Jersey Boys Natl Tour Terrific in Thousand Oaks!
March 4th, 2016The JERSEY BOYS national tour rocked in Thousand Oaks last week! Check out excerpts from rave review!
TheJoyousLiving.com: This particular touring cast are all aces with great charisma, personality and musicality. Matthew Dailey will have you smiling at his charismatic smooth-talking tough guy act, Drew Seeley is the boy next door with a beautiful tenor voice, Keith Hines has you sitting up and laughing with his deadpan humor, and leading man Aaron De Jesus kills the falsetto vocally. They are well supported by Thomas Fiscella as the Jersey mobster, Gyp DeCarlo, Lauren Tartaglia as Mary Delgado, Jonny Wexler as Joe Pesci, and Barry Anderson as Bob Crewe.
Tuesday night’s opening night audience absolutely loved the show giving the cast and band a standing ovation from the first bows. So if you want to snag a ticket to the show’s remaining 7 performances in Thousand Oaks, act now! If Tuesday’s audience was any indication, tickets are going fast.
TheAcorn.com: Des McAnuff ’s seamless direction is one of the reasons this show works so well. The minimalist set (a catwalk and two flanking staircases) facilitates quick, smooth scene changes that work beautifully, eschewing the usual clunky, episodic scenes that inhabit most pop musicals. Dailey, Seeley, and Massi play own instruments; however, they are supported by Taylor Peckham’s excellent off-stage rock band (two drummers appear in every scene, alternately shunted on and off stage on gliding platforms).
The dazzling scenic design is accented by Dick Tracy-like cartoon projections, 196 costume changes, and 614 lighting cues (by the original production’s Howell Binkley). Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s snappy, witty dialog keeps the action moving while Sergio Trujillo’s choreography is era appropriate and well executed.
All of the Four Seasons’ songs are here and performed splendidly, but the staging of Gaudio’s masterpiece, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” is spine-tingling, garnering an extended ovation from the audience. “Jersey Boys” is a show you can’t take your eyes off either, and this splendid production is one that Thousand Oaks audiences will not soon forget.