Jersey Boys Blog

News from JERSEY BOYS: The West Palm Beach, FL engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning musical JERSEY BOYS broke the box office record at the Kravis Center for the week ending March 14, with a gross of $1,260,453, breaking the previous record set by South Pacific of $1,065,175 set earlier this season.

JERSEY BOYS began performances in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, March 10 and will play through Sunday, March 28. JERSEY BOYS will next play Charlotte, NC’s Blumenthal Center from March 31 through April 18.

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For the second week in March, JERSEY BOYS Broadway returned to the millionaire’s club, grossing $1,052,412 and had a 98% attendance rate attendance rate.

The 32 shows on the boards grossed $18,747,377 for the week, up 18% from the previous week.

Below are the Top 10 Grosses from BroadwayWorld.com for the week ending March 14, 2010.

1. Wicked $1,505,286
2. The Addams Family $1,192,213
3. The Lion King $1,191,289
4. Billy Elliot: The Musical $1,124,274
5. Jersey Boys $1,052,412
6. West Side Story $945,557
7. A View from the Bridge $895,598
8. A Little Night Music $803,632
9. The Phantom of the Opera $781,329
10. Mary Poppins $760,371

From The Sydney Morning Herald: JERSEY BOYS was the big winner in Monday night’s Green Room Awards in Melbourne.

JERSEY BOYS, which will open in Sydney on September 18, won the following musical theatre awards Monday evening:

• Best production
• Direction (Des McAnuff)
• Musical Direction (Luke Hunter)
• Choreography (Sergio Trujillo)
• Scenic Design (Klara Zieglerova)
• Lighting Sesign (Howell Binkley)
• Sound Design (Steve Canyon Kennedy)

Congratulations to JERSEY BOYS Australia!

On March 13, 1976, “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three consecutive weeks. This was the first Four Seasons’ Number One song since 1964’s “Rag Doll.”

Last night, 17-year-old actress, singer and model Victoria Justice was spotted at JERSEY BOYS Broadway with her mother.

She tweeted quite a few praises about the performance and the cast: “Jersey Boys was PHENOMENAL!!!!!!You don’t understand I wanna watch it over and over and over again. Absolutely amazing songs and amazing cast. Oh and I have a crush on the guy who played Frankie Valli haha. Soooo ridiculously talented I’m blown away.Wanna meet him so badly!!!!”

Visit JustJaredJr.com for more photo coverage!

In 2008, Frankie Valli appeared on “Loose Women,” a British lunchtime television program, to talk about his career and West End JERSEY BOYS.

After seeing Rick Faugno’s fantastic hit show, “Songs My Idols Sang (And Danced)” at the South Point Casino in January, you guys won’t be surprised, but of course, curiosity got the best of me about Rick’s early days, his new CD, his upcoming solo show, and what it’s like to go from being a performer to a producer. In between starring in JERSEY BOYS Las Vegas as Frankie Valli and rehearsing for the reprise of his one-man show, Rick took some time out for a follow-up JBB EXCLUSIVE Interview!

JBB: Rick, your one-man show, “Songs My Idols Sang (And Danced)” back in January was truly tremendous! Your incredibly smooth voice and your exhilarating dance moves, along with your personal stories made it an afternoon we soon won’t forget! Since biographies are one of my passions, I honestly adored hearing stories of your childhood, your family, the amazing people you had a chance to learn from during your career thus far, and the icons you’ve always admired.

You had so many great dance instructors—including some lessons from your Dad and Voigt Kempson, from your home town. But what about your training as a singer? At your show, you only alluded to your singing development—singing the melodies while your beloved Grandmother was singing the harmonies. Is your amazing vocal talent something you were born with, or did you have a variety of vocal coaches and teachers growing up as well?

Rick Faugno: Although I started dancing much earlier, I also began singing naturally at a young age. When I began working on The Will Rogers’ Follies at age 12, I started taking voice lessons out of a guy’s home in Sparta, then switched to coaches in the city. I also worked with a vocal teacher who was an opera singer until I was about 17 or 18. She taught me the techniques of how to really sing properly. Then, I had a number of different voice teachers at NYU.

JBB: It seems like it’s been an ongoing process for you?

RF: Absolutely! Even now, I work on the Internet with Jersey Boys’ vocal coach Katie Agresta. She is truly incredible and has such a great ear.

JBB: Reporters and fans alike have referred to you as ‘triple-threat Faugno” regarding your phenomenal talents as a singer, a dancer and an actor. Which one of those is most challenging for you—singing, dancing, or acting? Which one would you say is the one that comes most naturally to you? Read the rest of this entry »

From BroadwayWorld.com: Following 453 sell-out performances in Melbourne, JERSEY BOYS must finish on July 25, 2010. On September 18, 2010, JERSEY BOYS will officially open in Sydney at the Theatre Royal!

The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, winner of four 2006 Tony Awards® including Best Musical, winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2009, has now received ten nominations for the Victorian Green Room Awards. The JERSEY BOYS Original Cast Recording also received a 2006 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Show Album. JERSEY BOYS has now grossed over $812 million worldwide and been seen by 9 million people around the world. Over 450,000 people have attended the show in Melbourne to date.

