Jersey Boys

The Fab Four have arrived in Sydney. Forget Brits; we're talking about the Four Seasons, who sold 175 million records and whose career is the subject of Broadway smash Jersey Boys. A loving recreation of the beginnings of the band, their hits, their behind-the-scenes antics and bitter rivalries, it's a riveting and tightly worked homage. More importantly, it's an engrossing story that traces the story of four boys from New Jersey through their struggle for recognition, underworld entanglements and exponential rise to stardom. It also covers the deep rifts that formed over money, women and personal differences.

For long-time fans the tunes and attendant storyline will be familiar, but it also works as an introduction for yet-to-be fans - it may be a surprise to younger audience members that 'Oh, What a Night' is sung by the same band as 'Can't Take My Eyes off You' and 'Walk Like a Man'. It may also surprise that their clean-cut image masked some gritty realities - this may have been the era of Leave it to Beaver, but these boys have more in common with the Sopranos (salty language included).

The story is in four parts, each narrated by one of the original band members, starting with founding member, guitarist and baritone Tommy DeVito. Scott Johnson's faultless Jersey accent guides us through the first jarring moments of audience address and into the world of the early 60s. Bobby Fox shines as the famous falsetto Frankie Valli, and has the kind of Brylcreemed hair and an immaculate smile that would make you swear he was beamed in from four decades ago. Stephen Mahy's Bob Gaudio (the group's genius songwriter) is fresh-faced and delightful, while Glaston Toft's jaded bass singer Nick Massi is wry and hilarious. With choreography as sharp as the crease in their trousers and glorious harmonies to boot, these guys could leave the theatre and make a living as a tribute act. The supporting cast, nostalgia-inducing set pieces and onstage band create the world around the band, with strong performances particularly from the women in Valli's life.

The usual pitfall with the jukebox musical is that the songs are but tenuously related to the storyline, and often come off as contrived (because they are). Using the songs of a band to tell its own fascinating story, as this one does, the music springs seamlessly from the action. This is a humorous, unsentimental but rousing portrait of a band whose music genuinely is a soundtrack to the last half century. 

Preview:

London, Paris, New Jersey? The western suburbs of New York City have for decades been looked down on as the "wrong side" of the Hudson River, from which only the strong and talented escape, always tarnished by their past in the Sopranos' backyard. Frank Sinatra of Hoboken, NJ, and Bruce Springsteen of Long Branch are the Garden State's two most famous singing escapees, but in between them Frankie Valli of Newark and the Four Seasons produced dozens of tunes that stuck in AM radio listeners' heads well through the 70s.

Their songs and the story of their struggle for success are artfully arranged in a 2005 Broadway musical that has toured London, Toronto, Melbourne, and is now bound for Sydney. The Melbourne production won several Green Room Awards and the same Australian performers will be seen at the Theatre Royal, recreating the songs in roughly the order they were written.

Glaston Toft plays Nick Massi, the bass guitarist. "You don't realize these songs are from the same four guys," he says. The early numbers are tuneful but not familiar. "The first time in the show where the audience hears a song they know and love is  'Sherry', their first big hit [from 1962]. They're all got that bubblegum pop vocal style that was unique to them at the time."

We see the personalities and the inspiration behind the songs along with the struggle to get heard. "Some are taken out of context," Toft admits. Bob Gaudio originally wrote 'Oh What a Night' about December 1933, when the US abandoned its prohibition on alcohol; the lyrics were later changed to a young man losing his virginity; in the show that's Bob himself.

A brass section is added when show closes with the band's trademark falsetto raging in their 1975 hit 'Who Loves You'. And it wouldn't be a Broadway musical without some well choreographed movement (one of the many Green Room Awards). "The actual Four Seasons didn't dance at all, so it's a bit of a liberty," Toft concedes. "But we're not doing jetés across the stage."