Jersey Boys Blog

Jersey Boys had another great box office week. For the week ending May 11, 2008, the show grossed $1,164,898 and also had the highest attendance of any show on Broadway–with a 100.7% attendance rate!

Total grosses for the week were $18,736,549 for the 36 shows on the boards.

Below are the Top 10 Grosses from BroadwayWorld.com for the week ending May 11, 2008.

1. Wicked $1,434,150
2. The Lion King $1,171,678
3. Jersey Boys $1,164,898
4. Mama Mia! $908,311
5. The Little Mermaid $875,071
6. Gypsy $854,278
7. Mary Poppins $765,619
8. The Phantom of the Opera $761,251
9. South Pacific $725,485
10. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof $682,691

The latest Jersey Boys Podcast has been released! It includes: a tribute to the late John Altieri; a review of Jersey Boys Las Vegas with highlights of the Opening Night Party on May 3, 2008 at the Palazzo Resort and Casino; and an interview with Jersey Boys 1st National Tour & Broadway member Eric Gutman.

Oh, What A Gala–Saturday, May 3, 2008–Jersey Boys Opening Night at The Palazzo!!

Photos by the Tech Half and Danielle Gaudio-Lalehzar.

Walking into the magnificent Palazzo on Saturday evening, May 3, 2008 for one of the most exciting things ever to hit Las Vegas–Jersey Boys Opening Night Gala and Frankie Valli’s 74th birthday celebration–was a night like no other!

The minute we entered the Jersey Boys Theatre area, we were welcomed, first at the box office, then by the associates at Frankie’s, the Jersey Boys Store! It was so great to hear, “Hey, you guys are with the blog! Have fun tonight!” Then, one of the associates shared a funny story from the previous week. She told us that there was this “really tall, good looking guy with silver hair who came into the gift shop.” She asked him if he had seen Jersey Boys yet. The tall, handsome man said, “Yes, I’ve seen it about 2,000 times!” She later found out it was the real Bob Gaudio!

We began our evening at a marvelous pre-show cocktail party at the totally swanky Dos Caminos restaurant, hosted by Gordon Kelly, Dodger’s Marketing Manager. It was a pleasure to meet so many of his colleagues who are working on Jersey Boys online, along with JB Podcasters Christy and Steve Holden and JB tour publicist Kent McIngvale!

Following the marvelous gathering, we found our terrific seats—sitting right next to Christy and Steve Holden! We see so many stars! Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, Bob Crewe, Frankie Avalon—just to name a few! The cast was RED HOT! The critics have already raved about the energy and electricity of Opening Night–so I’ll just mention a few of my most favorite moments:

• Jeremy Kushnier telling the audience, “I’m the guy you wanna talk to, because the whole thing started with me”…and his incredible rendition “Silhouettes”!
• Erich Bergen’s “Cry for Me”!
• Jeff Leibow’s rant in Gyp DeCarlo’s basement!
• Rick Faugno’s “Beggin’,” “CTMEOY,” and “Fallen Angel” (Not a dry eye in the house!)
• Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Bob Crewe joining the spectacular Vegas cast at curtain call for a thunderous standing ovation!

Read the rest of this entry »

The Tony and Grammy Award-winning hit Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, is pleased to announce the launch of JERSEY BOYS Radio today, Monday, May 12. Unprecedented for a Broadway show, this streaming internet radio station will feature songs from the Original Broadway Cast album, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, and other musical offerings from JERSEY BOYS cast members. In addition, the station will broadcast original material including interviews with the cast and crew of JERSEY BOYS from Broadway, Chicago , Las Vegas , London , and the First National Tour.

JERSEY BOYS Radio provides a unique chance for fans of JERSEY BOYS and the original Four Seasons to enjoy the music they love and hear from the talented people who make the show happen around the world. Streaming 24/7, the station is a round-the-clock way for fans to enjoy this wildly popular show any time they like.

Click HERE to tune into JERSEY BOYS Radio!

In the latest “My New York” column on Broadway.com, Sebastian Arcelus picks his favorites all around New York. Below is a sneak peek into some of Sebastian’s recommendations:

What is your quintessential New York meal, and where would you eat it?
Pizza….but it’s gotta be “New York-style” pizza. Best in town: Famous Joe’s Pizza on the corner of Carmine and Bleecker. The line alone will explain it all.

What is your favorite neighborhood and why?
Tough one… Currently, I’d have to say Harlem as it’s become our new home. Generally, I’d say the West Village since it’s the only area of Manhattan where I get lost and yet somehow always end up at Magnolia Bakery.

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do New York, but have not yet accomplished?
Driving without cursing.

