Happy Birthday to Rick Elice!
November 17th, 2009
The stars are definitely in alignment today–as not one–but two Jersey Boys geniuses are celebrating their birthdays!! We wish Jersey Boys co-writer Rick Elice a very Happy Birthday today!
How did the Jersey Boys project happen? Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman were looking to do something together. As luck would have it, friends had arranged a meeting with Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio, the last two active members of the group and the ones who controlled the Four Seasons’ rights. Brickman says, “They wanted to do their ‘Mama Mia.’ We had a lunch with them and they opened up about their early life, about getting mobbed up, and it was just a wonderful story. It was Shakespearean. It had love, hate, betrayal, jealousy.â€
As everyone knows, Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman have continued their writing collaboration, most recently with the world premiere of the pre-Broadway run of the musical The Addams Family in Chicago! Previews began last Friday and the show officially opens in Chicago on December 9.
We wish Rick Elice all the best on his birthday!
Happy Birthday, Rick! We are all blessed and honored to know you.
All the best with The Addams Family. There will be a fan-base of thousands when the show gets to Broadway. We already have “OUR OWN GROUP” as you well know – from a great show that couldn’t have happened, “WITHOUT YOU.” Happy Birthday, my friend.
Irene Eizen
Comment by irene eizen — November 17, 2009 @ 1:49 am
You have blessed a great deal of people with your God-given talent! Thank you so much for writing Jersey Boys! Happy Birthday!
Comment by Sandra — November 17, 2009 @ 2:37 am
Even after all his success, Rick is such a great down-to-earth human being. We sometimes expect successful, well-known people to maintain an air of arrogance and indeed “forget where they came from”.
Rick respects and acknowledges all his fans and colleagues and is so open in discussing his passions for screenwriting and comedy.
Some people perceive being “too nice” as a weakness, and fear helping someone might mean he or she may get a break instead of you. If anyone has ever thought that of Rick, he’s shocked ‘em big time with the monumental success of “Jersey Boys”. In Rick’s new birthday year, I’m expecting lightning to strike again with “The Addams Family”! Please celebrate today Rick, with all of us who are fortunate to know and love you!
Comment by Howard Tucker — November 17, 2009 @ 11:34 am
For he’s a jolly Rick Elice
For he’s a jolly Rick Elice
For he’s a jolly Rick Elice…
Which nobody can deny!
Comment by stubbleyou — November 17, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” RICK,
MY WISH FOR YOU IS EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY
TODAY AND THE UPCOMING YEAR. BEST WISHES WITH “THE ADDAMS FAMILY” AND YES! I’LL CATCH YOU ON BROADWAY FOR THAT ONE,I’LL BE SNAPPING MY FINGERS TO THE MUSIC AS I WATCH IT… “THE ADDAMS FAMILY” snap-snap!
CELEBRATION FOR “THE JERSEY BOYS”,”THE ADDAMS FAMILY”
BUT MOST IMPORTANT YOUR BIRTHDAY, AND TO SHARE THIS SAME B-DAY WITH BOB GAUDIO IS AWESOME!!!! HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!!!! HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL YEAR AHEAD.
BLESSINGS ALWAYS,
PATTI XXXX
http://www.nickmassiart.com
WorkHard/Dream/Bekind
Comment by Patti-Massi-Candeliere — November 17, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
Happy birthday , Rick. Your talent is exceeded only by your kindness and warmth.None of this could have happened without….you! Wishing you every happiness, today and always. XO, Pam
Comment by Pamela — November 17, 2009 @ 5:55 pm
Thanks to all of you great people who give so much love. You make my day, day after day. Brickman and I are in a boiler room in sub-basement three of a theatre in Chicago, trying to be clever. Gaudio’s birthday was spent (by us anyhow) putting in cuts. Not a bad way to spend a life. Wish there were room for all of you in sub-basement three. Lots of love.
Comment by Rick Elice — November 18, 2009 @ 9:53 am
Rick,
My husband and I saw JERSEY BOYS in October 2008 and enjoyed it immensely. I feel very smug because I’ve known of your talents as writer and actor since Senior Sing at Francis Lewis in the previous century. (I went to Bayside but Mrs. Carson, who taught math at your school, was the mother of my classmate and she knew what a wonderful show that would be–IT’S A BUMMER was anything but.)
In the late ’80s, friends and I were able to get tickets for DOUBLE DOUBLE with Rula Lenska and Roger in the West End.
It’s a pleasure to read about you. Hope you have a happy birthday in 2013, too.
Comment by Lisa Dryman — July 2, 2013 @ 5:05 pm