2006 Tony Award® for his Lighting Design of JERSEY BOYS), Steve Canyon Kennedy (Sound Design), Michael Clark (Projections Design), Charles LaPointe (Wig and Hair Design), Steve Orich (Orchestrations) and Ron Melrose (Music Direction, Vocal Arrangements & Incidental Music).

JERSEY BOYS is produced on tour by Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Tamara and Kevin Kinsella, Pelican Group, in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner.

The national tour of JERSEY BOYS will be coordinated by AWA Touring Services.

JERSEY BOYS cast recording available now on Rhino Records.

Visit the website for the National Tour of JERSEY BOYS at www.JerseyBoysTour.com.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Erich Bergen (Bob Gaudio). Recent theatrical credits include Pure Heaven: The Music of Kay Thompson (O'Neill Theatre Center), The Three Musketeers (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), White Christmas (Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles). On television, he appeared on "The Dana Carvey Show." He has appeared in dozens of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows. At the age of 12, Erich's voice made its Broadway debut in the Tony winning An American Daughter. Erich was born and raised in New York City and attend the drama program at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

MICHAEL INGERSOLL (Nick Massi). Chicago credits include I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Metropolis Performing Arts Center); reading of The Three Musketeers (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); world premiere of Josephine Tonight! (Theatre Building Chicago); Romeo & Juliet (A Crew of Patches); and Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick … Boom! (Pegasus Players). Michael spent the last three years as a resident company member of Playhouse on the Square. Appeared in the feature film Walk the Line and the independent film All Flesh Keep Silent. Miami University of Ohio graduate.

Christopher Kale Jones (Frankie Valli). Most recently made his La Jolla Playhouse debut in Zhivago, also directed by Des McAnuff. Regional credits: Chris in Miss Saigon (Worcester Foothills Theatre); Mercury in Olympus on My Mind (Bristol Riverside Theatre, 2005 Barrymore nomination); Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Fulton Opera House) and The Ballad of Little Jo (Steppenwolf Theatre). New York credits: House of Desires (Storm Theatre); Swimming Upstream (NY Fringe Festival), and most recently, a reading of the new musical Warsaw.

Deven May (Tommy DeVito) appeared Off-Broadway in the title role of Bat Boy, earning a Theatre World Award for Outstanding New York Debut, as well as Drama Desk and Lortel Award nominations. He originated the role with the Actors' Gang in LA where he won the 1998 Ovation Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical, and also revived the part last year in the UK productions at The West Yorkshire Playhouse and The Shaftesbury. His other stage credits include A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Goodspeed), Camelot and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Television: "Oz," "Days of Our Lives."

Marshall Brickman (Book). Films: (author or co-author) Sleeper, Annie Hall (AA), Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery; (writer/director) Simon, Lovesick, The Manhattan Project, Sister Mary Explains it All. Television: The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (head writer), The Dick Cavett ABC late night show (head writer/co-producer). Mr. Brickman entered show business as a musician, first as a member of the folk group the Tarriers and then, along with John and Michelle Phillips, as one of the New Journeymen, which re-emerged a year later (Brickman having moved onto saner pursuits) as The Mommas and the Papas. Brickman's recording (with Eric Weissberg) of the soundtrack of Deliverance, recorded in 1963, achieved gold status twice and remains a healthy seller around the world forty years later. Mr. Brickman has published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Playboy, and other periodicals. Jersey Boys is his first venture into the musical theater.

Rick Elice (Book) wrote a popular thriller, Double Double (translated in 16 languages), Leonardo's Ring (London Fringe, 2003) and Dog and Pony (New York Stage & Film, 2003). From 1982-2000, as creative director at Serino Coyne Inc., he produced ad campaigns for some 300 Broadway shows, from A Chorus Line to Lion King. Since 2000, he has served as creative consultant for The Walt Disney Studio. BA, Cornell University; MFA, Yale Drama School; Teaching Fellow, Harvard University; charter member, American Repertory Theater. In 2003, he appeared off-Broadway in Elaine May's comedy, Adult Entertainment. With Marshall Brickman, he is currently writing another Broadway musical, to be directed by Tommy Tune. End of credits. Rick saw his first Broadway show when he was three. His mother said he was very well-behaved. From that day, he dreamed of working in the theater. From the age of nineteen, he has. Heartfelt thanks to those he's been lucky enough to know, whose work makes him grateful for the day he was born: Sondheim, Stoppard, Bennett, Prince, Fosse, Robbins, Nichols, Tune, Nunn, Laurents, Stone, Kushner, Taymor, Papp, Schumacher, Schneider, Coyne, Brickman and Rees. Rick thinks about them a lot. He never thought about Jersey much. He does now.

