BWW Reviews: Des Moines Goes JERSEY

When Jersey Boys opened on Broadway in 2005 it won numerous Tony awards and was heaped with praise. This week, the national tour makes a second stop in Des Moines, to remind us that the awards and praise are well deserved.

Unlike other so-called jukebox musicals, there is a lot going on in Jersey Boys, and the story is a compelling one. Unless you are up to speed on the creation of the Four Seasons, the story may surprise you. Not all of the members were on the straight and narrow and while there were plenty of ego battles, there were also surprising displays of loyalty. It is fascinating to learn that Tommy DeVito pounded the pavement to get the group going but Bob Gaudio's writing genius propelled the group to stardom.

Thankfully, Jersey Boys does not attempt to tell a story through the songs, which can come off forced and cheesy, but rather tells how the songs themselves came to be. The songs are used in a performance setting, which feels natural because the Four Seasons had to take any and every gig, the end result being that they performed constantly. The exposition of the show is a little slow since it does not feature any of the group's yet to be written hits. The show really kicks into gear at the telling of their first big hit, "Sherry." The show, like the Four Seasons, gets an injection of confidence and rhythm from "Sherry," which took off like a rocket. Throughout the Four Seasons' run there is infighting and eventually the group is torn apart at the seams. The second act of the show becomes the story of Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio picking up the pieces. The close of the show is clever and victorious; exactly what is needed to close a musical comedy.

All four of the Jersey Boys leads are talented singers and actors. Nicolas Dromard, as Tommy DeVito, has excellent comedic timing and beautifully handled the difficult task of narrating the first quarter of the show (broken into the four seasons of the year) and capturing and holding the audience's attention until the hits start coming. At this performance, swing performer Bryan Hindle was on for Frankie Valli. Hindle felt fresh, perhaps due to the fact that his role in the show is never set, and was clearly enjoying himself. Hindle did a nice job tackling the distinct, high falsetto that made Frankie Valli famous.

What Jersey Boys does best is showcase the Four Seasons' hits. From "Sherry" to "Big Girls Don't Cry" to "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" it is staggering the number of well-known songs that the group made famous. The production employs clever devices to showcase their performances. For example, when the Four Seasons perform on American Bandstand and other television programs the cast does not face the audience, but rather a set of cameras projecting their real-time performance onto a video screen. "Dawn" also employs an interesting technique in that the audience ends up watching as if they are backstage as the Four Seasons perform under the bright lights and to thousands of flash bulbs and screaming fans.

Jersey Boys is a fun show. It does not purport to be anything other than what it is, a way to tell how the Four Seasons made it big and play the hit songs that took them there.

Oh, what a show.

Jersey Boys plays at the Civic Center in Des Moines until August 4th. For ticket information visit Des Moines Performing Arts.

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