Theater: Jersey Boys

Were the Four Seasons really that interesting? Maybe. In the hands of writers Marshall Brickman (who co-wrote Annie Hall with Woody Allen) and Rick Elice, the tale of Frankie Valli and the guys is just a great night at the theater. And as Jersey Boys rolls along, you can’t believe the Four Seasons had so many great hits.

The show,  divided into spring, summer, fall, and winter (the four seasons, get it?) was set up so that each member of the group tells one act from his own perspective.  It covers the group’s arc from creation to break-up. But don’t worry, it ends happily – and I don’t think this is a spoiler – as the Four Seasons are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This has the feeling of a show that’s beloved by the public, but pilloried by the critics. But nay nay. The critics loved it, too. Clive Barnes of the New York Post wrote, “It’s terrific! The cast is plain wonderful. The book is as tight and absorbing as an Arthur Miller play. Jersey Boys is a show dynamically alive in music while, as a drama, it catches the very texture, almost the actual smell, of its time.” The play won four Tony awards in 2006, including Best Musical.