Frankie Valli Values Local Vegas Fans!
April 6th, 2008Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mike Weatherford says that right out of the gate, the musical about Frankie Valli is a more prestigious Las Vegas booking than anything the real Valli has seen on the Strip.
“Jersey Boys” has its own custom-built theater in a high-end hotel, the Palazzo. Tickets top out at nearly $270. Valli’s two most recent stints on the Strip were cut short. One of the story’s main themes is that Valli just kept rolling. He’s depicted as a tireless performer who did whatever it took, played wherever he had to, to stay in front of an audience.
In Las Vegas, we didn’t need “Jersey Boys” to tell us that. In 2005, the year the musical opened on Broadway, Valli twice attempted to re-establish his name on the Strip; first at the Flamingo Las Vegas, then Luxor. Both pulled the plug early to cut their losses. No wonder the 73-year-old singer gets animated when he talks about the good ol’ days: those years from 1997 through 2004 when he played The Orleans.
“As crazy as it may sound, I prefer working in those hotels where the locals come, because they’re the real fans,” Valli said by telephone recently. “I like working in places where people come specifically to see you.”
His voice takes on a pulpit ring when he says corporate casinos on the Strip don’t understand that Bill Medley and Tony Orlando still have an audience “and work all year long. They don’t need to work in Las Vegas. … That’s why the smaller hotels are terrific. Somebody had to be thinking about (the locals). And caring about them.”
Whenever Frankie Valli comes to Westbury ,L.I. I try to see him . I’ve seen him at Westbury and the Borgada in Atlantic City. The man gets better every time!
Comment by THEA — April 10, 2008 @ 8:23 pm