June 18, 2009

Joseph Leo Bwarie Chats With IndyWeek.com!

June 18th, 2009

Joseph Leo Bwarie
Joseph Leo Bwarie (Photo by: Joan Marcus)

With the JERSEY BOYS national tour heading to Raleigh next week (June 24-July 18), Bob Geary of Indyweek.com has a preview of the show, which includes a fun interview with Joseph Leo Bwarie!

When Geary spoke with Bwarie last week, he said his name rhymes with “Sherry.” Actually, it doesn’t quite. It more rhymes with Mary: It’s Ba-wary. Bwarie’s from California, not New Jersey. He’s of Lebanese extraction, not Italian. But Lebanese, Italian, it’s all the same, he said. “It’s about talking and laughing incessantly—and the food.”

And, after 20 months in the part, Bwarie sounds uncannily like the young Valli over the phone. Can he hit Valli’s high falsetto notes? “Well,” he said, laughing, “the reviews say I’ve got the voice. Tell them I won’t let Raleigh down!”

When Jersey Boys comes to town, Bwarie said, it’s almost like a homecoming for the extended nation of Italian-Americans and former New Jerseyans who attend to relive past glories. They may know the story of the Four Seasons. But for others, it may come as a surprise.

Some people come to Jersey Boys expecting to see “this fluffy, cutesy show,” Bwarie says, along the lines of Mamma Mia. What they get instead is much, much better: “A very dark show about guys who led tumultuous lives,” and the close partnership of Valli and Gaudio that allowed the Four Seasons to endure “even after DeVito got in serious trouble with the mob.”

Visit Indyweek.com to read the full interview!

2 Comments »

  1. Saw Bwaire when they were in Orlando and he was excellent. The show is GREAT!!!! Loved it……

    Comment by Donna Widder — June 19, 2009 @ 7:37 pm

  2. saw the show in atlanta last night. BEST I’VE SEEN SO FAR AND I’VE SEEN QUITE A FEW. GREAT JOB. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD

    Comment by Lowell — June 20, 2009 @ 5:02 pm

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