Review: The Jersey Boys at Nottingham Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall
The multiple award-winning musical The Jersey Boys brought life and joy to the Nottingham Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall, and it was impossible not to feel alive and left wanting more when the curtain fell.
Four Jersey Boys, each so different, but united by one thing — the music.
From debts, Mafia connections, prison cells, to shaky family relations, laughter and tears, four boys from Jersey became four boys of the world.
The musical tells the story of how four boys with their own lives and different backgrounds became rock & roll stars, made fans go wild and were an ever-present on the radio.
It tells of their rise from tough backgrounds and experiences and the personal clashes between friends and family to their eventual rise to stardom.
Their music was more than songs, it was hits.
Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice's show will run in Nottingham until September 24.
Laughter was audible within the first minute and what followed was a rollercoaster of emotions that played a special part in the show, the only absentee — boredom.
The legendary hits performed include Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Beggin and December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)’.
The show takes the spectator through a journey back in time, the clothes, the hairstyles, the mentality and the music.
If one thing is unquestionable, it is the talent and passion of all the cast and how engaging a show it is to the viewer, from the beginning until the very end.
From the love dramas to the concerts at the local bar, time flies by, as it will for each and every one of you who watches it too.
The journey you will witness sees Frankie Valli, amazingly performed by Michael Pickering, having to be home by 11pm at his mother's request, to being a grown up with a wife and children.
Each member of Four Seasons has their time to shine as they address the audience directly — Bob Gaudio the song writer, played by Blair Gibson, Nick Massi, the quiet one who knew exactly when and where to say the right thing, played by Lewis Griffiths and Tommy Devito, the one who started the group, but also added the spice of drama, and is played by Dalton Wood.
The last hit sung at the musical had everyone on their feet and there wasn't a person who wasn't smiling, clapping or shouting with glee.
It is a show that will make you think, laugh and dance — simply brilliant!
From the acting, to the singing and dancing, Jersey Boys is a show you can’t and shouldn’t miss.
MT
