Jersey Boys Melbourne Opens TONIGHT!
July 4th, 2009Photo Credit: JB Tech-Half, Jersey Boys Australian Press Launch, Las Vegas 2/3/09
From BroadwayWorld.com: Bobby Fox, Scott Johnson, Glaston Toft and Stephen Mahy star in JERSEY BOYS – The story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Broadway’s multi-award winning musical opening in Melbourne’s Princess Theatre TONIGHT. Rehearsals began in Melbourne this past April. Previews started June 20, the cast celebrates the official opening tonight.
Bobby Fox is playing Frankie Valli, Scott Johnson is Tommy DeVito, Glaston Toft is Nick Massi, and Stephen Mahy is Bob Gaudio – The Four Seasons.
‘Finding four performers to re-create the unique sound of the Four Seasons was never going to be easy,’ says Australian co-producer Rodney Rigby of Newtheatricals, ‘And it wasn’t. It was exhausting, it was exhilarating. But it wasn’t easy.
‘We held auditions across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland. We saw more than 400 wannabe Four Seasons – some of them, actors and pop stars, big names in their own right – and we saw hopefuls for the ensemble, men and women who need to sing and dance and play roles that might have been written for a Martin Scorsese movie.
‘We then embarked on a six month round of trips, workshops and more auditions, this time with an international panel of 12 including the Broadway and Australian producers and the original Broadway creative team including Director Des McAnuff, Musical Supervisor Ron Melrose and Choreographer Sergio Trujillo.
‘Finally, Bob Gaudio, the Four Seasons’ original member, the genius who sent the group into orbit with Sherry, a song he wrote “in about 15 minutes,” gave his blessing to our Four Seasons: Bobby, Glaston, Scott and Stephen. If they were good enough for Bob Gaudio they were good enough for us.
‘So that was the hard part over. All we had to do now was to put on the show: a musical book with a gritty, compelling story that has it all: drama, comedy and music. The music of four guys who over four decades have been part of the soundtrack of most of our lives.’
‘After considerable time and effort by so many, it is an immense pleasure to finally have created the ideal home for Jersey Boys in Melbourne,’ said Broadway Producer Michael David, Dodger Theatricals USA. ‘We have the highest hopes that Melbourne will embrace this musical wholeheartedly, and that Australians from all over the country will be heading to Melbourne to experience the sheer joy this show currently brings on Broadway every night.’
How can someone in California’s Central Valley…having been fortunate enough to see the San Francisco show ONLY twice (will it ever come Home again?!!)… be so excited that aNOTHer part of our world getting the chance to see this story and (re)live these wonderful songs? But I am! Can’t wait for the reviews…
Here’s a link to a good interview with Bobby Fox, Frankie in the Aussie version, at TheAge.com:
link: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/a-man-for-four-seasons/2009/07/02/1246127633731.html
Sounds like he feels fairly challenged by the difficult role….let’s see what the critics and more importantly, the public have to say.
GO Jersey Boys, Australia! Oi, Oi, Oi !!!
Comment by scott t. — July 4, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
Chookahs!
And taking into account the time difference, everyone involved is probably still in bed and/or hung over, since it’s 6:45 a.m. the day after opening night in Melbourne right now. I hope all went wonderfully!
Comment by Leanna — July 4, 2009 @ 3:44 pm
I saw this show in Vegas a couple of months ago. Loved it. Decided to take my sister to Melbourne during the preview week to see it. It was a Tuesday and we had the understudy doing Frankie .. but .. it was totally awesome! The crowd went wild!
Comment by Karen — July 5, 2009 @ 4:14 am