Jersey Boys at Curve Leicester

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the name, The Four Seasons have had so many hits you'd probably instantly identify them in everything from film, television, adverts and much more.

With various hits appearing in Dirty Dancing, The Help, Mermaids and even the horror Midsommar, their recognisable chart toppers meant a somewhat easy translation into a jukebox stage musical.

So last night, I headed to Curve in Leicester to see the tale of four ‘wise-guys’ from the East Coast who left their upbringing on the streets behind to become a huge musical sensation. But the band can’t leave their past behind, eventually falling apart in a whirlwind of self-destruction.

In 2014 Jersey Boys was adapted into a film directed by Clint Eastwood, which had less recognisable acting names (bar Christopher Walken) as he cast from the stage show performers. Having only seen recently, it’s perhaps too literal an interpretation with drama, rather than creative takes on the music, being the film’s main focus.

It ditches the “four seasons” structure whereby the story, although in chronological order, has each band member tell their version of the group’s career through Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. This show maintained this style which naturally broke up the different parts of the story in an understandable way.

The show starred a talented Blair Gibson as songwriter Bob Gaudio and a sleazy Dalton Wood as Tommy DeVito (whose real name was “borrowed” for his friend Joe Pesci’s role in Goodfellas!)

Tom O'Brien stepped in on the day (you wouldn’t have noticed) to play bassist Nick Massi and the night was helmed brilliantly by Michael Pickering as lead singer Frankie Valli. Pickering more than held his own by hitting those incredibly difficult falsetto notes with his special voice soaring throughout the auditorium – none more so in his outstanding delivery of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You towards the show’s end.

The wholesome foursome knocked out all the big hitters (and there are a lot of them) including Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Oh What A Night, Walk Like A Man and Working My Way Back To You amongst the most well-known.

A strong support cast jumped easily between their dramatic and comedic roles and the songs were authentic well-played covers of the band’s repertoire.

The stage sets were effective too, if a little simple, but there were so many of them that they took the audience on a fantastic journey. We were whisked not just to different places but across time throughout their whole 50-year career. And the timings and changes of set dressing and props were so smooth and seamless they even had their own impressive choreography to them!

Although not known much at the time, the musical brings the forces that tore the band apart to the forefront. Behind-the-scenes the band were involved in contract disputes, internal bickering and even financial debt owed to shady criminals.

And its this combination of the power struggles hidden away from the spotlessly skilled performances that this show captured so well. So whether you’re an enduring fan of the band from the 60s or discovering them for the first time, Jersey Boys delivers with its four amazing leads anchoring both the melodrama and the magical music.

Michael Sales

Grab tickets from the box office now: https://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/jersey-boys

TICKETS

TUE 25 APR — SAT 6 MAY

DISCOUNTS*

£5 off Under 16s

£25 weekday performances 16-26 yrs and/or Students (with a free 16-26 & Student Membership), and Curve Connect
£25 Under 18s school groups

£5 off weekday performances for Groups 10+

£6 off weekday performances for Groups 20+

15% off for Members

ACCESS PERFORMANCES

Captioned: Sat 29 Apr, 2.15pm and Thu 4 May, 7.30pm

Captioner: Stagetext – Kathryn McAuley