'Jersey Boys:' A Flash of Nostalgia

"Jersey Boys"

Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; music by Bob Gaudio; lyrics by Bob Crewe; directed by Des McAnuff; choreographed by Sergio Trujillo; music direction, vocal arrangements and incidental music by Ron Melrose; orchestrations, Steve Orich; scenic design by Klara Zieglerova; costume design by Jess Goldstein; lighting design by Howell Binkley; sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy; projection design by Michael Clark; wig and hair design by Charles LaPointe; fight director, Steve Rankin

Cast in alphabetical order:

Tommy DeVito, Matt Bailey; Frankie Valli, Joseph Leo Bwarie; Church Lady, Angel, Lorraine, Sarah Darling; Bob Gaudio, Josh Franklin; Detective Two, Billy Dixon, John Gardiner; Nick Massi, Steve Gouveia; Bob Crewe, Jonathan Hadley; Nick DeVito, Stosh, Norman Waxman, Charlie Calello, Buck Hujabre; Mary Delgado, Angel, Renée Marino; French Rap Star, Detective One, Hal Miller, Barry Belson, Police Office, David, Brandon Matthieus; Frankie's Mother, Nick's Date, Miss Frankie Nolan, Bob's Party Girl, Angel, Francine, Denise Payne; Joey, Recording Studio Engineer, Courter Simmons; Gyp DeCarlo, Joseph Siravo; Stanley, Hank Majewski, Crewe's PA, Accountant, Joe Long, Ryan Strand; Thugs, Leo Huppert, Brian Silverman

Performances: Now through February 22, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT

Tickets: 860-987-5900, www.bushnell.org, or The Bushnell Box Office

The sensation that is Jersey Boys has descended upon The Bushnell in Hartford, CT, and every middle-aged Bobby soxer and her beau that was in the audience on opening night seemed to be transported back to "late December back in '63," a time when a unique new sound born on the streets of blue-collar New Jersey was sweeping the nation. Clapping, cheering, and swaying to the close four-part harmonies distinguished by the lead singer's remarkable falsetto, many avid fans responded as if the real Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons instead of a very skilled tribute group were onstage re-enacting their greatest hits.

In those magic moments when the musical becomes an all-out concert, Jersey Boys is exhilarating entertainment. The four talented principles - Matt Bailey as tough guy Tommy DeVito, Josh Franklin as wunderkind songwriter Bob Gaudio, Steve Gouveia as malcontent Nick Massi, and Joseph Leo Bwarie as the unique voiced Frankie Valli - nail the group's trademark sound and mannerisms. When the show falls back on straightforward storytelling, however, it becomes a Cliff Notes history lesson that merely skims the surface of what could have been a fascinating tale of four uneducated, street-tough kids who catapult to success by chasing their American Dream.

The device of having each of the singers take his turn in the spotlight, narrating in chronological order various segments of the story from his own particular point of view, distances the characters from the action and disrupts the momentum when transitioning from musical number to book scene. Details about the group's formation, their creative process, their conflicts, their difficult family situations, their arrests, their struggles with fame, and their ultimate breakup all flash by so quickly that little emotional impact is made. The occasional glib joke lands - about prison, girls (who are not presented as particularly sympathetic creatures in this testosterone filled world), sex and the music industry - but opportunities for experiencing more heartfelt moments, such as a divorce or the death of a loved one, are lost in the quick flick of fact checking.

We also don't get to see the passion that drove each of these unlikely heroes to move beyond the mean streets of Newark by catching the wave of popular music. Like the boy bands of the '80s and the rap groups of the '90s, the Four Seasons created contagious harmony out of pulsing chaos. Jersey Boys could have been a much richer piece of musical theater had its creators delved more deeply into the fires that burned within each boy to escape, and express through music, his difficult upbringing.

Director Des McAnuff's fluid staging on Klara Zieglerova's flexible set keeps the action moving efficiently if sometimes frenetically because of the brevity of scenes written by librettists Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. When the chain link fence that suggests both an inner city playground and a prison yard makes way for the bright lights and the open spaces of the concert stage, however, that's when Jersey Boys finds its heart. Bailey, Franklin, Gouveia and especially Bwarie sing with an intensity that reaches across the footlights. In those moments when they give voice to the classics that everyone in the audience knows and loves - "Sherry," "Walk Like a Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Who Loves You?" - the boys connect as if baring their souls.

Judging by the exuberant standing ovation the audience gave to Jersey Boys in Hartford, most people were likely singing "Oh, what a night," as they exited. For this reviewer, unfortunately, the hype was just a little "too good to be true."

PHOTOS by Joan Marcus: Steve Gouveia as Nick Massi, Joseph Leo Bwarie as Frankie Valli, Josh Franklin as Bob Gaudio, and Matt Bailey as Tommy DeVito; Joseph Leo Bwarie