‘Jersey Boys’ Goes Behind the Music at Fred Kavli Theatre

John Turner

“Jersey Boys,” the stirring rags-to-riches-to-rags-again jukebox musical about pop sensations Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, is a documentary-style examination of the group’s rise to (and fall from) the national spotlight during the ‘60s and ‘70s. And Feb. 23-28, Los Angelenos can see and hear this award-winning show when its national tour comes to Fred Kavli Theatre at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. The musical, which opened on Broadway in 2005 to fantastic reviews, won four awards at the 2006 Tonys including Best Musical.

The story in “Jersey Boys” unfolds in a clever behind-the-scenes fashion and is divided into four “seasons” – spring, summer, fall and winter – during which a different band member gives the audience his take on The Four Seasons’ success. In reality, the band made up of lead singer Frankie Valli, keyboardist and tenor vocalist Bob Gaudio, lead guitarist and baritone vocalist Tommy DeVito, and electric bassist and bass vocalist Nick Massi, rose from humble beginnings in New Jersey (hence the show’s title) to international stardom with a string of Billboard hits to its credit. Along the way, the band developed uneasy ties to the Mafia, had a string of difficulties with IRS debt, and dealt with numerous personal tragedies before its eventual breakup. The staging of the musical provides an intriguing forum for the assorted band members to tell their differing versions of the story.

Keyboardist Bob Gaudio, whose character tells the second part of the musical’s story, developed the original concept for “Jersey Boys” in the early 2000s. He hired book writers Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman to create the story and after interviewing Gaudio and the other band members, Elice and Brickman noticed the contrast between their individual memories so they developed the show’s four-part format. The cast performs numerous Four Seasons hits including “Sherry,” “Rag Doll,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” and “Working My Way Back To You,” along with original songs written expressly for the musical itself.

“Jersey Boys” takes the stage at the Fred Kavli Theatre at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Feb. 23-28. Tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster.