Jersey Boys Blog

To celebrate the one year anniversary of Jersey Boys’ Tony Awards, we thought we would highlight the heartfelt and moving acceptance speeches by Howell Binkley, Christian Hoff, John Lloyd Young, and JB Producer Michael David.

Howell Binkley, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Jersey Boys

“Hey, first of all, Jersey Boys has been an incredible adventure I think for everybody. Everybody in the room deserves this. I mean the cast, the crew — everybody in the room. All my assistants. I just have to thank everybody. This is really a great honor and thank you very much.”

Christian Hoff, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Jersey Boys

“Thank you so much. Thank you, Papa! This is for us. He died when he was 52. He immigrated to this country in 1961, the year “Sherry” broke, and he met my mom working at Saks Fifth Avenue. And, as a proud first generation American, I celebrate this story every night with my man, Tommy DeVito, who gave me the shoes to fill and the heart and soul of a king, warts and all. Nobody’s perfect—this is a perfect story, though. Thanks to Des McAnuff, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, without which, we wouldn’t be able to weave this intricate story in this iconic music that we get to play every night. I thank my wife, Melissa Hoff, for coming to me and saving me and being there as a mother for my children, our new baby in her womb right now—hi, baby! And Lord, I thank you for bringing me back home to Broadway and thank you for welcoming me. God bless Broadway!”

John Lloyd Young, Best Actor in a Musical, Jersey Boys

“Thank you. I have something else in common with Christian Hoff tonight besides this. I also lost a parent. My mother died of cystic fibrosis before I knew her. I was two years old. I don’t remember her. I do remember, though, when it was just my father and me, before he met the woman who’d become the mother who raised me, before my younger sister Gillian, it was just the two of us. And he was my whole world. He was an officer in the Air Force and I always wanted to be an actor, and that put us at odds at certain points. But my girlfriend Alison shows me that my struggles were probably harder on him than they ever were on me. So I’m very, very proud to share this with my father. Dad, we’re among 6,000 people tonight, but for some reason I’m remembering that first early struggle that we got through together and how it feels like it’s just the two of us again. Thank you.”

Michael David, Producer, Best Musical, Jersey Boys

“Thank you. On behalf of the entire most jubilant Jersey Boys family, our profound thanks for this honor. It belongs to so many; I will try and remember a few. It began with Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman, who wrote this story, with Des McAnuff who found the unique way to tell it, with Sergio Trujillo, Ron Melrose, an extraordinary cast and company of actors who play it out every night, most especially our own Christian, Daniel, Bobby and John Lloyd. And of course, the actual Four Seasons, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi and Frankie Valli, who with Bob Crewe actually lived the story we told and created an extraordinary musical legacy in the process, and then were fool enough or brave enough to let us tell that story in a form other than a valentine. This means a great deal to us tonight, surrounded by so many familiar and friendly faces. Many of you fought in the trenches with us this season, finding your own respective dreams. We are most happy for Jersey Boys, but we thank and congratulate every single person who stepped onto a Broadway or off-Broadway stage this year, and we welcome this opportunity to celebrate it all. Thank you so very much.”