My mom is in town and she and I attended a screening of the new film Jersey Boys last night. What a treat! I saw the musical on Broadway in February of 2013 with my husband and we absolutely LOVED it. So, of course Mama asked me after the movie, “Which was better….the movie or the musical?” Hmmmmm….this is what I told her:
“There is absolutely nothing better than live music….but the details of the story are so much easier to follow in the film.” So basically both the film and the musical are great and I’m not going to decide which I like better!
Even though I saw the show on Broadway only a little over a year ago I had already forgotten how many fantastic songs that The Four Seasons sang. Before we left for the movie one of my sons asked me what songs Frankie Valli sings and silly me could only think of Sherry!
The movie (and play) tell the story of four young men from a tough neighborhood in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. Not only is it an interesting story, it is full of great musical performances and fantastic songs.
Here are some fun facts from Wikipedia:
Valli scored 29 Top 40 hits with The Four Seasons, one Top 40 hit under The Four Seasons’ alias ‘The Wonder Who?‘, and nine Top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of The Four Seasons, Valli’s number one hits included “Sherry” (1962), “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (1962), “Walk Like a Man” (1963), “Rag Doll” (1964) and “December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” (1975). Valli’s recording of the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” reached number two in 1967.
Mama thought that Frankie Valli was no longer living. I have confirmed that he is alive and well and is an Executive Producer of the movie. My husband wanted to know if the actors in the movie were the same performers that we saw on Broadway. I learned through a little research that two of the film actors also starred in the Broadway musical production (Erich Bergen and John Lloyd Young). The actor who plays Frankie in the film (John Lloyd Young) actually is the 2006 Tony Award Recipient for his role in Jersey Boys on Broadway.
Mama and I loved the movie. The theater was full and everyone clapped with grand enthusiasm at the conclusion. Be sure to stay ’til the very end because there is a fun song/dance music video type ending that you won’t want to miss!
Jersey Boys opens in theaters on Friday, June 20th!
