Chicago Critic Highly Recommends Jersey Boys
April 27th, 2006Chicago Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss notes that Broadway producers recently reported that last week marked on of their highest-grossing weeks ever, with five shows–Jersey Boys, Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, and The Color Purple – each grossing more than $1 million during the seven-day period that ended Sunday.
Weiss highly recommends for everyone to catch a performance of Jersey Boys, which has been running since November. She found the seats filled with the generation that gave birth to Bruce Springsteen fans, as well as the golden oldie crowd accompanied by grandchildren.
Supported by just the thinnest of biographical books by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the nearly three dozen songs rule in this musical, most the irresistible classic creations of Bob Gaudio (music) and Bob Crewe (lyrics), with a song list that includes “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” “Working My Way Back to You” and so many others.
Weiss notes that the musical’s heralded lead, John Lloyd Young, was out for the performance, but his understudy, Dominic Nolfi, was sensational, as was the rest of the cast. The audience (including Weiss) was in a state of exaltation by the time it was all over. A national tour of Jersey Boys has already been announced, with the first stop in San Francisco and other dates to be determined.
Weiss states that Jersey Boys is bound to make it to Chicago. Her only question is: How soon?
