I saw the touring production of Jersey Boys in San Francisco on Thursday. I went principally because the regular Huey Lewis and the News trumpet player, Marvin McFadden, was playing in the production, and I wanted to be supportive. But even though he had a lot less on-stage time than I expected, I still enjoyed the production.
At least eventually, as I thought it started out a little slow and confusedly. The beginning has a lot of rapid dialog that sets up the exposition, and up in the balcony of the Curran Theater I couldn't hear it. (I've had balcony seats for other productions in other theaters, but somehow the Curran's seemed higher than others'. I'm not sure it's worth the savings to sit in those cheaper seats.)
I also thought it was perhaps a little much in playing up Italian-American stereotypes to some degree. I mean, it wasn't really politically incorrect, but, how should I express this? It perhaps sacrificed accuracy for the sake of easy jokes. Which I guess is reasonable, although somehow it rubbed me wrong. Which is sort of odd, since I'm not Italian, but since I am from New Jersey I think that's where my sensitivities were. I did laugh at a funny early joke about the Meadowlands, but otherwise I think I felt irked that the culture defined by the play was being passed off as the culture of the entire state. And while I think there may be a ring of truth to it in some places, *my* New Jersey was a much different place, and I felt like it was being painted over by the play's broad brush.
But I eventually warmed up to the play, mostly because the music won me over. For people unfamiliar with Jersey Boys, it's supposedly the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I'd actually never really liked the Four Seasons. Valli's falsetto never worked for me. But after having seen the musical, I'm rethinking my opinion.
The early songs in it, non-Four Seasons songs (as they were from the period before the group finally gelled), were a little stiff. But in a sense that's a good thing, because it helped drive home the point of the amazing musical chemistry generated when they finally recruited Bob Gaudio and harmonized on their first note, which reasonated amazingly throughout the Curran Theater. And from there the music took off. Even days later I still have the songs rattling around in my head. For that, tremendous praise goes to the cast, particularly the actor playing Valli (I think it was Jarrod Spector), who had a tremendous range and faithfulness to Valli's sound.
This production is in San Francisco through the 30th of September, at which point it travels on.
Edit 9/18: Did you see the Emmys? If so, you saw the cast of the Jersey Boys I saw in San Francisco. (In fact, if you look closely, I think you see Marvin too.)
I'm finding myself tempted to see the production again while it's still in town. That Jarrod Spector, who plays Frankie Valli, is really pretty amazing. CNN (and others) may have panned the Four Seasons medley as a tribute to the Sopranos, but while it may have been misguided as an idea (enough with the Jersey = Italian = mobster insinuations, ok?) it's impossible to pan the performance.