JERSEY BOYS Featured in the Commercial Appeal, Performances Begin 1/27

JERSEY BOYS, the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning hit musical, will begin performances in Memphis tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27. In advance of the engagement, the Commercial Appeal's Christopher Blank sat down with original Four Season member Bob Gaudio who revealed some stories behind some of their most famous songs.

Click here to read the feature:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2010/jan/22/boys-dont-hide-warts-of-youth/

Songwriter Bob Gaudio provides some background into three of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons' best known songs:

"December, 1963 (Oh, what a night!)" (Released December 1975)

It was a song that almost didn't make the album. It was always called "Oh, What a Night," but it was originally about the repeal of Prohibition, which was 1933. I wrote some dastardly lyrics about "flappers flippin' on the floor," all kinds of stupid stuff. I brought it into the session and Frankie just kind of looked away at the other guys. And there was like a silence heard all over the world.

The consensus was that it was a pretty crappy lyric, and I got a little indignant and said, "OK, we'll dump it. We have other tracks." And everybody just kind of mutinied and said "No, no, this is one of the best tracks we have, the feel is great!" I had to relent because even though it wasn't a dance record, it made you just want to get up and move once you heard the piano lick. It was a sin to waste it.

Judy Parker, my lady at the time (now wife), stayed up most of the night and came up with this other lyric about (having sex for) the first time, and she changed the year to 1963. I wrote the bridge, a typical male lyric: "I felt the rush, like a rolling ball of thunder, spinning my head around and taking my body under." That was my contribution.

"Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (Released May 1967)

"Can't Take My Eyes off You" was (Hall of Fame songwriter) Bob Crewe's title, and it started the ball rolling. There are three separate melodies. The verse was a melody that I had floating around in my head that I'd never locked down. The chorus came at the moment, but I couldn't figure out how to get from the soft verse to the strong pumping "I love you baby!" and have that make any sense.

The bridge, the horn section, was a children's nursery rhyme that I was writing for a children's show that never got launched. I just remembered that little melody. I wanted to turn it into a horn lick.

I'll tell you a little secret: You listen to Stan Kenton's Artistry in Rhythm album, you'll hear the inspiration for the horn licks on "Can't Take My Eyes Off You." Listen to the trombone line. He was by far my all-time favorite orchestra leader. I love that band.

"Walk Like A Man" (Released January 1963)

"Walk Like a Man" was our attempt at getting stronger and edgier. We had "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry," and "Walk Like a Man" came and Frankie got a little grittier. It was just a hook that wouldn't quit.

JERSEY BOYS will play Memphis at the Orpheum Theatre from January 27 through February 14, 2010.

The cast of JERSEY BOYS is lead by Matt Bailey (Tommy DeVito), Joseph Leo Bwarie (Frankie Valli), original Broadway cast member Steve Gouveia (Nick Massi), Ryan Jesse (Bob Gaudio), with Jonathan Hadley and Joseph Siravo.

The ensemble of JERSEY BOYS includes Michelle Aravena, Candi Boyd, Sarah Darling, Christopher Deangelis, John Edwards, Graham Fenton, John Gardiner, Buck Hujabre, Leo Huppert, Denise Payne, Nathan Scherich, Brian Silverman, Courter Simmons, Ryan Strand, Kara Tremel and Kevin Worley.

JERSEY BOYS is the winner of the 2006 Best Musical Tony Award®, the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and most recently, the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.

Directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS 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.

JERSEY BOYS opened at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway to critical acclaim on November 6, 2005. The JERSEY BOYS National Tour opened to rave reviews in San Francisco on December 1, 2006, played a record-breaking run in Los Angeles and is still breaking house records in cities across North America. There are six Current Productions of JERSEY BOYS: New York, London, Las Vegas, Toronto, a US National tour, and Melbourne, Australia.

JERSEY BOYS is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. It's a journey 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 Original Broadway Cast Recording of JERSEY BOYS was produced by Bob Gaudio, and was recently certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The cast recording is now available on Rhino Records. JERSEY BOYS: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (Broadway Books) is the official handbook to the smash Broadway hit.

 

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