For the second week in May, JERSEY BOYS grossed $891,835 at the Broadway box office and had an 90.4% attendance rate. The 29 shows on the boards grossed $24,246,233, up slightly over 3% from the previous week’s totals.
For full coverage of Broadway box office totals for the week ending 5/12/13, visit BroadwayWorld.com.
The Top 5 guys from this season’s “American Idol,” Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez, Paul Jolley, Lazaro Arbos, and Curtis Finch Jr., performed a medley of Frankie Valli & The Four Season’s classic hits with the pop icon himself! Enjoy!
DVR ALERT: Frankie Valli will be among the stars who will be featured on the season finale of Fox’s American Idol TONIGHT–Thursday, May 16th! According to The Hollywood Reporter, the legendary pop singer will perform with the top five male contestants, all of whom have already been voted off the show.
Great feature with JERSEY BOYS second national tour cast member Devon Goffman, who has returned to his hometown with the production this month. Check out a sneak peak of the interview in the Orchard Park Bee:
The musical, which runs from Wednesday, May 8, through Saturday, May 18, is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Goffman will play Tommy DeVito, the founder of the group.
“They’re legends — to tell that story on stage is really awesome. And, it’s my dream role,” he said. “Tommy is the leader of the Four Seasons. He narrates the show. His character is passionate.”
After graduating from Orchard Park High School, Goffman earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Fredonia State College, majoring in musical theater.
Goffman said being part of “Jersey Boys” is exciting, especially because he will be working with the production through the end of 2014.
“This is the best of the best,” he said. “It’s amazing to reach this place, which is something that I’ve dreamt of doing.”
For the first week in May, JERSEY BOYS grossed $833,113 at the Broadway box office and had an 83.4% attendance rate. The 31 shows on the boards grossed $24,611,043, virtually unchanged from the previous week’s totals.
For full coverage of last week’s Broadway box office totals, visit BroadwayWorld.com.
Check out a sneak peek of Ben Siegel’s JERSEY BOYS review in the Buffalo News:
The decision to keep this glorious music native to its roots is the smartest thing the show does. It allows the story to steer the dramatic narrative arc, which is what Valli and his brothers – not to mention a tiring, pervasive theatrical genre – deserve. The amount of musical numbers is impressive, yet this still feels like a play with songs and not a musical with dialogue.
The result is an efficient, smooth, compelling piece of theater, with one of the finest pop scores around, regardless of origin. Director Des McAnuff, who also helmed “The Who’s Tommy” to Broadway in the 1990s with a similar perpetual motion, keeps this show flying at all times. Our anticipation of rags-to-riches clichés aren’t ignored, but acknowledged before moving onto the scene at hand.
DVR ALERT: Frankie Valli will be among the stars who will be featured on the season finale of Fox’s American Idol on Thursday, May 16th! According to The Hollywood Reporter, the legendary pop singer will perform with the top five male contestants, all of whom have already been voted off the show.
Exciting updates for JERSEY BOYS Tony Award-nominated orchestator Steve Orich!
The staged reading of the Cole Porter classic Can-Can will be presented in Manhattan this summer and Steve Orich will be providing musical supervision, arrangements, and orchestration! The reading, which is set for July 15-17, will star Megan Hilty and Aaron Lazar. David Lee will serve as director and Patty Columbo will be choreographer.
Steve is also set to be musical director of Can-Can’s Broadway revival, which is scheduled to arrive on the Great White Way in spring, 2014! Visit Playbill.com for full details.
Additionally, Steve is orchestrating Broadway dancer-choreographer Noah Racey’s new dance musical show Pulse, which begins May 23 at Florida’s Asolo Repertory Theatre. For more details on Pulse, visit Playbill.com.
Congratulations & best wishes to Steve on his latest big news!
By Pamela Singer, Jersey Boys Blog Special Correspondent
Listen up, friends. Here’s the trivia question of the day. Just how far is it from Jersey to Detroit? For perennial Broadway favorite Dominic Nolfi, the answer is six New York City blocks, from 52nd to 46th Street to be exact. After wowing audiences for seven years in the worldwide sensation Jersey Boys, Dom is now heating up the boards again in Motown: The Musical. Motown tells the story of Berry Gordy, who founded the record company that changed the world and introduced us to some of the greatest recording artists in history. Procuring a $16 million dollar advance, Motown opened April 14th to enthusiastic reviews and has now been nominated for multiple Tony Awards. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times called the show “a musically vibrant trip back to the glory days of Detroit, sung by a blazing cast of gifted singers.” I sat down recently with Dom to talk about his Broadway journey and much more.
