You're Just Too Good To Be True (Jersey Boys)

Member Name: wendz86

Product:	Jersey Boys
Date:	07/08/09 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great songs, great cast

Disadvantages: Not most exciting story of all theatre shows

I live in London and wish I could go to the theatre more, but is does tend to be quite expensive. When my Mum comes up to visit my we do often go though which is a very nice treat. This time my Mum and sister went to go and get tickets but I had mentioned this is one of the shows I would like to see. They managed to get some reduced tickets in the stalls section and so we went to see the show.

I didn't actually know much about the show before I saw it. I knew that it was about the band the Four Seasons and I knew a couple of their songs. I had actually seem them perform some of the songs on a variety show on TV and this was the main reason I wanted to see the show.

The Jersey Boys is shown at the Prince Edward Theatre in Soho. I work just down the road so wasn't hard to find. It is between Tottenham Court Road Station and Leicester Square and only a short walk from both. Tickets for the show can be purchased from the theatre direct, which is what we did, or you can buy them from various ticket booths around central London. They can also be purchased more in advance from See Tickets.

The theatre itself is nice and all the people who work there were very friendly and helpful. As we were seated in the stalls we went down to the downstairs bar where we had a glass of wine. The bar downstairs was quite empty and the drinks were reasonably priced for a theatre. You can also buy snacks from the bar. I found the rest room facilities to be of a clean condition and they were a pleasure to use.

The theatre is a good size but not too large so I think everyone has got a reasonably good chance of being able to see. We were sat in the stalls and I found them to be a good view as the seats in front were sloped just enough to be able to see well. The seats were also fairly comfortable. The boxes looked quite good as there were a number of them spread across both sides.

Anyway enough about the theatre and onto the show itself... Jersey Boys as I said previously is based around the story of the band 'The Four Seasons' and the singer Frankie Valli. The story starts being told by Tommy Devito (Glenn Carter) who is one of the original band members. The original band started with him, Nick Massi (Philip Bulcock) and Tommy's brother Nick as well. Tommy manages to come across an amazing singer, the young Frankie Valli (Ryan Molloy) who joins the group. Tommys brother ends up in prison and so they have to find someone to replace him. They manage to find a songwriter called Bob Gaudio (Stephen Ashfield) and the band is complete. The production shows their journey as the band goes through ups and downs. It also showcases all of the most famous songs from the group.

The story of the show as a whole isn't the most exciting of all the shows I have ever seen. It is based on a true story so this obviously gives less scope for making it exciting and unreal. Despite this it is a really interesting story, especially if like me you didn't know much about the band. There are also plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested. I liked that as well as the actual story there was a comedy element. This made it more entertaining and fun to watch.

The whole show was narrated by different members of the group throughout. This allowed you to see what happened in the different members eyes as they all had different experiences to each other.

The songs in the show are probably what makes it. The band released some brilliant songs, many of which I didn't atually know were done by the band. Songs like Beggin and Bye Bye Baby were songs I have heard the covers of but never the original. These were quite a surprise when I heard them and were particulatly enjoyable. I recognised about three quarters of the songs which was a lot more than I thought I would. The audience seemed to enjoy the music and songs like 'oh what a night' got some clapping along.

The acting in the show was very good. The main character Frankie was played really well by Ryan Molloy. Having since looked at pictures of the real Frankie , they have a good resemblence. The producers of the show did a brilliant job of finding someone who looked and sounded like the real Frankie. He was great at performing through the songs in terms of singing and dancing and you almost felt that you were at the performance back in the 60's. The other characters also did a great job at their roles. The backing dancers and singers were all very good and helped add to the entertainment value.

The show ended with a well deserved standing ovation. I think the performances of the Four Seasons songs alone was brilliant and well worth watching.

Overall it was a great show that I would happily go and see again.

Summary: A great show that is worth seeing