Photo credits: (l to r) Adam Zelasko, Hayden Milanes, Quinn VanAntwerp and Nicolas Dromard. Photo: Joan Marcus
In 1990, a wildly popular ’60s and ’70s band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The four-man band had five No. 1 singles from 1962 to 1975, despite the overwhelming popularity of the Beatles. They wrote hit songs such as “Walk Like a Man,” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and their records were sold worldwide. It’s surprising that at the time, hardly anything was known about them. The four men, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Nick Massi, were the Four Seasons, and in 2005, their story was heard for the first time.
Jersey Boys opened on Broadway in 2005 and found immediate success, winning four 2006 Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. It’s a documentary-style jukebox musical that dramatizes the story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the most sensational bands in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sound, and sold 175 million records across the globe. In this revelatory musical, there are four “seasons,” each narrated by a member of the band, with his perspective on how events unfolded.
Though the musical portrays the band’s rise to fame, the audience will be fascinated by some of the band members’ lives before the formation of The Four Seasons. They hid their secrets well, for fear that if their pasts were revealed, the songs might not have been played.
Nicolas Dromard, who plays Tommy DeVito in this touring version of the musical, relates his own surprise when he saw the musical on Broadway back in 2006.
“I didn’t know the story at all,” he admits. “I knew the music of the Four Seasons, but I had no idea what had happened, the problems they had, the deaths in the family, all of that. It was completely news to me. Back then there was no Twitter, Facebook…you didn’t learn about people until it was really huge news. People didn’t know their ages until they were arrested in Columbus, Ohio. Everyone thought they were these young kids, but they were actually in their mid-’30s.”
Though there are moments of strife as the band struggles for stability, Dromard says that the show is solid from beginning to end. “The music, the story, the way everything is woven together—it’s like a great concert. The story is just incredible—the true story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons—the rise and fall, how they dealt with fame, how they dealt with their family situation. I mean this show is just all over the map when it comes to the story. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, and it’s a wonderful story about friendship and brotherhood. Plus, the music is fantastic, of course.”
Jersey Boys runs February 19 through March 2 at the Fox Theatre (527 Grand). For a list of show times or to purchase tickets, visit fabulousfox.com or call 314-534-1111.
