A few days ago Earl and I saw “Jersey Boys,” the musical based on the lives of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It has already won the Tony in its category, so the show doesn’t need my accolades to increase attendance. Yet, I’m compelled to comment.
Most of the “action” takes place in the nineteen sixties. During those years I graduated from university, married, maybe even grew up. I listened faithfully to radio all along the way. In fact, I’d been listening to radio faithfully since 1954, when Tennessee Ernie Ford’s rendition of “Sixteen Tons” hit the number one spot on the charts. I’ve been listening ever since.
So, of course, I remember Frankie and his friends. The falsetto voice that was their trademark can’t be missed. “Jersey Boys” makes great use of it. And, while the “story” is told in dialogue, the real story is the music that member Bob Guardio and others wrote for the group.
The dialogue is dense with drama: time in prison, struggling as musicians, laundering money, having affairs, a hint of possible mob involvement, the death from drugs of a beloved daughter — while, at the same time, the group is changing the sound of popular music itself.
I left the theater wondering if all the incidents packed into the “story” part were as true as the lyrics to all the songs the Four Seasons recorded. So I went to Google® to see what I could find out. The songs were there, but I found little information about some of the story line. One of the original Four Seasons, Bob Guardio, was involved in creating “Jersey Boys,” so maybe he had inside information. Or maybe creative license was called upon.
No matter. “Jersey Boys” is wonderful if you grew up in that era. It’s wonderful if you didn’t too.
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