I was lucky enough to attend the opening 'preview' show of the long awaited stage production of 'The Jersey Boys', the story of the Four Seasons.

My wife and I arrived an hour early to keep a look out for any of 'our' guys to show up to no avail. I was so nervous about seeing this production, I had problems concentrating. This, to me, was a once in a lifetime event.

La Jolla Playhouse is located within the University of San Diego. What a gorgeous facility. When it was time to take our seats, I could hardly walk down the aisle. I'm pushing fifty years of age and I felt like I was ten years old. The place was sold out, the ages running the gamut.

The backdrop for the entire show is a city slum with the city lights of NYC in the background. Three 'street walkers' start singing 'Oh What a Night' in french while Tom DeVito, Nick DeVito, and Nick Massi are posed behind a fence.

Our heroes step forward and begin to sing 'Sillouettes'. Tommy DeVito, or should I say Tomoosh, begins narrating the story. Christian Hoff plays Tommy so well he should win some kind of an award. Tom introduces each of the members and gives a few sidebars of some extra 'activities' they are involved in. They sing a few more songs like 'Earth Angel' and 'You're the Apple of my Eye' (w/o Valli).

They move to a club where the guys are singing and a young Frankie Valli (David Norona) is watching. Valli auditions with 'I Can't Give You anything But Love'. Of course, this is too good and Tommy brings him into the group and the Four Lovers are born.

Mobster Gyp DeCarlo and friends pay a visit to the club and 'request' that Valli sing 'My Mother's Eyes'.

After this performance, all of the guys get into trouble and receive some jail time. Nick DeVito has a little longer sentence than the rest and in comes Hank Majewski, a guy that can introduce some comedy to the act, says Tommy. They perform "I Go Ape' complete with Hank in an apes mask and Frankie's fancy footwork ala the Ed Sullivan appearances of the time.

The guys keep getting into trouble and Hank leaves, leaving Tommy, Frankie and Nickie Massi. Along comes Joe Pesci into a club they are playing as a trio and pushes them to see a group called the Royal Teens which is about to break up and to try and get this guy named Bob Gaudio into the Four Lovers. The Royal Teens perform 'Short Shorts' and the guys audition Gaudio who sings 'Cry For Me' for them, to Tommy's chagrin. After a lot of pushing, Tommy agrees to let the 'Genius' into the group.

The next scenes are devoted to Frankie introducing Gaudio to Bob Crewe, who is portrayed to the hilt. Excellent job !! Crewe signs the group to an exclusive contract and we get to see them back up such artists as Billy Dixon singing 'Trance', Hal Miller doing 'An Angel Cried', and a very disgusted Miss Frankie Nolan singing 'I Still Care' getting very upset with Frankie upstaging her vocals.

Things move forward to the guys getting upset with Crewe for not recording them as a group. Crewe relents if they can come up with a couple of good songs and the money to pay for studio time and costs. After some side deals, Tommy comes up with the cash only to find out that Crewe got the money on his own to record them. The guys are missing that one elusive hit and in comes Gaudio with a song he composed in fifteen minutes. The guys break into 'Sherry' and the rest is history.

The next scene is Gaudio wondering where he is going to get an idea for a follow up hit to 'Sherry'. Then as he is watching a late night John Payne movie, he gets the words of Rhonda Fleming: 'Big Girls Don't Cry'. The guys perform this perfectly.

Gaudio is explaining how Nick Massi, all of a sudden, has become his 'big brother' and is showing 'how to do' a lot of different things. Nickie is shown giving Bob the finer points of buying a car.

The group is standing around the piano bitching at Gaudio for writing a song with such a lame title as 'Walk Like a Man' and DeVito has a field day with it until Crewe manages to talk some sense into him. The song is done in full including that great drum intro.

The infamous handshake partnership between Valli and Gaudio is played out here.

