Broadway.com’s Interview with London’s Tommy Devito–Glenn Carter!
May 12th, 2008In a recent Broadway.com interview, Glen Carter, the West End’s Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, found some time to ponder life both on and away from the musical stage, the broader appeal of those New Jersey guys, and why sometimes in life being true to your beliefs is more important than your art. Here’s a preview of the interview:
Congratulations on playing such an important role in getting the London Jersey Boys off to what appears to be a roaring start.
Thanks, yes, it’s been going really well. I mean, I don’t think anybody involved had any doubt—people like the cast, the actors who read the script. Personally, I had no doubt whatsoever that Jersey Boys was going to be a massive hit. Speaking for myself, it’s a great part, a great script, really well-structured, snappy, with a lot of momentum, and I didn’t think the reaction would be as vocal as it is at the end each night. I just think it’s a shame that it almost comes on the back of a genre that has been labelled the “jukebox musical,†which this certainly isn’t in terms of catchy songs just thrown in for the hell of it; that phrase in some respects trivializes what the show is.
What Jersey Boys manages so well is to use the Four Seasons’ music both to comment upon and advance what, of course, is a real-life story, whereas Mamma Mia!, say, is entirely fictional.
I did the very original workshop of Mamma Mia!, and my understanding at that point was that they were going to make it a musical drama. What it obviously eventually became wasn’t the original intention of the story, at least I don’t think it was, whereas this story has stayed very true to the experiences of the Four Seasons, which is wonderful. There’s real pathos, real heart to it, which is something that musical theater often lacks.
Please confirm Glenn’s last performance dates (matinee and evening performance) – are they likely to be with Ryan and the the original cast?
Thanx a lot.x
Comment by Mrs Carter! — February 26, 2010 @ 5:35 am