May 22, 2009

Jonathan Hadley Plays Bob Crewe–The Fifth Season

May 22nd, 2009

Jonathan Hadley & Andrew Rannells Jim Farmer of Sovo.com has a feature on Jonathan Hadley, who plays Bob Crewe in the national tour of JERSEY BOYS.

One of the surprises many audience members members receive when watching the musical “Jersey Boys” is learning that there was an unofficial fifth member of the legendary Four Seasons band, Bob Crewe, and that he was gay. Actor Jonathan Hadley, who is gay himself, plays Crewe in the touring version of the show, opening next week in Atlanta.

“Jersey Boys” charts how four blue-collar guys became one of the greatest pop bands of all time. Franki Valli was the lead singer of the band, with Bob Gaudio on keyboards and tenor vocals, Nick Massi on bass guitar and bass vocals, and Tommy Devito on lead guitar and baritone vocals. Along with Gaudio, Crewe wrote 10 songs for the band, all of them popular, and also served as their manager and producer.

The musical opened on Broadway in 2005 and went on to win several Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Hadley was in the Broadway version of the show for a few months with the original “Jersey Boys” cast, before joining the road tour. Altogether, he has been with “Jersey Boys” now for a year and a half. He laughs when recalling his audition process.

“It was very intense,” Hadley says. “I had to sing for Frankie Valli.”

Read the full interview on Sovo.com.

(Photo credit: Joan Marcus)

4 Comments »

  1. I love Jonathan. He is so great as Crew and so terrific to chat with at the stage door. I have a great pic of him in Dallas coming out with a brownie covered in vanilla ice cream.

    Comment by GLADYS MARLIN — May 22, 2009 @ 12:38 pm

  2. I saw the show in Fort Lauderdale a few weeks ago, and Jonathan actually recognized me in the lobby from the time he was in NYC subbing for Peter Gregus, and I really felt special. He was absolutely charming to both my friend and me….so much so that I did buy the autographed cast playbill from him to beenfit BC/EFA, although there is no more room on my Jersey Boys wall.

    Comment by Howard Tucker — May 22, 2009 @ 1:03 pm

  3. Jonathan is great! I first met him when I saw JB on Broadway, and told him I’d see him again that November… fun times, man.

    Comment by Leanna — May 22, 2009 @ 3:15 pm

  4. I love his Bob Crewe! We have seen the National Tour 3 times and he’s wonderful!

    Comment by Helen — May 23, 2009 @ 6:58 am

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