Best Musical Tony® Award-Winner
JERSEY BOYS
The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
November 13 – December 1, 2007 in Segerstrom Hall
JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, comes to the Orange County Performing Artscenter November 13 – December 1, 2007 in Segerstrom Hall. Directed by two-time Tony® Award-winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS won four 2006 Tony® Awards, including Best Musical and continues to set new weekly box office records at the August Wilson Theatre, where it has remained among the five top grossing shows in New York since opening in November 2005. JERSEY BOYS is written by Academy Award winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.
JERSEY BOYS is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were thirty.
The JERSEY BOYS design and production team comprises Klara Zieglerova (Scenic Design), Jess Goldstein (Costume Design), Howell Binkley (winner of the 2006 Tony Award® for his Lighting Design of JERSEY BOYS), Steve Canyon Kennedy (Sound Design), Michael Clark (Projections Design), Charles LaPointe (Wig and Hair Design), Steve Orich (Orchestrations) and Ron Melrose (Music Direction, Vocal Arrangements & Incidental Music).
JERSEY BOYS is produced by Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Tamara and Kevin Kinsella, Pelican Group, in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner.
CRITICAL PRAISE:
“Too good to be true. The book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice is as tight and absorbing as an Arthur Miller play. The cast is just plain wonderful. The glitzy, sleight-of-hand staging by Des McAnuff doesn’t hurt either. With its vibrant choreography by Sergio Trujillo, imaginative settings by Klara Zieglerova, spot-on costumes by Jess Goldstein, and arena-style lighting by Howell Binkley, JERSEY BOYS is terrific – a show dynamically alive in music, while as a drama, it catches the very texture, almost the actual smell of its time.” – Clive Barnes, New York Post
“The most exciting musical Broadway has seen in years. A dazzling piece of conceptual direction by Des McAnuff, shrewdly penned by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, this endlessly savvy production works the audience up into such high stakes lather that the on-stage performances of boffo songs become catharses. You don’t ever want to look away.” – Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune
“The crowd goes wild. I’m talking about the real crowd at the August Wilson Theatre, who seem to have forgotten what year it is or how old they are or, most important, that John Lloyd Young is not Frankie Valli. And everything that leads up to the curtain call feels as real and vivid as the sting of your hands clapping together.” – Ben Brantley, The New York Times
“It all starts and ends with the book, and this one by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice is a winner. It’s the funny, original and moving way this story is told that makes it stand out. The versatile ensemble is first-rate. JERSEY BOYS works because its collaborators – those both on and offstage – found themselves in perfect harmony.” –Roma Torre, NY1 News “A can’t-stop-the-music tidal wave. Enjoy juicy behind-the-scenes true stories? Then, without a doubt, this is the hot new Broadway show for you. A fast-moving script electrified by most of the group’s greatest hits. Energetically weaving story, songs, visuals and performances, Des McAnuff stages a compelling rush of events that pauses only occasionally to savor the beauty of the songs.” –Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger
“I entered a skeptic, but promptly turned believer. Smart dialogue, devastating direction and overwhelming emotional impact.” – John Simon, Bloomberg.com
BIOGRAPHIES:
MARSHALL BRICKMAN (Book). Films: (author or co-author) Sleeper, Annie Hall (AA), Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery; (writer/director) Simon, Lovesick, The Manhattan Project, Sister Mary Explains it All. Television: The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (head writer), The Dick Cavett Show ABC late night show (head writer/co-producer). Mr. Brickman entered show business as a musician, first as a member of the folk group the Tarriers and then, along with John and Michelle Phillips, as one of the New Journeymen, which re-emerged a year later (Brickman having moved onto saner pursuits) as The Mamas and the Papas. Brickman’s recording (with Eric Weissberg) of the soundtrack for Deliverance, recorded in 1963, achieved gold status twice and remains a healthy seller around the world 40 years later. Mr. Brickman has published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Playboy, and other periodicals. Jersey Boys is his first venture into musical theater.
RICK ELICE (Book) wrote a popular thriller, Double Double (translated in 16 languages), Leonardo’s Ring (London Fringe, 2003) and Dog and Pony (New York Stage & Film, 2003). From 1982-2000, as creative director at Serino Coyne Inc., he produced ad campaigns for some 300 Broadway shows, from A Chorus Line to Lion King. Since 2000, he has served as creative consultant for The Walt Disney Studio. BA, Cornell University; MFA, Yale Drama School; Teaching Fellow, Harvard University; charter member, American Repertory Theater. In 2003, he appeared off-Broadway in Elaine May’s comedy, Adult Entertainment. With Marshall Brickman, he is currently writing another Broadway musical, to be directed by Tommy Tune.
BOB GAUDIO (Music) wrote his first hit, “Who Wears Short Shorts,” at 15, for the Royal Teens, a group he started, then went on to become a founding member of The Four Seasons and the band’s principal songwriter. He also produced the hit “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” for Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand (Grammy nomination, Record of the Year), as well as six albums for Diamond, including The Jazz Singer. Other producing credits include albums for Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and the soundtrack for Little Shop of Horrors. Several songs co-written with Bob Crewe have been cover hits for such artists as the Tremeloes (“Silence Is Golden”) and the Walker Brothers (“The Sun Ain`t Gonna Shine Anymore”) and Lauren Hill (“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”). With his wife, Judy Parker, Gaudio produced and co-wrote the Who Loves You album for The Four Seasons, and one of Billboard’s longest-charted singles (54 weeks), “Oh, What A Night.” A high point in his career came in 1990, when, as an original member of The Four Seasons, Gaudio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which hailed him as“a quintessential music-maker.” In 1995, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. To this day, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli still maintain their partnership…on a handshake.
