Photo Flash: 'Jersey Boys' Opens in West End March 18

Casting has been announced for the London production of Jersey Boys, the Tony Award award-winning Broadway musical. The show will open in London's West End at the Prince Edward Theatre on Tuesday March 18, 2008, following previews from February 28, 2008.

The London cast will be headed by Ryan Molloy as Frankie Valli, Stephen Ashfield as Bob Gaudio, Glenn Carter as Tommy DeVito and Philip Bulcock as Nick Massi.

"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 and International 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," explain press notes.  Their songs include 'Sherry', 'Walk Like A Man', 'December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)', 'Big Girls Don't Cry', 'My Eyes Adored You', 'Let's Hang On (To What We've Got)', 'Bye Bye Baby', 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You', 'Working My Way Back to You', 'Fallen Angel', 'Rag Doll' and 'Who Loves You'.

Jersey Boys is written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe. The London production will be staged by the entire original Broadway creative team, led by director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo.  Jersey Boys has scenic design by Klara Zieglerova, costume design by Jess Goldstein, lighting by Howell Binkley, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy and projections design by Michael Clark.  The orchestrations are by Steve Orich and the music direction and vocal arrangements by Ron Melrose.

Jersey Boys opened in New York in November 2005 and became an immediate sell-out.  Jersey Boys won four 2006 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and continues to play to standing room only at the August Wilson Theatre. Jersey Boys is the winner of the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

Jersey Boys will be produced by Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Tamara and Kevin Kinsella, Pelican Group, in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner, and a small group of UK colleagues.

Performance times at the Prince Edward Theatre will be Mondays-Saturdays at 7:30PM, with Tuesday and Saturday matinees at 2:30PM.  Tickets, priced from £20.00-£60.00, are available from the Prince Edward Theatre Box Office on 0844 482 5151 or online at www.jerseyboyslondon.com.  The Box Office for Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre in London is now open.  For more information visit www.JerseyBoysInfo.com

Ryan Molloy (Frankie Valli) trained at the Poor School in London, received a Drama Honours Degree at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) trained at the Valley Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Arts Al Ontorato in New York. Stage performances include Mr Cerebrum in The Pickled Cerebrum at the Play House in Los Angeles; Macduff in Macbeth at the Embassy Theatre London; Jerry in Betrayal at the Workhouse Theatre London and Gobo in The Merchant Of Venice at the Workhouse Theatre London. Musical productions include Tony Castles in The Life of Stanley Bishop at the Edinburgh Festival; Bill in Bill and Ted also at the Edinburgh Festival; Steve Strange in Taboo at the Venue London; MC Flash in Jerry Springer The Opera, and then Tremonte/Gabrielle in Jerry Springer The Opera at the Cambridge Theatre, the company received an Olivier Award for best supporting performance. He played the lead role in the national tour of Tonight's the Night which toured Britain most of last year. 2007 has been a busy year for Ryan having played Ozzie in On the Town at the Coliseum for the English National Opera, Jake in a tour of The Blues Brothers Unlimited, Eurobeat at the Edinburgh Festival and continuing into the UK Tour of Godspell, playing the role of Judas, to rave reviews.

Stephen Ashfield (Bob Gaudio) trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, London, on the Musical Theatre Course. He made his West End debut as Boy George in Taboo (opposite Boy George!), a role he repeated in the highly successful national tour. He played Basilio in the Music Theatre London adaptation of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at The Drill Hall and was seen in a compilation of new American musical theatre writing called 16 Gobs at The King's Head. He has appeared in the Calibre Productions tour of Beyond Broadway and Kings of Swing, played the title role of Harry in the West End showcase of When Harry Met Barry and spent Christmas at the Watford Palace Theatre as Colin the Ploughboy in Mother Goose. He played the leading role in the Irish musical The Ha'penny Bridge in Cork and Dublin, now released on CD, before returning to the West End to play the leading role of Nick in Fame. He went on to appear at the New End Theatre in London in the new musical Tomorrow Morning. He has been seen at Theatre Clwyd, starring as the Beast in their Christmas show Beauty and the Beast and was involved in the filming of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece Sweeney Todd. Most recently he has appeared in the leading role of Adam in Imagine This, a brand new musical, where his performance earned him rave reviews. For Christmas 2007 he will be playing Prince Charming in the traditional pantomime Cinderella at Lichfield.

