Jersey Boys came to Chicago in early April for a two month stay. I finally found the time to go and watch this production with a friend. Though I generally enjoyed the music from the Four Seasons, I wasn’t really a huge fan, so when a musical based on the rise and fall of the Four Seasons came out I was skeptical. To me it seemed to fall into the world of the “Jukebox Musical”.
What is a “Jukebox Musical”? Well I suppose the most basic definition would be a stage or film musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score.
Some of the more known / popular jukebox musicals include:
– Mamma Mia
– American Idiot
– Million Dollar Quartet
– Rock of Ages
But we’re talking about The Jersey Boys and as apprehensive as I was coming in, I enjoyed this show more than I thought I would. The cast, the staging, the music… and I heard the music soundtrack ahead of time and enjoyed that. When looking at The Jersey Boys Tour website, I noticed that there were two tours going on simultaneously. Of the two tours, Chicago got the “Tour 1” cast which included:
– Preston Truman Boyd as Bob Gaudio
– Joseph Leo Bwarie as Frankie Valli
– John Gardiner as Tommy DeVito
– Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi
And man… don’t they look pretty. 😛