June 14, 2006

JB Tony News Updates!

June 14th, 2006

Over the last two days, news sources from around the globe have announced Jersey Boys’ four big wins at this year’s Tony Awards. Below are a few of the news updates:

Bloomberg’s Philip Boroff reported that Jersey Boys, a backstage drama about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons punctuated with performances of their 1960s and ’70s hits, won the Tony Award for best musical, Broadway’s top prize.

John Lloyd Young, who summons a ringing falsetto for eight shows a week as Frankie Valli, won for best actor in a musical. Christian Hoff, who portrays Four Season Tommy DeVito as a reckless if sympathetic bully, was named best featured actor in a musical.

Jersey Boys, one of Broadway’s biggest new hits, was derided by some as a “jukebox musical” because it doesn’t feature original music. Young said it succeeded because the music fit organically into the show. Following the awards show, here’s what he told reporters,

“We had to work against that stigma of a jukebox musical when we first opened. Some of those past attempts crashed and burned because they were unnatural. Our show doesn’t do that because it tells a straightforward story about a band that wanted to succeed and then did.”

Michael Kuchwara from the Associated Press announced that Jersey Boys, the fast-moving musical biography of pop icons Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, won best musical Sunday at the 2006 Tony Awards. In his Broadway debut, John Lloyd Young, who plays Valli in Jersey Boys, took the top actor-musical award and dedicated the prize to his father. Christian Hoff, who plays tough, wise-guy Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, won the featured actor-musical prize.

New York Times’ Campbell Robertson, noted that despite the carping about jukebox musicals and a contest that seemed to gain heat by the minute, Jersey Boys, the surprise hit about the Four Seasons as told through their songs, won the big prize — best musical — at last night’s Tony Awards, as well as three more, including best actor for John Lloyd Young and, in one of the night’s several upsets, best featured actor for Christian Hoff.

USA Today’s Elysa Gardner noted that although the Tony Awards turned 60 Sunday night, the birthday party might have been dominated by a bunch of Boys— were it not for a certain Chaperone who helped keep some of them in line.

Jersey Boys, the popular jukebox musical tracing the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, duked it out in several categories with The Drowsy Chaperone, the winking homage to old-fashioned musical comedy that became a critically acclaimed sleeper hit and racked up five trophies to lead all musicals. But Jersey emerged triumphant, winning best musical, plus leading actor for John Lloyd Young and featured actor for Christian Hoff.

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