Jersey Boys to Launch National Tour in San Francisco December 2006

The hit Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, which has taken Broadway by storm, will launch a National Tour in San Francisco beginning in December, 2006. JERSEY BOYS, which opened to rave reviews on November 6, 2005, continues to set new weekly box office records at the August Wilson Theatre and has been among the top grossing shows on Broadway ever since.

JERSEY BOYS will be presented in San Francisco as part of the Shorenstein Hays Nederlander (SHN) theatre series. "Jersey Boys is simply the greatest musical on Broadway this season", said Carole Shorenstein Hays, owner and president of SHN. "The music is infectious and like the rest of the audience, I was on my feet cheering. I just knew Jersey Boys had to open in San Francisco!"

JERSEY BOYS is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how a 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 sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty.

The JERSEY BOYS is written by Academy Award winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo.

The JERSEY BOYS design and production team comprises Klara Zieglerova (Scenic Design), Jess Goldstein (Costume Design), Howell Binkley (Lighting Design), 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 Broadway by Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Pelican Group, Tamara and Kevin Kinsella, in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner/Oshen/Staton/Bell/Mayerson Group.

BIOGRAPHIES:

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.

Sergio Trujillo (Choreographer) most recently choreographed the Broadway musical All Shook Up. Other NYC credits: The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Off-Broadway), Bare (Off-Broadway), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Encores!), and Salome (NYC Opera). Int'l credits: Peggy Sue Got Married (West End, London); West Side Story and The Sound of Music (Stratford Festival); Kiss Me, Kate and Twelfth Night (Tokyo, Japan). Other Theatre credits: The Mambo Kings (Golden Gate Theatre), Jersey Boys (La Jolla Playhouse), The Wedding Banquet (Village Theatre), 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. Mr. Trujillo has choreographed various TV specials including: "Broadway: The American Musical" (PBS), and "The 14 American Comedy Awards" starring Nathan Lane, Martin Short and Jane Krakowski. Recipient of a 2003 Ovation Award in LA and three Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations for outstanding choreography in Canada.

Des McAnuff (Director) is a Tony Award-winning director and writer and the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse. Under his leadership, La Jolla Playhouse has won more than 200 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).

JERSEY BOYS premiered at LaJolla Playhouse, October 17, 2004. The national tour of JERSEY BOYS will be coordinated by AWA Touring Services.

JERSEY BOYS cast recording available now on Rhino Records.

Visit the JERSEY BOYS website at www.JerseyBoysBroadway.com.