"Jersey Boys" is one of the better "jukebox" musicals, taking the song catalog of a famous band and wrapping a plot based on the history of the band around it. In this case, the plot's drawn from the previously not-very-well known story of how "The Four Seasons" rose to fame and combatted internal tensions, their own egos, family and money problems on their way to fame, fortune and glory Using a narrative structure that splits the telling into four, each section told by a different member of the group, the original production benefitted from some propulsive staging from Des McAnuff as the story roars through around 30 years of personal history between the four band members, frequently not letting the audience break for applause after songs as the story keeps on roaring along.
Philo's production captures a lot of the power of this, particularly through the performances of the lead four men, though it loses a bit on the propulsive staging - it's a little too indulgent of audience applause during the opening half which means you lose the magical explosion when the band finally hits the spotlight and the audience gets to let go of all that building tension immediately after "Sherry", and there's a couple of gaps between scenes which should be rolling into one another. The slower pace mean that it's possible to spot a few cheats in the storytelling - all three other band members manage to narrate story elements that really only relate to Frankie alone, describing things they shouldn't really know.
But all 4 leading men claim the stage with their various skills - Dave Smith is ingratiatingly sleazy as the self-proclaimed organiser Tommy DeVito, Jonathan Rush goofily charming as songwriting genius Bob Gaudio, Zach Johnson lends a solid dependability to the harmonically skilled Nick Massi, and Jared Newell is miracle casting as the perfectly voiced, multi-octaved Frankie Valli. There's also great support in the rest of the cast, between Bradley McDowell's flamboyant Bob Crewe, John Whinfield's energetic Joey, Jason McKenzie's intimidating Gyp DeCarlo, Nicole Wetselar, Kellee-Rose-Hand and Jessica Coote as three very different women in Frankie's life, and elsewhere.
Musically, this is a wonderful retro feast, with Caleb Campbell's orchestra sounding wonderful throughout, the harmonics of the four leads (plus 5 credited backup vocals) sounding clear and gorgeous. There's fine retro-performance moves in Madelyn White's choreography, some lovely costume choices from Jill McMullen and Chelsea DeRooy (in particular Bob Crewe's lounging pyjamas), a clear and smooth set from Ian Croker. It's a pretty solid presentation, I just wish it could have been a little bit tighter to achieve full impact.
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