Valli & Gaudio in San Francisco Promoting JB!
July 13th, 2006San Francisco Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik states that Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio of the Four Seasons were in San Francisco Tuesday to promote Jersey Boys, which will open its national tour in SF SHN’s Best of Broadway series. The press got to meet them before a Ruby Skye show-and-tell for buyers of group tickets. Valli, who has been working with Gaudio for 45 years, mentioned how the “making a comeback” questions drive him crazy, considering he has never left the stage.
Valli said he doesn’t mind singing old hits, such as “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Sherry. Valli noted, “If you went to hear Sinatra and he didn’t do ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin,’ you’d feel disappointed.” Sinatra was Valli’s mentor, friend “for 10 years before Barbara” (Sinatra’s last wife), vocal adviser and acting inspiration (Valli’s “Sopranos” character has been whacked), and they spent major time together in Las Vegas and Palm Springs. “It was very magical. … Just him and me and Jilly Rizzo. … It was a wonderful relationship.” At the master’s request, Valli even campaigned with him for Hubert Humphrey. Which brings up the subject of politics and America, and what Valli described as “too many groups protesting about too many things.”