Review: JERSEY BOYS at The Paramount: For Frankie Valli Fans Only

Okay, readers. I will be doing my best attempt to review The Paramount's production of "Jersey Boys" objectively, considering that I am not a fan of Frankie Valli or The Four Seasons. Based on conversations I had with the people in the audience-and conversations I overheard-I seemed to be the only one that had never seen the production before, so I am also coming at this with this one "Jersey Boys" experience. Bear with me, if you would.

"Jersey Boys" is a musical biography about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, narrated by the four members of the band-Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi-accompanied by their various songs. I say accompanied because this was the first time I had ever seen a musical where the songs have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. "Jersey Boys" differs from productions like "Mamma Mia!" and "Movin' Out" that use pop music for the score in that the story is biographical. Occasionally, the songs would be sung in chronological order of their release. There were miscellaneous secondary characters that had some significance in The Four Seasons' timeline (wives, children, mistresses, producers, etc.), but none of them had any real singing parts. At best, they would be singing back-up or would get a small bridge to sing with the band.

That said, the singing in this production I can say was outstanding, especially Aaron De Jesus as Valli hitting those incredibly high notes, with Tommaso Antico not far behind as Bob Gaudio. Matthew Dailey did a great job as the hard-boiled Tommy DeVito; but I found it difficult to sympathize with his character, which was no fault of Dailey's. Keith Hines' characterization of Nick Massi was the standout for me in this production: his Italian Jersey accent felt like it was inspired from one of the mobsters on the Looney Tunes, and it was wonderful. Hines seemed to really embrace the cartoonishness of this production in a way that I wish the rest of the actors did.

I think the biggest problem with this production for me was the fact that it told me everything and showed me nothing. Along with the narration-heavy script and the hit songs being simply performed for the audience (rather than incorporated into the plot), the set design also did a lot of telling, not showing. The only touches of color to go with a bare-bones set design (a steel staircase and second floor walkway) were various images projected against the backdrop that were all painfully literal. When there was a deal made on stage, the projector showed an image of two hands shaking. When there was a sexy scene about to happen, the projector showed an image of a large-breasted woman with her mouth open. The best attempt at being somewhat conceptual were the four chapter titles in the story: summer, winter, spring, and fall; a.k.a. the four seasons.

I will say Jess Goldstein's costume design was a wonderful tribute to doo-woppy early 60's. At one point, the members of The Four Seasons have on black blazers with blindingly sparkly lapels, which made their teeter-totter, step-in-place dance moves at the microphone a much more dazzling experience.

There were some aspects of this show that, even for the time it was portraying, felt dated. All of the women are called things like "dames" and it seems to be a huge deal for the members of the group to "get laid." The vast majority of the female characters in this production are very blatantly treated as sex objects, and the only one that is not is Valli's nagging wife. Yes, this all took place in a different time, something that DeVito expresses in his feelings concerning his ignorance about his producer's sexuality ("This was during a time when Liberacci was just considered dramatic!"), but there is a point where it should be the director's responsibility to handle adjusting the attitude of the people from a different era responsibly. For example, the members of the band are handed a "jazz cigarette" by a black man dressed as Santa Claus; this Santa had never been introduced before this moment, was never addressed again, and it makes me wonder if this moment happens in other staging. It may be capturing a real moment that happened to The Four Seasons, but given that this one of maybe three black characters is a lineless Santa Claus bringing marijuana to this very white band felt pretty racist.

I think this production missed a lot of opportunities to really capture the feel of an era, which could have saved the fact that the story of The Four Seasons' stardom was not particularly interesting. This musical made me with that other musical biopics existed like this, but just done better. These four boys "from the wrong side of the tracks" dealt with cookie-cutter power struggles and neglected families. The only thing really unique about The Four Seasons' story--and "Jersey Boys", for that matter--is Frankie Valli's impressive falsetto. But what it comes down to is that this production is not for a person like me who feels no sentimentality towards Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Audience members that feel sentimentality towards Frankie Valli probably can look past the directorial and production flaws, but I don't, so I can't.

I give "Jersey Boys" a 0.5/5.

"Jersey Boys" runs through Friday, March 11, 2016. For tickets and information, visit http://www.stgpresents.org/paramount.

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