Bob Gaudio (Music) wrote his first hit, "Who Wears Short Shorts," at 15, for the Royal Teens, a group he started, then went on to become a founding member of the Four Seasons and the band's principal songwriter. He also produced the hit "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" for Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand (Grammy nomination, Record of the Year), as well as six albums for Diamond, including The Jazz Singer. Other producing credits include albums for Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and the soundtrack for Little Shop of Horrors. Several songs co-written with Bob Crewe have been cover hits for such artists as the Tremeloes ("Silence Is Golden") and the Walker Brothers ("The Sun Ain`t Gonna Shine Anymore") Lauren Hill ("Can't Take My Eyes Off You"). With his wife, Judy Parker, Gaudio produced and co-wrote the Who Loves You album for the Four Seasons, and one of Billboard's longest-charted singles (54 weeks), "Oh, What A Night." A highpoint in his career came in 1990, when, as a member of the original Four Seasons, Gaudio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which hailed him as "a quintessential music-maker." In 1995, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. To this day, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli still maintain their partnership…on a handshake.

Bob Crewe (Lyrics). "New York was pregnant in the fifties," says Bob Crewe, "gestating with possibilities." Crewe and music partner Frank Slay became independent writer-producers when the category hadn't yet been invented. In 1957 they wrote and produced "Silhouettes" for The Rays, skyrocketing to #1. Suddenly, producers in demand, they launched Freddie Cannon's "Tallahassee Lassie" and Billy & Lillie's "Lah Dee Da." Crewe's 1960's solo unprecedented producing success with The Four Seasons birthed a new sound, striking a major chord in American Pop. "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "Candy Girl," "Ronnie" – all smashes! When lead Frankie Valli demanded a solo turn, Crewe & Bob Gaudio wrote and Crewe produced "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," eventually becoming the century's fifth most played song. Crewe ran hot with artists from Vicki Carr, Oliver, Lesley Gore to Mitch Ryder, co-writing with Charles Fox the soundtrack for Jane Fonda's film, "Barbarella". Then his own Bob Crewe Generation exploded with Music To Watch Girls By. 1972 Bob L.A., where he revived Frankie Valli with "My Eyes Adored You" by Crewe & Kenny Nolan. They also co-wrote Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" (#1, July '75) – to re-hit again from the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge (#1, June '01). Credit: David Ritz.

Des McAnuff (Director) is a two-time Tony Award-winning director and writer and the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse. Under his leadership, La Jolla Playhouse has won more than 300 theatre awards including the 1993 Tony Award as America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. Recent productions directed at the Playhouse include Zhivago (2005); Palm Beach, The Screwball Musical (2005); Private Fittings (2005); Tom Donaghy's Eden Lane (2003); Molière's Tartuffe (2002); and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (2001). Playhouse to Broadway Credits: Jersey Boys; Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays (Playhouse 2004; Broadway 2004, Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Playhouse 1994, Broadway 1995), The Who's Tommy (director/co-author with Pete Townshend; Playhouse 1992, Broadway 1993, Tony Award Best Director of a Musical, London Olivier Award Best Director 1994), A Walk in the Woods (Playhouse 1987, Broadway 1988, Moscow and Lithuania 1989-90) and Big River (Playhouse 1984, Broadway 1985, seven Tony Awards including Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical). Film credits include Cousin Bette (director), Iron Giant (Producer), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (director), Quills (Executive Producer).

Sergio Trujillo (Choreographer) received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations for Jersey Boys. Last season he choreographed Broadway's All Shook Up. Other NYC: The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Bare, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Kismet (Encores!), Salome (NYC Opera). Int'l: Peggy Sue Got Married (West End); West Side Story and The Sound of Music (Stratford Festival); Kiss Me, Kate and Twelfth Night (Japan). Other Theatre credits: The Mambo Kings, Jersey Boys (La Jolla Playhouse), The Wedding Banquet, Kiss Of The Spiderwoman, (North Shore Music Theatre), Le Nozze Di Figaro (LA Opera), Hoy Come Ayer (Ballet Hispanico) and segments of Chita Rivera's Chita and All that Jazz. Choreographed the TV specials: "Broadway: The American Musical" (PBS), and "The 14 American Comedy Awards" starring Nathan Lane. Recipient of a 2003 Ovation Award in LA and three Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations for outstanding choreography in Canada. Recently choreographed the Zhivago and The Wiz for La Jolla Playhouse.