JB Chicago Actors’ Thoughts on Being Jersey Boys
October 15th, 2007Pauline Dubkin Yearwood of Chicago Jewish News has a terrific piece on Jersey Boys, including interviews with cast members Jarrod Spector, John Michael Coppola, and Steven M. Goldsmith.
Jarrod Spector is playing the role of a lifetime when he appears as Frankie Valli, the lead in the highly anticipated touring company production of Jersey Boys, due to continue through April at Chicago’s LaSalle Bank Theatre.
Playing a man from an Italian family came easy to Spector:
In Philadelphia I grew up with a lot of Italian friends and I’ve sort of been an Italianophile throughout my life. And being Jewish, there are certain values that are shared. There’s quite a bit of common ground-the family values, the traditions, the food, not to mention the guilt. They really do overlap.
Spector says that while his main concern in playing the role is “honoring what’s on the page”-doing justice to the character as he is written in the script-meeting Valli was highly beneficial. He adds,
I take great pride in trying to honor his legend, his voice. He is so intense and charismatic, this iconic guy. He’s this little ball of energy and power, especially vocally, and I want to do my best to capture that on stage.
Great article…and so glad to see ensemble boys get some press.
Comment by Leanna — October 15, 2007 @ 10:19 am
Fantastic article! I really enjoyed learning more about all three of them.
Comment by Lauren — October 15, 2007 @ 1:04 pm