Jersey Boys Blog

Happy Birthday to USA today! If you’re from my neighborhood, you’ve got three ways to celebrate the birth of our nation: You could join cheering crowds at a parade. You could hang out in 100-degree temperatures and watch the casino fireworks extravaganzas. Or–you could go to the Palazzo and celebrate the best way possible–at JERSEY BOYS! It could happen. It did happen–last year and this year!

You wanna begin at the beginning: A 9:30PM show on Saturday, July 2, 2011.

Vegas was hoppin’ on the Fourth of July weekend! As we entered the JERSEY BOYS Theatre, it seemed like an atypical, rather diverse audience. The JBB Tech Half remarked that he noticed more golf caps in the audience than he did on the driving range earlier that afternoon. The golfers weren’t the only ones out for a great evening–there were quite a few gorgeous twentysomethings dressed to the nines in clubwear! So I figured JERSEY BOYS was the perfect start to their festivities!

As the always incredible Ces Soirees-La began and as the story unfolded early in the Act One, the vast majority of the audience was completely engaged! However, maybe it was the Fourth of July weekend celebration, the 100-degree temperatures, or some vacationers doing their own version of “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas”– but a few wild, rather talkative, rambunctious, and possibly inebriated holiday revelers started their own fireworks in the audience. In fact, during the pizza scene, as Frankie and Mary’s relationship was heating up, sparks went off in the audience, as some guys yelled out YAY!, OH MY GOD!, and a few WOAHs! to some of Mary’s best zingers to Frankie. We’re all for an audience who gets into the story, right?! Then, during the Oh, What A Night scene, a half dozen guys stood up and gave a short sing-a-long rendition with Peter Saide and attempted to encourage the rest of the audience to join in! As I said before, this was a rather atypical Vegas audience!

Even with these distractions, the late show Four Seasons’ chemistry ROCKED on Saturday night, as it always does. Just like Tommy DeVito, Deven May “took care of it” as the leader of the group and the guy who held it all together before they hit. After all these years, Deven is still as passionate on stage as he takes control, right from the beginning!

Even though Jeff Leibow has been playing Nick spot-on and solidly since Day One of the Vegas show (as well as in the SF holiday show), he still seems like he is growing into the role. In his Fall scene, when he finally gets his turn, you could feel the tension as he explained how “some things are gettin’ left out.” His explosion during the “sitdown scene” took people by surprise, to put it mildly, with an almost deafening emphasis on “TEN YEARS” ! (BTW, Jeff nicely posed for post-show photo, but the Tech Half’s camera didn’t cooperate!)

Peter Saide is continuing to come into his own as the young genius Bob Gaudio. His vocals on “Cry For Me” as the group’s sound was first heard on stage was one of many Wow’s of the evening, along with his explanation of the Four Seasons’ fans: …”They’re the ones who really got us, who pushed us over the top.”

Travis Cloer, of course, always does an awesome job in the Frankie role–but this past Saturday–it was magical. As Sherry broke on American Bandstand, the joy the young Frankie Valli was experiencing on stage with his first hit record was palpable and the voice of an angel was no exaggeration! And, I know it’s an overused term by critics, but Travis “nailed” Walk Like A Man with his Oooooo’s and that powerful falsetto like never before! No surprise with Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: it was the showstopper of the evening!

We were in for another treat: seeing swing cast member Douglas Crawford playing the Norman Waxman track! Out of all the times we’ve seen JB and the fact that Doug has been with the first national tour, as well as Chicago, and now Vegas–it’s hard to believe that we had never seen him play any roles. It was well worth the wait! From the time Doug entered the stage as Nicky DeVito–he caught our eye, singing, as Tommy puts it, “somebody else’s latest hit.” As Stosh, Doug played off of Donnie (John Salvatore) with perfect comedic timing in the “who’s the asshole” scene. As Norm Waxman, Doug owned the role with a demeanor that was all business, especially when he stated, “My people are very angry.” If you ever get a chance to see Doug in this track, be sure to pay attention to his rockin’ dance moves as Charlie Calello!

For the entire Vegas run, we have never yet seen anyone play Bob Crewe except for John Salvatore! After all these dozens and dozens (yes, we’ve lost track) of times we’ve seen John as Bob Crewe, it never ceases to amaze us on how fresh and vibrant his stage presence is as the guy with the best ears in the business. From the minute he strutted out and gave Gaudio “the eye” on Saturday night, he had the audience in the palm of his hand with his take on some of the funniest lines in the whole show.

It wasn’t just about the guys Saturday night! All three Jersey Girls (Megan Nicole Arnoldy, Merissa Haddad, and Nikka Wahl) were awesome in their massive roles! As Mary, Merissa had the perfect balance of feistiness and flirtatiousness, as well as some of the biggest laughs as she and Frankie became an item during the pizza scene. Her “Gimme that—asshole” in her kitchen had even the quiet audience members howling! As the troubled wife and mother, her scenes were heartbreaking.

We couldn’t help but wonder what effect the audience’s shenanigans were having on the cast during the second show of the evening. Despite these distractions, the entire cast deserves kudos for their stellar performances on a rather wild and totally memorable evening!!