Broadway musical Jersey Boys is as true to life as it gets.
Gambling, infidelity, punch-ups, drugs, mob connections – hardly the stuff you'd think of when mellowing out to the doo wop stylings of songs like Sherry, Bigs Girls Don't Cry and Walk Like A Man. Yet, these dark undercurrents permeated almost every aspect of 1960s pop group The Four Seasons.
Apart from a jukebox of hits, Jersey Boys is a musical tied to drama, friendship and personal redemption. Theatre-goers here will be in for quite a musical ride when Jersey Boys starts its run at Istana Budaya in Kuala Lumpur next Tuesday.
The group's members Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi were, after all, New Jersey boys raised on the wrong side of the street, and for all their phenomenal success, they could not outrun the demons of their past.
Despite being one of the biggest musical acts of its era – they sold 175 million records worldwide – the band's journey was fraught with drama, from Valli's volatile relationships and DeVito's jealousy of Valli to DeVito's gambling addiction that eventually bankrupted the band.
The Four Seasons band member Tommy DeVito has a road named after him in his hometown of Belleville, New Jersey in the United States. The musical Jersey Boys is based on the band's rise to fame.
But this is exactly what makes the smash Broadway musical Jersey Boys more than just a band biography – the fact that, when it comes to The Four Seasons' story, truth trumps fiction every time. And when the musical's writers Marshall Brickman (who co-wrote the films Annie Hall and Manhattan with Woody Allen) and Rick Elice heard Valli and Gaudio's stories, they knew they had hit upon stage gold.
The rest was Broadway history: in an astounding feat for a debut production, Jersey Boys scooped up four Tony Awards in 2006 (including Best Musical), and won Best Musical at the 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards for its London premiere.
To think Clint Eastwood is also set to roll out the Jersey Boys movie, based on this musical, later this year.
The Belmont Tavern in Belleville, New Jersey, where the band members of The Four Seasons used to frequent.
A media trip in late 2011 to New Jersey gave me the rare opportunity to see for myself where The Four Seasons had come from. Having just caught the musical on Broadway, we were taken on a visit to Belleville, New Jersey, with a police escort, no less – some of the neighbourhoods we visited were less than savoury.
The band's history is practically inseparable from the predominantly Italian-American community of Belleville; from the run-down housing projects where Valli and DeVito grew up in, to the street lamp on a street corner where the band used to perform for the neighbourhood, this was indeed where The Four Seasons was conceived.
Stopping in to have dinner at the Belmont Tavern, where pictures of The Four Seasons covered the walls, we were regaled by stories from its regulars of the band in its early days, and of how the members used to come in for drinks even after becoming famous.
There is even a street in Belleville named after DeVito, who apparently still visits his old stomping grounds in town from time to time. Therein lies the real magic of Jersey Boys: for all its showbiz spectacle, it is, at its core, utterly real.
> Jersey Boys will be showing at Istana Budaya, Jalan Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur from April 15-27. Ticket prices range from RM200 to RM680, and are available through all TicketCharge channels. For more info, log on to www.ticketcharge.com.my.
Hotline: 03-9222 8811. Show info: www.facebook.com/jerseyboys.malaysia.
The show is organised by Milestone Production Sdn Bhd. The Star is the gold sponsor and Red FM the official radio station. The Star readers can enjoy a 20% discount on all ticket categories throughout the show's run here. Just key in the promo code: "STAR" when purchasing via www.ticketcharge.com.my, or at their outlets.
Source : http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Arts/On-Stage/2014/04/11/Jersey-Boys-is-as-true-to-life-as-it-gets
