Britain had The Beatles and the US had The Four Seasons.
There are similarities in their rags-to-riches story, but while everyone knows of John, Paul, George and Ringo, most music fans could only name one member of The Four Seasons – Frankie Valli.
But that all changed in 2004 when the now-famous musical Jersey Boys premiered and invited theatre fans behind the music and inside the fascinating story of the other Fab Four.
Last night the HMT audience stepped back in time to the swinging sixties as the Tony, Grammy and Olivier award-winning musical returned to Aberdeen to tell the tale of the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll group.
While Jersey Boys is billed as a jukebox musical, I’d argue it’s much more than that. Even though most people are drawn in by the band’s decade-defining music, the story of mob connections, debts and even prison spells was equally captivating.
Jersey Boys thrilled Aberdeen fans
The documentary-style approach worked brilliantly, with the band’s songs cleverly woven into the thrilling story. The musical was structured as four “seasons”, each narrated by a different member of the band who gave his own perspective on the band’s history and music.
First, we met Tommy DeVito who introduced himself to the audience and explained how he started out with the group The Variety Trio and discovered talented teenager Frankie Castelluccio who eventually changed his surname.
According to Tommy – wonderfully portrayed by Dalton Wood – if you were from his neighbourhood, there were only three ways out – “you could join the army, you could get mobbed up, or you could become a star”.
And as it turned out, you couldn’t become a star in New Jersey without cooperating with the mafia who owned local clubs. The band’s links to a Mob family were a shock to many theatre lovers, including Jersey Boys actor Blair Gibson whose singing, dancing and acting was splendid.
When his character, songwriter Bob Gaudio, took over the narration, we learnt why the band named themselves after The Four Seasons bowling alley and how he wrote three songs that finally propelled the New Jersey band to stardom – Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, and Walk Like A Man.
Fantastic cast and great hits
But as Nick Massi (Christopher Short) explained, it didn’t stay rosy for long and a forgotten bill landed the band in jail. The third season featured beautiful song and dance numbers, including an energetic performance of Beggin’ – which some younger people in the audience probably didn’t realise was originally recorded by The Four Seasons.
And before Ryan Heenan – who was amazing as Frankie and even nailed that famous falsetto – said Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye) to Aberdeen fans, he treated the HMT audience to the almost-never-released ballad Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.
Taking audiences on a three-decade-long journey, the show ended with The Four Seasons’ 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which reunited the original four members on stage one last time, with Tommy, Bob, Nick and Frankie saying their own farewell.
Oh What A Night you’ll have at Jersey Boys – the Tuesday night performance even received a well-deserved standing ovation.
Don’t miss the famous musical while it’s at Aberdeen’s His Majesty’s Theatre until Saturday February 11. Tickets can be purchased here.
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