Producer, Michael David, from Dodger Theatricals said - “We are thrilled to bring JERSEY BOYS to Sydney. This story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons has captivated nearly 9 million fans in productions worldwide, and now it is our fondest hope that Sydney will embrace JERSEY BOYS in the same way. The show is chock full of classic Four Seasons showstopping songs and a story that is all the more riveting because it’s true. Now with an extraordinary Australian cast, we believe JERSEY BOYS will engage theatergoers down under and send them dancing out of the Theatre Royal! The remarkable partnership of Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio indelibly sealed by a handshake agreement over 40 years ago will resonate with Aussie audiences who will identify with the importance of honour and integrity in this touching tribute to the power of loyalty between mates.”

For further information on JERSEY BOYS Australia, visit the show’s official website.

Peter Saide (Photo Credit: PeterSaide.com)

Natalie Symes of WhatsOn.com has a fun Q&A with one of JERSEY BOYS Las Vegas’ newest cast members, Peter Saide, who plays Bob Gaudio. Despite his Australian roots, Saide says that the Italian- and New Jersey-suffused role feels like home already.

Here’s a sneak peek to the interview:

What’s On: You’re new to the Jersey Boys cast; how has it been getting familiarized with the show, the cast and the role as the new kid?

Peter Saide: It was, for me, a really interesting challenge. This is the first time that I’ve found myself in a position where I’ve been what we call a “put-in.” I rehearsed in New York for two weeks by myself and then I came down and did rehearsals again without the primary cast for another couple of weeks when I arrived in Vegas, so it was a really interesting challenge for me to be rehearsing a show without the rest of the people in the show, you know? The usual process is you going through rehearsals with the company. So sections of it have been wonderfully challenging, but always very rewarding, as a whole.

WO: What’s your favorite scene in Jersey Boys to perform?

PS: There’s a scene, just after I’ve entered, and I sit down at the piano—it’s kind of an audition at that point in the show for the new guy—and I start to play a song called “Cry for Me” and then, piece by piece, Frankie comes over first and starts singing backup to what I’m doing and then Nick comes over—the character of Nick [Massi]—and starts playing bass and Tommy [DeVito], you know, kind of ignores it for a little while and eventually comes over and joins us. And by the end of that song, we’ve established onstage: this is the Four Seasons’ sound. This is the sound that really carried them. That’s, I think, a thrilling moment for the audience, but perhaps what they don’t see from the audience is just how thrilling it is for us. Again, these people are just the most talented, wonderful people. So, that’s a really exciting moment to share every night with those other three guys.

Visit Whatson.com for the full interview.

Photo Credit: Broadway.com

Visit Broadway.com to find out all about five of Dominic Nolfi’s favorite things

JERSEY BOYS orchestrator Steve Orich will be musical directing a terrific new production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the Reprise Theatre Company at UCLA later this month. Besides conducting a 22-piece orchestra, he has also written several new orchestrations for the show.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which stars former JERSEY BOYS cast member Erich Bergen, begins previews on March 16, opens on March 17 and will run until March 28 with a regular eight-show-a-week schedule.

To purchase tickets, visit www.reprise.org or call the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310-825-2101.

In addition, Steve Orich also recently orchestrated the new musical Time After Time at Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse. The musical played February 26-28 and will be playing again March 11-14. Tickets range in price from $18 to $20 and can be purchased by calling the Pittsburgh Playhouse box office at 412-621-4445 or online at www.pittsburghplayhouse.com.

Congratulations to Steve on his latest musical projects!

For the first week in March, JERSEY BOYS Broadway grossed $987,427 and had a 92% attendance rate. The 28 shows on the boards grossed $15,227,616 for the week, up 6% from the previous week.

Below are the Top 10 Grosses from BroadwayWorld.com for the week ending March 7, 2010.

1. Wicked $1,337,882
2. The Lion King $1,042,653
3. Billy Elliot: The Musical $1,031,865
4. Jersey Boys $987,427
5. A View from the Bridge $892,291
6. West Side Story $808,694
7. A Little Night Music $787,059
8. Mama Mia! $661,456
9. Mary Poppins $641,692
10. The Phantom of the Opera $608,166

Palm Beach Daily News Arts Editor Jan Sjostrom has a terrific interview with JERSEY BOYS’ writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, original Four Seasons’ member Bob Gaudio, and JB national tour cast meber Ryan Jessie (who plays Gaudio). All agree that the show’s phenomenal success is driven by the audience’s enthusiasm.

“What we’re doing is their lives, with all the warts — the squabbling, the jealousy, the anger and the disloyalty,” Brickman said. “It’s very Shakespearean in a way.”

What set the group apart was Valli’s steely falsetto. “No matter how you twist and turn it, if you did the identical harmonies and everything we did, without Frankie it would not sound like the Four Seasons,” Gaudio said.

Ryan Jesse, who plays Gaudio in the national tour, said he’s bowled over nightly by audiences’ enthusiasm for the show. “It’s astounding, I can’t believe we play for 1,800 to 2,200 people night after night and they all go crazy for the show,” he said.