DeVito and Massi take DeVito to a 'cathouse' to get 'initiated' while they all sing a humorous version of 'December 63'

The next scene is used to explain some of the fun and mischief singers can get into while on the road. The guys are watching a group called the Angels perform a song called 'My Boyfriends Back'. The guys all meet up and take the Angels out on a date to 'lover's lane' area. I'm assuming the Peggy Santaglia character (Angel's lead singer) sits with Gaudio. There is some dialogue and interaction between each of the guys/girls.

Frankie and wife, Mary, are fighting over various issues, especially about his daughter Francine. Mary splits from Frankie and the song 'My Eyes Adored You' is sung to perfection with the skylight of NYC in the backdrop.

Dick Clark and American Bandstand are recreated as the guys sing 'Dawn'. The B&W projection of the guys performing as if they were on this show is used as the backdrop. The same was done earlier with the Ed Sullivan show.

Intermission

Act 2 begins with a real fine performance of 'Big Man in Town', one of my all time favorite Season songs and I was pretty impressed at the delivery.

The guys break into 'Beggin' and then the scene fades into Gyp Decarlo trying to 'help out' the guys from some of the trouble Tommy has gotten them into. All four guys are sitting around a table berating Tommy with Nickie doing the worst of it. Nickie gives a heartfelt, tearjerking speech on how he just can't go on anymore, then departs from the group with Frankie begging him not to. The song 'Stay' is performed within this and then the same scene returns as the guys receive the 'news' of how the $$$$ trouble with Tommy will be solved. After much more infighting, it is agreed that Tommy goes to Las Vegas for awhile and that two new guys will be added.

Frankie and Bob perform the following song alone 'Let's Hang On'. The two new seasons are added. I must assume that they are Joe Long and Demetri Callas as the only comments about them made is that 'they're pretty damn good, but they ain't Tom & Nick'. Of course we all know there is a 5-6 yr time difference when each joined the group, but....................

The 'new' Seasons perform 'Opus 17'. Frankie's newest love leaves him in a huff and he sings 'Bye bye Baby'.

The group returns to perform 'C'mon Marianne' and then Gaudio explains how he wanted to do something special for Frankie and the next scenes are of Gaudio going from record VP to VP trying to get this new song done. The dramatic build up comes as finally the record company releases the song and Frankie Valli (David Norona) sings a showstopper called 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You'. This brought everyone to their feet. Incredible.

Frankie and Bob are sitting in a lounge when Bob explains why he must stop going on the road with the group but will forever remain as nontouring member to Frankies chagrin.

The group then performs 'Working My Way Back to You' (w/o Gaudio) which leads into Frankie telling us how things are going much better for everybody, they are working off the debt incurred and he is really making positive progress with his daughter. Then he gets a call telling him his daughter has passed away. He is then seen sitting alone singing 'Fallen Angel' as the ghost of Francine takes his hand. This is also one of the greatest scenes in the play.

The next scene is Bob Crewe introducing Frankie, Bob, Tommy, and Nick at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony.

The guys perform 'Rag Doll' and then each guy is given a few minutes to reflect back and bring us up to date on what they do now. Tommy is very funny, Bob Gaudio is.............well, the Bob Gaudio as we fans know him. Nickie gives another tearful speech including how he would go see the newer guys perform and sometimes Frankie would make him come out on stage and every single time he would ask 'Nickie, why did you leave me'. Frankie is last and explains a lot of things including a story of Tommy and Nick at these very same cermonies. Some things never change. He tells of the passing of Nick and explains some of his personal problems, marriages, etc and how he thinks he is finally on the right track. Each one of the performers shine in this scene.

The final scene is when all the performers gather onstage to sing 'Who Loves You'.

I would love nothing more then to see this go national. This is great. Speaking as a fan, some of the historical timelines are blended and some of the group memberships are not in order. ie: Hank M and Nick M, but, this presentation is so overwhelming, you might not even notice. The purists might not be real happy, but Theater is known to take some liberties.

I really hope that if given the opportunity, that each of you see this. It's a must for all of us die hards.

Robert Kotabish 10/5/04