Glenn Carter (Tommy DeVito). Theatre: Glenn performed the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End, a role which he then played to great acclaim on Broadway, for which he received a "Most Outstanding Performance in a Musical" award from the Drama League. Other theatre credits include: Buzz Aldrin in Moonlanding, Charlie in Merrily We Roll Along, The Baker in Into The Woods, The Sultan in Arabian Nights, Macduff in Macbeth and Robert in Company all for Derby Playhouse, Amiens/Oliver in Peter Halls production of As You Like It on tour and in America,  Laertes in Hamlet (Ludlow Festival); The Man in Whistle Down The Wind at the Aldwych Theatre, American Reporter in Chess (Prince Edward Theatre); Cats (New London Theatre); Marius in Les Miserables (Palace Theatre); Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (London Palladium); Johnny Casino in the original cast of Grease (Dominion Theatre), the title role in Alfie (Theatre Royal, St. Anne's) and Simon Zealotes in Jesus Christ Superstar. Repertory: Season at Nottingham Playhouse. Concerts: Numerous engagements in concert at the Barbican Centre, Royal Festival and Albert Halls; The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (inaugural tour with Sarah Brightman); numerous charity concerts including La Cage Aux Folles and Mack and Mabel. Glenn was also a guest in the recent Bernadette Peters concert at The Royal Festival Hall, also released on video. Film: Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar for Really Useful Films.  Jesus (Heyzus) in the feature film Nine Lives. TV: Doctors (BBC), The Bill (Carlton), The Travelling Man (Granada), Saatchi in Ten Glorious Years (Channel 4). Recording: Concert recordings of La Cage Aux Folles and Mack and Mabel; cast recordings of Grease and Jesus Christ Superstar.  Glenn is also a successful songwriter and has worked on many projects with numerous artists.

Philip Bulcock (Nick Massi) was born in Jericho, Bury. When 16, he became the first winner of the Ivy Owen Award for Drama and also beat thousands of hopefuls to gain a place with The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, where he spent two seasons, working alongside the likes of Daniel Craig and Sophie Okonedo. Philip attended Mountview Theatre School, where, a year into a three-year acting course, he was offered a place on Mountview's inaugural, but now hugely reputable, musical theatre course. He accepted and later graduated, building his early career mostly with roles in musicals. Credits at this time included Nine, Elvis - The Musical, Return to the Forbidden Planet and Grease, as well as a cameo in a film for Channel 4 The Fireboy.  After this, he went back to studying acting and directing at The Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing - ASAD. Since graduating, Bulcock has appeared in stage productions of Golden Boy, Down the Road, Of Mice and Men, The Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet, with film credits including, Brothers, 28 Weeks Later and The Dark Knight, which is due out next summer. At the beginning of the year, Philip shot 40 episodes as a series lead in a new drama for Channel Five, Hanrahan Investigates, due out 2008. He has also appeared in "Ocean of Fear" for the Discovery Channel and has just finished filming Curses and Sermons, written by beat poet Michael McClure, and Between Two Rivers, a mini-series for HBO and the BBC. Philip has directed and produced numerous video promotional films for the video games industry and is currently director of his own production company, Fully Operational Films.

Photos by Hugo Glendinning

l-r: Stephen Ashfield (playing Bob Gaudio), Glenn Carter (playing Tommy Devito), Philip Bulcock (playing Nick Massi) and Ryan Molloy (Frankie Valli)

l-r: Philip Bulcock, Ryan Molloy, Stephen Ashfield and Glenn Carter

l-r: Stephen Ashfield, Ryan Molloy, Glenn Carter and Philip Bulcock

l-r: Ryan Molloy, Stephen Ashfield, Glenn Carter and Philip Bulcock

Ryan Molloy

Ryan Molloy