In honour of the 20th anniversary of Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys, I was lucky enough to attend a performance at the Edinburgh Playhouse as part of its UK tour. The show was created around a collection of hit songs from the legendary 1960s boy band The Four Seasons. Rather than solely focusing on the band’s celebrated musical talent, Jersey Boys immerses the audience in mid-20th century New Jersey. It depicts the untold harsh reality of attempting to make it from young Italian-Americans singing on the streets to international treasures and stars of pop.
The play follows the personal and professional development of Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio as they navigate the music industry, romantic encounters, and involvement with the Jersey Mafia. The soundtrack includes ‘Walk like a Man,’ ‘Can’t Take My Eyes off of You,’ and even a modern French rendition of ‘December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)’ entitled ‘Ces Soirées- là.’
The role of narrator is passed between each of the four band members, allowing the audience to hear the story from each perspective and gain a clear sense of the characters’ motivations. Brickman and Elice cleverly split the play into four parts labelled as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, allowing the structure itself to mimic the band’s name.
Michael Clark’s use of vivid pop art projected on the back wall of the stage further immerses the audience in the era and creates context for the scenes unfolding on stage. Jess Goldstein’s costume design displays quintessential 1950s fashion, from bold colours and patterns to the signature slicked back male hairstyle.
Standout performances include that of Luke Baker (Frankie Valli) and Michael Levi (Bob Crewe). In a show centred around the vocal talent of the band’s lead singer, Baker, is nothing short of brilliant. His exceptionally broad range and electric stage presence exceeds all expectations and leaves the audience in utter awe, successfully replicating Valli’s own abilities and charisma. Levi is equally excellent despite his smaller role, demonstrating a comic flair and stylish flamboyance which creates lighter moments amidst the heavy and eventful retelling of the band’s professional struggles.
Most importantly, Jersey Boys is a success due to its accessible nature. As Elice himself claimed in an interview, the play aims to target older, working-class fans of The Four Seasons, encouraging unconventional audiences and having a wider impact on those who would not previously attend musical theatre performances. As The Four Seasons “weren’t part of the culture elite” (as Gaudio himself states) and largely wrote songs for working-class men rather than love-frenzied teenage girls, this appeal to wider audiences feels particularly true to the original band.
Jersey Boys is running at the Edinburgh Playhouse until 17 October. Buy tickets here.
Image by Mark Senior, provided to The Student for press use.
