August 17, 2012

Jersey Boys Is Entertaining & Soulful in Edmonton!

August 17th, 2012

Liz Nicholls of the Edmonton Journal gave a big thumbs-up to the JERSEY BOYS first national tour’s debut at the Jubilee Auditorium. Here’s a preview:

It takes a neon bowling alley sign to properly christen The Four Seasons. In addition to their vocal expertise, which is uncanny and, according to my companion, possibly superior to the original Seasons themselves, we meet distinctive characters in McAnnuff’s production. Most notably, DeVito, the impossible hothead who discovers Valli’s “voice of an angel,” gets a performance of fiery authenticity from John Gardiner. But they’re all vivid. Nick Cosgrove gives us a thrilling evocation of the voice that planted them in the public consciousness (and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). Cosgrove brings an oddly serious innocence to Valli. As the more intellectual Bob Gaudio, the hitsmith with the Midas touch, Preston Truman Boyd is charmingly wry and ironic. Michael Lomenda, an Alberta native, is excellent as the lugubrious bassist Nick Massi. And Jonathan Hadley is very funny as swishy producer Bob Crewe.

The cast delivers characters who yell, threaten and shove each other around furiously, and then, in a split second, sing perfect harmony with that weird, giddy, precision choreography. All very entertaining. And what emerges is the story of guys who struggled out of a harsh landscape of low expectations, and paid a price to speak directly to their people, the truck drivers and the pretty girls with the dark circles under their eyes behind the counters of diners, as Gaudio puts it. And there’s something soulful in that.

Click HERE to read the entire write-up.

2 Comments »

  1. Was at the show last night,Sat up in the second balcony tried in feb to get tickets on floor ticket master said it was sold out. The front right side of stage all 28 seats empty last night to bad. The show was good but the sound up there was terrible. what a dissappointment. cash in your tickets befor your show if you are up in the balcony. you should check with ticket master why those seats were not available.

    Comment by pierre — August 17, 2012 @ 8:57 am

  2. Was at the Aug 16 aft performance in Edmonton. John Michael Dias was amazing as was the rest of the cast. Was surprised to see most of row A centre, where we were fortunate to have seats, was empty while most of the auditorium was sold out. Maybe blocks of seats are being sold and people not attending. Their loss but not great for those who’d like to have seats on the floor. Bought mine thru Dancap in early December 2011 the day they went on sale. Would definitely see this show again!

    Comment by Kat — August 23, 2012 @ 1:11 am

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