BOB CREWE (Lyrics). “New York was pregnant in the fifties,” says Bob Crewe, “gestating with possibilities.” Crewe and music partner Frank Slay became independent writer-producers when the category hadn’t yet been invented. In 1957 they wrote and produced “Silhouettes” for The Rays, skyrocketing to #1. Suddenly, producers in demand, they launched Freddie Cannon’s “Tallahassee Lassie” and Billy & Lillie’s “Lah Dee Dah.” Crewe’s 1960’s solo unprecedented producing success with The Four Seasons birthed a new sound, striking a major chord in American Pop. “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Candy Girl,” “Ronnie” – all smashes! When lead Frankie Valli demanded a solo turn, Crewe and Bob Gaudio wrote and Crewe produced “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” eventually becoming the century’s fifth most played song. Crewe ran hot with artists from Vicki Carr, Oliver, Lesley Gore to Mitch Ryder, co-writing with Charles Fox the soundtrack for Jane Fonda’s film, “Barbarella.” Then his own Bob Crewe Generation exploded with Music To Watch Girls By. In 1972 Bob was in L.A., where he revived Frankie Valli with “My Eyes Adored You” by Crewe and Kenny Nolan. They also co-wrote Patti LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade” (#1, July ’75) – to re-hit again from the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge (#1, June ’01).
DES McANUFF (Director) is a two-time Tony Award-winning director and writer and the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse. Under his leadership, La Jolla Playhouse has won more than 300 theatre awards including the 1993 Tony Award as America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. Recent productions directed at the Playhouse include Zhivago (2005); Palm Beach, The Screwball Musical (2005); Private Fittings (2005); Tom Donaghy's Eden Lane (2003); Molière's Tartuffe (2002); and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (2001). Playhouse to Broadway Credits: Jersey Boys; Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays (Playhouse 2004; Broadway 2004, Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Playhouse 1994, Broadway 1995), The Who's Tommy (director/co-author with Pete Townshend; Playhouse 1992, Broadway 1993, Tony Award Best Director of a Musical, London Olivier Award Best Director 1994), A Walk in the Woods (Playhouse 1987, Broadway 1988, Moscow and Lithuania 1989-90) and Big River (Playhouse 1984, Broadway 1985, seven Tony Awards including Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical). Film credits include Cousin Bette (director), Iron Giant (Producer), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (director) and Quills (Executive Producer).
SERGIO TRUJILLO (Choreographer) most recently choreographed the Broadway musical All Shook Up. Other NYC credits: The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Off-Broadway), Bare (Off-Broadway), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Encores!), and Salome (NYC Opera). International credits: Peggy Sue Got Married (West End, London); West Side Story and The Sound of Music (Stratford Festival); Kiss Me, Kate and Twelfth Night (Tokyo, Japan). Other theatre credits: The Mambo Kings (Golden Gate Theatre), Jersey Boys (La Jolla Playhouse), The Wedding Banquet (Village Theatre), Kiss Of The Spiderwoman (North Shore Music Theatre), Le Nozze Di Figaro (LA Opera), Hoy Como Ayer (Ballet Hispanico) and segments of Chita Rivera's Chita and All that Jazz. Mr. Trujillo has choreographed various TV specials including: “Broadway: The American Musical” (PBS), and “The 14 American Comedy Awards” starring Nathan Lane, Martin Short and Jane Krakowski. Recipient of a 2003 Ovation Award in LA and three Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations for outstanding choreography in Canada.
JERSEY BOYS debuted at the La Jolla Playhouse on October 5, 2004, where it became the most successful production in the history of the playhouse, extending three times. The show opened to critical acclaim at the August Wilson Theatre on November 6, 2005. The National Tour of JERSEY BOYS began December 1, 2006 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco.
The Grammy Award-winning JERSEY BOYS cast recording is available now on Rhino Records.
Visit the JERSEY BOYS website at www.JerseyBoysTour.com.
Orange County Performing Artscenter
The Orange County Performing Artscenter is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through an array of inspiring programs.
It owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater and the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center. These state-of-the-art facilities are united by a community arts plaza and outdoor performance venue.
The Performing Artscenter’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, along with facilities of the adjacent Tony® Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site for a future visual arts museum, are located within Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
The Orange County Performing Artscenter presents a broad range of programming each season, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public and many other special events.
It offers many programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach more than 500,000 students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.
The Orange County Performing Artscenter is proud to serve as the artistic home to the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Opera Pacific and the Pacific Chorale.
Tickets to JERSEY BOYS at the Orange County Performing Artscenter are $28.25 to $83.25 and are on sale now at the Performing Artscenter Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, by calling 714.556.2787 or online at www.OCPAC.org. For inquiries about group sales, call the Performing Artscenter Group Sales office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.
The Performing Artscenter applauds Cox Communications and California Bank & Trust for their support. Mercedes-Benz is a Presenting Sponsor of the Orange County Performing Artscenter’s 2007-2008 Season.
