Once again, Eastbourne Theatres bring the very best of the West End to the Sussex seaside with the superb touring production of the massive hit musical, Jersey Boys. Often, once a production takes to the road, changes have to be made, and sometimes corners cut, in order to accommodate the transient nature of the show, but with Jersey Boys the Eastbourne audience gets exactly the same production as the West End audiences have been enjoying for the last seven years.
The show tells the story of a young man called Francis Castelluccio, his mentor Tommy DeVito, a talented songwriter named Bob Gaudio and a reluctant performer, Nick Massi, who collectively sold over 100 million records as The Four Seasons, and who, after a change of line up, became Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
With over 30 musical numbers, and 40 years of history to work through, the show is a little “busy” at times, with scenes changing both rapidly and frequently but this simply goes to emphasise how talented the cast are as, with every scene, they take on new costumes, new hairpieces and new characters entirely seemlessly.
The connections to organised, and sometimes disorganised, crime and the use of some rather ripe New Jersey language, make this show, sadly, not one for the whole family but the packed house at the Congress Theatre were not phased by this and they loved every second, right through to the standing ovation at the finale.
Stephen Webb, as the band’s creator Tommy Devito, Lewis Griffiths as the mellow voiced Nick Massi and Sam Ferriday as the band’s songwriter Bob Gaudio are all totally believable in their characters and, on top of that, provide tremendous backing vocals and incredible harmonies to the lead singer with that totally distinctive falsetto voice, Frankie Valli, played to perfection by the supremely talented Matt Corner.
It is also worth mentioning some stirling performances from the supporting cast, including Damian Buhagiar as a very young Joe Pesci, Joel Elferink as the band’s producer Bob Crewe and Samantha Hull who plays Frankie’s ill-fated daughter, Francine.
Despite the crime, drugs, bad language and the ultimate break-up of the original Four Seasons, there is no denying that the huge back catalogue of million selling hits will keep audiences coming back time and time again, and leaving happy every time.
***** Five Stars