In person, Dom is Hollywood handsome, with Don Draper’s looks and Tommy DeVito’s charm. Dom joined the cast of Jersey Boys in La Jolla in 2004. Before taking on the enigmatic role of Tommy on Broadway for three years, he played seven different roles at one point or another. Quite a resume, wouldn’t you say?! Warm, articulate, down to earth and engaging, it’s easy to see why audiences and fans alike are drawn to Dom.
Pamela Singer: Great to see you again, Dom. Congrats on your new venture!
Dominic Nolfi: Thanks, Pam. You too.
PS: The last time we talked formally for this Blog was in September 2011. You had just left Jersey Boys and were contemplating several future projects.
DN: Yes, a lot has happened since then! I’m really fortunate and happy to be back on Broadway in another great show.
PS: How did you first get involved with Motown?
DN: A few months after I left Jersey Boys, my agent called and said the creatives at Motown thought I would be a good fit to play Barney Ales, Mr. Gordy’s Executive Vice President at the record company.
Travis Cloer, Deven May, and Jeff Leibow at World Class Driving! (Photo Credit: Vik Chohan Photography)
On Thursday afternoon, JERSEY BOYS Las Vegas cast members Travis Cloer, Jeff Leibow and Deven May went to World Class Driving to experience the country’s first open-road muscle car adventure where they drove America’s most powerful hotrods – a 2013 Shelby GT500 and a 2013 Corvette Z06 – in a 50-mile, adrenaline-pumping excursion through Red Rock Canyon.
Last Sunday, Apri 28, 2013, the JERSEY BOYS first national tour company ended their run at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco after 2,598 fantastic performances all over the US & Canada! Thank you to JB fan Linda SooHoo for the fantastic photo coverage at the stage door!
For the week ending 4/28/13, JERSEY BOYS grossed $867,043 at the Broadway box office and had an 86.2% attendance rate. The 31 shows on the boards grossed $24,616,128, virtually unchanged from the previous week’s totals.
For full coverage of last week’s Broadway box office totals, visit BroadwayWorld.com.
We wish the legendary Frankie Valli a very Happy 79th Birthday today! Thank you, Mr. Valli, for the wonderful joy you have given all of us with your music!
Steve Bornfelf of Vegas Seven asks 84-year-old Four Seasons founder Tommy DeVito about is Jersey Boys depiction, his relationship with his former bandmates, and the lessons he learned in prison. Check out a preview below:
What did prison teach you?
You can learn an awful lot there, especially at a place like Rahway [now East Jersey State Prison]. There should be more places like Rahway. You make your balls, they call it. If you don’t, they’re gonna stab you in the back or hit you with a pipe. I did it in the first couple of days, just hit somebody with a pipe from the bushes. From that day on, they walked that way instead of walking toward me.
You’ve had extreme highs and lows in life. What was the highest high?
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was the cream of my life. We were lucky at the time we [formed the Four Seasons], but I can’t say we weren’t talented. Frankie [Valli] and his three-and-a-half octave range—I picked him when he was 15, hangin’ on the corner. And Bob Gaudio with his ingenuity in writing these songs, and Nick Massi was a master of harmony.
Big News from The Hollywood Reporter: Legendary crooner and original Jersey boy Frankie Valli has signed on for a role as a club owner in the Rob Reiner-helmed comedy “And So It Goes”! The upcoming Castle Rock film stars Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton.
The film, written by Mark Andrus (“As Good as It Gets”), centers on a self-centered and eccentric realtor (Douglas) whose life is turned upside down when his estranged son suddenly drops off a granddaughter he never knew. With the help of his determined and loveable neighbor (Keaton), he stubbornly learns to care and, unexpectedly, to fall in love again.
Meanwhile, director Clint Eastwood is circling a big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys, which chronicles the rise and eventual breakup of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. That project is being produced by GK Films.
John Lloyd Young & Linda Lavin announcing the 2013 Drama Desk Awards.
(Photo credit: Jennifer Broski)[/caption]
The 58th Annual Drama Desk awards will take place on May 19th at Town Hall and this morning, the nominees were announced by John Lloyd Young (Drama Desk Winner, Jersey Boys) and Linda Lavin.
For full photo coverage & details from the exciting event, visit BroadwayWorld.com.