Jersey Boys Brings Four Seasons Play And Music To T.O.
Posted August 25, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Sherry baby may want to come out tonight and she can carry her Rag Doll with her – the Jersey Boys are in town.
The Tony Award winning play of the same name that tells the story of the legendary 60s and 70s group The Four Seasons has hit town and had its red carpet debut Sunday night at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts.
The show, which also won a Grammy, explains how four kids from the Garden State became one of the biggest and most enduring groups of the rock era, and one the few American entities that competed against the Beatles and the British invasion – not only surviving but thriving.
Led by the soaring falsetto of lead singer Frankie Valli, the Four Seasons had more than 25 Top 40 hits – not counting the number Valli (born Frank Castelluccio) managed on his own.
The Four Lovers got their famous moniker from a bowling alley and it stuck.
And the stories behind their songs have become legendary, including writer and member Bob Gaudio, who was inspired to write the number one hit “Rag Doll” in 1964 after a young girl tried to clean his windshield at a traffic stop and he couldn’t get her forlorn expression out of his mind.
The group’s amazing rise, fall and comeback in the disco era is all documented in the play, but while you know all the songs, its director is warning fans not to expect a simple tale about a simple singing group.
“I didn’t know the story behind this music, and it’s a dark story indeed,” explains Des McAnuff. “It’s a dark and at times quite twisted story.”
Jersey Boys was a smash in New York and critics expect the same reaction here. The play is scheduled to walk like a man here until November 5th.
For more on the play’s Toronto run and ticket info click here.