In a recent Broadway.com interview, Glen Carter, the West End’s Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, found some time to ponder life both on and away from the musical stage, the broader appeal of those New Jersey guys, and why sometimes in life being true to your beliefs is more important than your art. Here’s a preview of the interview:

Congratulations on playing such an important role in getting the London Jersey Boys off to what appears to be a roaring start.
Thanks, yes, it’s been going really well. I mean, I don’t think anybody involved had any doubt—people like the cast, the actors who read the script. Personally, I had no doubt whatsoever that Jersey Boys was going to be a massive hit. Speaking for myself, it’s a great part, a great script, really well-structured, snappy, with a lot of momentum, and I didn’t think the reaction would be as vocal as it is at the end each night. I just think it’s a shame that it almost comes on the back of a genre that has been labelled the “jukebox musical,” which this certainly isn’t in terms of catchy songs just thrown in for the hell of it; that phrase in some respects trivializes what the show is.

What Jersey Boys manages so well is to use the Four Seasons’ music both to comment upon and advance what, of course, is a real-life story, whereas Mamma Mia!, say, is entirely fictional.
I did the very original workshop of Mamma Mia!, and my understanding at that point was that they were going to make it a musical drama. What it obviously eventually became wasn’t the original intention of the story, at least I don’t think it was, whereas this story has stayed very true to the experiences of the Four Seasons, which is wonderful. There’s real pathos, real heart to it, which is something that musical theater often lacks.

Jerry Fink of the Las Vegas Sun notes that the ink was still drying on his driver’s license when he first heard “Sherry,” the song that ignited the career of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was late at night in the summer of 1962 on the shoulder of some rural, two-lane road that wound through the back country of Northern California.

According to Fink, “Jersey Boys” at the Palazzo brought back a rush of memories, good and bad — just as it did for the original Four Seasons when the play was being put together. Watching the musical, it was interesting to see the group’s back story, a story that involved, among other things, beer and lying. Maybe that’s why the Seasons struck a chord with fans in the ’60s and were so successful.

But “Jersey Boys” is more than a stroll down memory lane. It is the perfect blend of music, story and acting. Hands down, it’s the best show in town.

Read the full review on the Las Vegas Sun website.

Photos 1-3 courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com.

With his permission, fan Lori Leone created the J. Robert Spencer Official Music MySpace! Check out Bobby’s amazing music samples and feel free to leave a comment!

For the fifth straight week, the 2007 Grammy Award-winning Jersey Boys Original Cast Recording remained in the top spot on the Billboard Top Cast Album chart! This marks the 121st week that the RIAA Certified Gold album has been on the chart.

Thank you to Kathy Johnstone for sharing her fabulous Opening Night photos!

Late last night, fans reported on the JBB Forum that Erich Bergen slipped on stage last night right after the “Sherry” scene and Mike Backes came in to finish the show as Bob Gaudio. Erich was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Thank goodness–Erich is fine–he’s just a little bruised and sore! In fact, Erich himself posted the scoop on the Forum after he returned from the hospital. Turns out, some of the fake “booze” in the Frankie apartment scene, right before “Sherry,” spilled out of the bottle and on to the stage. As he came running down the stairs and running over to Frankie, he slipped on it and took a nasty fall. He hit his back in the same place as last year, but it’s not nearly as serious this time.

The Vegas Happens Here blog spoke to Kate Turner, from Kirvin-Doak, the PR firm that represents JB. Ms. Turner stated,”Yes, Erich did slip and fall last night but he’s doing just fine (I spoke to him myself) and we expect him back in the show very shortly, if not tonight.”

We’re relieved to hear that Erich is doing fine and wish him a speedy recovery!

Two big updates regarding the Chicago Company of JERSEY BOYS!

5/12/08: The Chicago Jersey Boys will be singing the National Anthem at the Chicago Cubs game on Monday May 12 at 7:05PM.

5/20/08-6/10/08: BroadwayWorld.com reports that Bank of America will be hosting a series of four Stage Side Chats with cast members from Jersey Boys. Audience members at Tuesday night performances May 20 through June 10 will be invited to a brief question and answer session following that evening’s performance with the actors who bring this show to life eight times a week. Chicago’s own Jersey Boys performs at the Bank of America Theatre (18 W. Monroe) in an open run.

Before LasVegasWeekly.com reviewer Jacob Coakley saw Jersey Boys, he didn’t understand the adulation it received when it debuted in New York, and he wasn’t sure it could create the same excitement in Vegas. Well, that was then. This show’s got excitement all right, and it absolutely deserves it.

