Review: JOHN LLOYD YOUNG: MOSTLY SOUL at Laurie Beechman Theatre

Singer, actor and songwriter John Lloyd Young is a Tony winner for Jersey Boys, in which he played Frankie Valli, with a Grammy for the show’s soundtrack album. (He reprised the role for the 2014 film.) Young has a loyal and dedicated fan base who show up at many of his performances. His recent two-night run of his new show, Mostly Soul: Beloved Hits from Motown to Broadway at The Laurie Beechman Theatre was no exception, with a packed house on both nights.

Young, an appealing performer with a spectacular, rangy tenor, commands the stage and the music. He knows his audience - literally, sometimes addressing fans by name. In the intimate Laurie Beechman, everyone is famiglia. Though Young frequently has a full band, he was accompanied here only by pianist Steve Marzullo, which helped make the evening feel like a house concert. For these vocally challenging songs, “You can’t hide. It’s just me and Steve tonight.” Most songs in the set were from his soul/R&B album, My Turn.

The star opened in fine form with a Sam Cooke medley of “Cupid,” “What a Wonderful World This Would Be” and “Another Saturday Night,” followed by a gorgeous, nearly operatic reading of the Platters’ hit “My Prayer,” with a thrilling, high-note finish.

Young peppered the set with great stories. Concerned he might be pigeonholed as a “Jersey Boy,” he recorded My Turn. While researching songs from the 60s not associated with Valli, Young realized his real passion from that period was soul and R&B songs. He told a marvelous story about bringing signed copies of his album to the White House, hoping to get booked for President Obama’s second inauguration after hearing Obama famously sing a few lines of Al Green’s “I’m So in Love with You.” (Jennifer Hudson got the gig.) Young’s rendition here evoked Green’s powerful original.

Young thanked fan Karen in the front row for her rule-breaking video at a Florida show where he surprised his audience by bringing out Little Anthony, “another little guy” he admires, on “Hurt So Bad,” which Young then performed here. He had wanted to include the song “Hurt” (Jimmy Crane, Al Jacobs) on the album. He didn’t, because the title is too similar to “Hurt So Bad,” which he associated with Little Anthony (also a late-period Elvis record). This song requires a great, rangy voice to handle, yet seemed like a piece of cake for Young.

A bluesy, torchy version of the Lennie Welch hit, “Since I Fell for You” (Buddy Johnson) was another winner. Young took things to another level with the falsetto song, “Lonely Girl” (Leon Carr/Earl Shuman) a big hit for The Stylistics. Young told the story of a New York Times album and show review that mentioned only this song. When Shuman, its then 92-year-old lyricist read it, he came to see Young every night for the rest of the run.

Young performed “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” (Harry Noble) one of his signature performance songs, working the room to shake hands and get cheek kisses from the girls, all of whom happily obliged.

The requisite Jersey Boys segment started with a terrific “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” (Bob Crewe/Bob Gaudio), before Young flaunted his newly acquired Italian skills to sing the song in Italiano.

The star related a funny story about playing Valli in the film while Clint Eastwood was just a couple of feet from him directing, with more inside dope about the filming. This set up an emotional rendition of “My Eyes Adore You,” which Valli sang (in the film, not in real life) to his troubled daughter.

Towards the evening’s close, Young surprised with a fine song he wrote himself with Tommy Faragher, “Slow Dawn Calling,” heavily influenced by his favorite R&B songs. More like these would be welcomed.

After a finale medley of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything” (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) and the Al Wilson hit “Show and Tell” (Jerry Fuller), where he again worked the room, Young performed a stunning encore with “A House is Not a Home” (Burt Bacharach/Hal David), conjuring the hit version by Luther Vandross.

A second encore, an energetic medley of the Four Seasons’ “Working My Way Back to You” (Sandy Linzer, Denny Randell) and “Sherry” (Bob Gaudio), with the audience happily providing the “Why don’t you come on” bass part.

As always, it was a great outing for Young. It’s somewhat surprising this talented and charismatic artist is not a bigger star after such a big break with Jersey Boys. Still, for his loyal fans, he’s the top. And that’s not too shabby.

For more information about John Lloyd Young, visit https://www.johnlloydyoung.com.

Find more upcoming shows at the Beechman on their website here.