Review: JERSEY BOYS, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, December 9 2015

Having had its Scottish debut in Edinburgh last year, the worldwide sensation opened tonight for a three week run in Glasgow's Theatre Royal. Receiving rave reviews and winning just about every theatre award you can think of, audiences had very high hopes for this one!

Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, which to be honest isn't very much of a story. The group formed in New Jersey and the musical follows them from when they first meet to finding their sound, experiencing success and inevitably breaking up as a band.

The production values for the Jersey Boys tour are high and very similar to what you would see in the West End. Jersey Boys isn't known for having a particularly exciting set but nothing appears to be scaled down for the touring production.

Jersey Boys is packed with hit songs including Beggin', Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Oh What a Night, Sherry, Walk Like a Man, Bye Bye Baby & Big Girls Don't Cry to name a few. Although the songs are classic, the performances tonight left me cold. Very few numbers are performed in full and this gets a bit frustrating after a while. The cast were adequate but there were no stand-out performers for me.

It isn't something I say often after seeing a live performance, but I much prefer the recent movie adaptation of Jersey Boys to the stage show. I was definitely in the minority though as the rest of the audience seemed to be very enthusiastic throughout and most were on their feet by the end.

Jersey Boys runs at Glasgow's Theatre Royal until January 3rd.

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