Two of the musical’s biggest fans are Gaudio and Valli. “I don’t know how much happier two guys could get seeing their life stories up on stage,” Gaudio said.

Visit PalmBeachDailyNews.com for the full interview.

Here’s the JERSEY BOYS national tour scheudle update:

• West Palm Beach, FL at the Kravis Center from March 10-28, 2010. Seats are still available.
• Charlotte, NC; March 31 - April 11, 2010
• Buffalo, NY; April 21 - May 9, 2010
• Providence, RI; May 12 - June 6, 2010
• Indianapolis, IN; June 9 - July 3, 2010
• Des Moines, IA; July 7-25, 2010
• On Sale Soon: Louisville, KY at The Kentucky Center; July 28-August 15, 2010. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 19!

Rick Faugno was one of many Las Vegas entertainers who participated in Saturday’s benefit, “A Tribute to Bill Fayne” at the Suncoast Casino Showroom. The sold-out benefit was held to help Mr. Fayne, the longtime friend and music director of Clint Holmes, defray medical costs.

Rick wowed the full-house with a sensational song and dance number straight out of his “Songs My Idols Sang (And Danced”) show! You wouldn’t believe those dance moves as he sang one of the best songs from his act and new CD, “Steppin’ Out with My Baby/Top Hat, White Tie and Tails/Puttin’ on the Ritz”! Nothing short of spectacular with massive cheers from the audience!

For full photo coverage of Saturday’s entertainers at the benefit, visit Slide.com.

News from JERSEY BOYS: For the second week in a row, the Fort Myers, Florida engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning musical JERSEY BOYS broke the box office record at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. For the week ending March 7, the show grossed $1,325,299, breaking the previous record set by the show the week of February 28. JB opened to rave reviews in Ft. Myers on February 19 (performances began February 17) and played through March 7. JERSEY BOYS will next play West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center March 10 through March 28.

Photo Credit: Linda SooHoo & JBB Tech Half

There wasn’t an “Orange Colored Sky” outside in Vegas last Wednesday evening, but when we sat down at the Cabaret Showroom at the Liberace Museum and Travis Cloer walked onto that stage, his rendition of that gorgeous hit tune was–well, to quote the lyrics, “Flash! Bam! Alakazam!”

It was a magical night on March 3 for the full-house crowd at Travis Cloer’s “Setting the Standard” show! The ballads, the upbeat jazzy numbers, and the top hits of the 20th century that have been loved by generations were sung with such heart, perfection, and passion by one of the most phenomenally talented vocalists we have had the pleasure to experience! You guys in New York weren’t kidding! To quote the church lady in JERSEY BOYS, “It wasn’t no vision!”

Thanks to Linda SooHoo saving us great seats at her table, the Tech Half and I, along with the rest of the audience, experienced an evening of some of the smoothest and most spectacular vocals by Travis Cloer, making every song his own, a swinging/rocking/jazzy band, and some marvelous storytelling!

Time for a mild confession: Due to being swept into the fantastic evening of entertainment, this blogger forgot her notebook and pen, so I may be missing some of Travis’s marvelous lineup of songs, but honestly, every song Travis sang complimented his incredible voice! Travis and his topnotch band (which included JB Musical Director Keith Thompson on piano, along with a drummer, guitar player, bass player, and a horn section!) transported the audience back to another time–like the Rat Pack era–filled with sophistication, elegance, and showmanship. Read the rest of this entry »

Rick Faugno rehearses a dance number from his upcoming show, “Songs My Idols Sang (And Danced).” (Photo Credit: Leila Navidi)

Jerry Fink of the Las Vegas Sun has a marvelous interview with Rick Faugno, who chats about starring in two hits–JERSEY BOYS Vegas and his own one-man show, “Songs My Idols Sang (And Danced!)” at the South Point Casino. Here’s a preview!

Faugno showcased his revue in August at the South Point’s 400-seat showroom.

“I wasn’t sure if people would have enough interest for me to do the show more than once,” said the 30 year-old actor/singer/dancer who made his Broadway debut at the age of 12 in Tommy Tune’s tony-winning “Will Rogers Follies.”

He needn’t have worried.

Sunday, March 21, Faugno will perform his fourth show.

“It’s becoming a habit,” Faugno said.

A good habit, one he doesn’t want to break.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “I was just hoping to do it that one time.”
“I’ve done quite a few Broadway shows,” he said. “I’ve done the New York scene. If someone were to call me with an offer to go back to Broadway I would consider it but at this stage of my life I’m not actively seeking something to take me back to New York – I’m really enjoying being in Las Vegas right now. I enjoy living here. Opportunities have presented themselves here I haven’t had a chance to explore. I haven’t had a chance to do anything like this anywhere I’ve been before. It really is the best of both worlds – I get to star in a huge success plus star in my little thing on the side.”

Who: Rick Faugno in “Songs My Idols Sang (And Danced!).”
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, March 21 and again on Sunday, April 25 at 3 p.m.
Where: South Point
Tickets: $20 to $30
Information: call 797-8055 or go to www.southpointcasino.com