In the video, go behind the scenes of The Muny's production of Jersey Boys today when Mark Ballas takes over our Instagram account to give our readers a behind the scenes look at what it takes to put on a show at the world's largest musical theatre.
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Mark Ballas has captivated audiences on ABC's Dancing with the Starsfor 19 seasons. He's a two-time champion, 10-time finalist and 2011 Emmy nominee for his work on the show. He made his Broadway debut as Frankie Valli in the final cast of Jersey Boys. Additional theatre credits include Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Copacabana(Tony), Jesus Christ Superstar(Judas) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He choreographed Pepsi's Super Bowl commercial starring Sofia Vergara and the Oscar commercial for Shonda Rhimes' The Catch. Mark is also half of music duo Alexander Jean, alongside his wife BC Jean. Their first single "Roses & Violets" debuted at numberone on the singer songwriter iTunes chart, number six on the iTunes overall chart, charted in seven countries, and has over seven million Spotify streams. The duos first EP Head Highand second EP High Enoughboth hit number one on the singer songwriter albums chart and top 30 on the overall chart. The duo also toured the United States three times in the last two years, most recentlyopening for violinist Lindsey Stirling on her sold-out Warmer in the Winter tour, playing in front of 2500-7000 people a night. Mark is also an accomplished flamenco and electric-guitar player.
Jersey Boys, winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical, is the authentic biographic story of the magic behind the music of worldwide megahit group, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Featuring over 30 chart-topping hits, including fan favorites "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," this Muny premiere is almost too good to be true, and will leave audiences saying, "Oh, What a Night!"
The wonderfully-talented cast includes Mark Ballas (Frankie Valli), Bobby Conte Thornton (Bob Gaudio), Nicolas Dromard (Tommy DeVito), Keith Hines (Nick Massi), Neal Benari (Gyp DeCarlo and others) and Nicholas Rodriguez (Bob Crewe and others). A marvelous ensemble completes this cast, including Michelle Aravena, Candi Boyd, Tommy Martinez, Carissa Massaro, Harris Milgrim, Trina Mills, Dakota Mullins, Ben Nordstrom, Michael Seltzer, Gabi Stapula, Daryl Tofa, and Victor Wisehart. The company is also joined by the Muny Teen youth ensembles.
A tremendous creative team leads this production with direction and choreography by Josh Rhodes, music direction by Rick Bertone, scenic design by Paul Tate DePoo III, costume design by Andrea Lauer, lighting design by Rob Denton, sound design by John Shivers and David Patridge, video design by Matthew Young, wig design by Robert Pickens and production stage management by J. Jason Daunter.
The seven shows in the 2018 Muny season are: Jerome Robbins' Broadway (June 11-17), The Wiz (June 19-25), Singin' in the Rain (June 27-July 3), Jersey Boys (July 9-16), Annie (July 18-25), Gypsy (July 27-August 2) and Meet Me In St. Louis (August 4-12). For more information, visit muny.org.
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