The potential theater-going crowd of downtown dwellers may inaccurately pass off the pop music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons as lounge singer wannabes that penetrated the 60s with a defiance to experimental album-oriented- rock. Some lofties will almost remember Valli's voice singing the opening titles of Grease, that tidy little retro musical about the 50s made in the 70s. Not many know the four Jersey working-class kids followed the footsteps of Hoboken's Sinatra who held a mic in one hand and the audience in the other.
After its premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2004, it was shipped back to NY where it won the 2006 Tony for Best Musical as Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. This mash-up of a baby boomer pop follows the rise, the breakup and inclusion of the boys into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The backstory of the vibrant falsetto singer with three-part harmony backup could be considered Tony Soprano meets Dreamgirls as the music forwards the storyline and define characters––without falling into a "VH-1 Behind the Music" overdone storyline.
After a series of some hits and mostly misses of rock/pop music becoming musicals, Jersey Boys shows how background music of a generation grew can evolve into legitimate theater with a storyline. Maybe in 10 years a production will be produced based on someone who peaked at the Cochella Music Festival, or a musical will be produced on the Beastie Boys path from NY borough rage to post-punk instrumental. Or maybe a hip-hop production covering Jersey girl Dana Elaine Owens, aka Queen Latifah, rise from NY rap to Chicago Oscar Nom. For now, The Ahmanson Theater brings Jersey Boys East Coast style back to the West Coast.
Jersey Boys
May 25 - August 31
The Ahmanson Theatre
at the Music Centre
135 North Grand Avenue
Photo Courtesy of the Center Theatre Group
Comments