In fact, according to Coakley, Jersey Boys may be the perfect musical for straight guys. While he’d hate to say it’s about “relationships,” its big emotional moments are ones that happen between men and the people in their lives: small slights and large betrayals between friends, divorce and dealing with the recrimination of not being the best father. This is territory that resonates with men. The heavy emotional lifting is handled with the music; the songs speak to the subtext the guys can’t, or won’t, address.

More than just an entertaining musical bio, Jersey Boys is a bracing, funny look at how men navigate through their lives, coupled with incendiary musical performances and a voyeuristic look at fame. Yeah, maybe it came from Broadway, but now it deserves a home here.

Recorded May 8, 2008 on MORE KVVU TV, Las Vegas.

Visit Vegas Happens Here for a sensational review, photos, and a video from last Saturday night’s Jersey Boys Opening Night!

Do you want to win JERSEY BOYS tickets? Here’s your chance! Call (206) 424-4737 by 5/19 and say in less than 2 minutes why YOU should see JB in Vegas!

Visit The Strip Podcast to listen to a terrific interview with the legendary Bob Gaudio, and the actor who plays him in Jersey Boys in Vegas–Erich Bergen!!

Steve Friess of LasVegasWeekly.com notes that Frankie Valli got some Vegas vindication at last weekend’s premiere of Jersey Boys.

It is hard to believe now, especially after the weekend that just was, that only a few years ago Frankie Valli walked out during a three-week contract at the Luxor and was declared by at least one entertainment writer to have essentially ended his association with Las Vegas once and for all. Hard, that is, because on Saturday the town stood up and cheered as the pipsqueak Italian from New Jersey with the priceless falsetto blew out candles at one of the city’s most elaborate and expensive birthday parties in recent memory.

Friess talks to Valli about the return of The Four Seasons to the forefront of the pop-culture scene thanks to Jersey Boys; the rivalry between the Seasons and the Beatles; Valli’s fondness for the old Vegas; and some other interesting insights from the pop icon.

Elysa Gardner of USA TODAY asks: How hot is Jersey Boys, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical tracing the lives and careers of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons? After launching a national tour and productions in Chicago and London, it just opened Saturday at a custom-built venue in Las Vegas.

Just as Caesars Palace designed The Colosseum for Celine Dion, The Palazzo, a $1.9 billion, 50-story haven for trendy Vegas visitors — home to Jay Z’s 40/40 Club and the Strip’s first Lamborghini dealership — now has the Jersey Boys Theatre, which will be the hit show’s exclusive home on the West Coast.

Des McAnuff, who introduced Jersey Boys at La Jolla Playhouse in California, is hopeful the musical will survive and thrive in Sin City. “It’s demonstrated that it has very broad appeal. I think that has to do with the fast-paced story, which has a combination of ingredients: immigrants and family, and rock ‘n’ roll and the Mafia, which are kind of our mythology in America.”

Visit USA Today for the entire article, which includes additional thoughts about Jersey Boys in Vegas from Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli.

By Audrey Rockman, Jersey Boys Blog Special Correspondent

In the Four Seasons tradition, the big SPRING Four Seasons/JB bus tour is just around the corner- on May 25. With memories of the successful, inaugural tour this WINTER, I’ve named this one- The Memorial Day Memory Tour and final plans are in place. The adventure will begin in Union- just like the name of the group that we’re endeavoring to learn more about. Everyone will meet at Yesterday’s Treasures on Stuyvesant Avenue (transportation from the train station will be facilitated) at 10:30 am Sunday morning.

The agenda will start out with a bang as we visit and drive past almost a dozen sights in the Belleville/ Bloomfield/ Newark neighborhood. We’ll have lunch with ‘neighborhood’ ambiance at the famous Dickie Dee’s and drinks at the Belmont Tavern, before driving past five former homes of the Seasons members, as well as other haunts and locations like the first place Tommy brought Frankie up on stage. After the many sights in that area, it’s on to some northern Gaudio country in Bergenfield (while seeing photos of the Seasons’ homes just off the beaten path). Read the rest of this entry »

Ellen Sterling of BroadwayWorld.com states that it has finally happened. A hit Broadway musical — a Tony Award-winner — has arrived in Las Vegas and it is the closest thing to both a Broadway experience and a genuine hit Broadway show this city has ever seen.

But, as of tonight, we have Jersey Boys — a full-length, absorbing show with wonderful music, terrifically clever sets and excellent performances. We couldn’t ask for more.

The performances are all so strong that you actually believe you are, first, watching Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and, second, that you didn’t walk into the theater knowing anything about them. You cheer their victories, feel saddened by their sadness and — as if you’d never heard it before — love their music. And, when you think of how familiar the group and their music is to generations of Americans, you have to know how great the accomplishment of these four performers — and, for that matter, the entire cast — is.