So here's the thing about "Jersey Boys." If the music doesn't get you, the story will.
And the truth is, whether you're old enough to remember the hit tunes when they hit or not, the music is gonna get you. Forty-five minutes into the show, a quartet of vocal wonders rips into "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man," and the roof comes off the place.
And, thanks to one of the best books for a musical out there, by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons is gonna get you too. Jail time, mobsters, women, loan sharks, a genuine fondness for the f-bomb. They weren't the four angels.
Brickman and Elice condensed 40 years of the group's history brilliantly, from singing under a street lamp to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — and packed it with profane humor, a gritty peek behind the curtain of show biz and the high personal drama that goes with selling a hundred million records.
Add the brilliance of director Des McAnuff's structure and staging, and oh, what a night. A crowd of 2,385 Friday night at the Orpheum leaped to its feet before the first cast member trotted front and center for a bow.
Two guys in this top-notch cast stood just a little bit taller than the rest Friday night.
Joseph Leo Bwarie, as Frankie, is some kind of vocal miracle: pitch perfect across three and half octaves, smooth as glass, and a tonal clarity that, no lie, could cut to the back of the hall with no microphone at all. Phenomenal singing.
Plus he has the acting chops to crack you up laughing one minute, then break your heart the next. It's an amazing performance.
Just as good, I swear, is tall, fresh-faced Quinn VanAntwerp as the group's songwriter, Bob Gaudio. The show didn't come fully alive until VanAntwerp strolled on to audition for the group, singing knockout vocals on "Cry for Me."
It's that moment in the show when the group discovers its sound, and VanAntwerp nails it but good. In fact, he's so good he's joining the Broadway cast after this weekend's performances in Omaha.
That's not to say Matt Bailey, as tough guy Tommy DeVito, who starts the group and eventually causes its breakup, and Adam Zelasko, as under-appreciated deep bass Nick Massi, didn't earn roars of approval, too, because they did.
Also strong: Jonathan Hadley as manager Bob Crewe; Joseph Siravo as mobster Gyp DeCarlo, among others; and Kara Tremel, Denise Payne and Lauren Decierdo, who play all the women in these guys' lives — wife, mother, girlfriend, daughter and, together, an opening trio for the Four Seasons.
This isn't a costume and scenery show. Metal scaffolding, a catwalk upstage and a few roll-on pieces of furniture, plus three video screens with stylish comic-book graphics — that's about it.
But the band, onstage for a change, is a splashy part of the action, and lighting design adds a lot to the evening.
When you have a story this strong and that powerhouse score of hits, it's all you need. And a big chunk of the fun is feeling the crowd around you rolling around in memories, mouthing the lyrics, pulling for these street kids to keep it together.
No worries. This "Jersey Boys" pretty much has it all together.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com
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