On Saturday 18th December me and my fiancé’s family went to see the Jersey Boys UK tour matinee show, which is on at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham. I have not seen this show before and this was the first time I saw a musical at the Alexandra Theatre. I thought I would share my thoughts on the show and the theatre.
Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four
Seasons and how they developed over 20 years within the group. The story is
told in four chapters using each one of the stars as a narrator, over 2 hours
and 15 minutes with interval. We start with spring told by Tommy DeVito played
by Dalton Wood, Summer told by Bob Gaudio played by Blair Gibson, Autumn told
by Nick Massi played by Lewis Griffiths and finally Winter told by Frankie
Valli played by the alternate Luke Suri.
The narration is easy to follow throughout the show and
gives you a story from each person’s point of view. The first half really sets
the scene for how the band came together and how they got to the highs of fame.
The second half is more dramatic and covers the lows that the band went through
both as a collective and personally.
Songs
This show is all about the music with 25 + songs being used
throughout the show. The songs were integrated into the story and used to mark
milestones in the characters lives as opposed to traditional musical numbers.
It was a fantastic way for the actors to really highlight their talents and
express themselves. Some of the highlights were, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Oh
What a Night, Walk Like Man. Begging was a highlight for me, Luke’s voice at
the beginning of this song made my gasp aloud it was incredible.
Staging
The set and staging were quite simple, a silver scaffolding
with a catwalk across the top of the stage, spiral staircases either side,
really highlighting the working-class roots of the story. At the rear of the
stage was a digital screen used to show comic strip style characters, location
banners and a video monitor as if the band were being broadcast live during performance.
There was a lot of moving parts on stage such as chairs and tables, the
microphone had tracks to move on and off and it all went very seamlessly. The
use of lighting was also clever to show the dynamic on stage between the four
of them, as well as positioning on stage and the use of the microphones showing
the band progression.
Theatre
Upon entering The Alexandra Theatre, we were required to
show either proof of a negative COVID test from the last 48 hours or proof a
double vaccination pass. There were staff wearing masks throughout as well obvious
signs encouraging mask wearing and hand sanitiser points scattered throughout
the venue. Unfortunately, there were some who removed their mask when the
performance started when we are required to wear one during the performance.
We had seats in the dress circle on row F and these seats
were perfect, you could see everything that was going on onstage and when the
catwalk was used above, nothing was cut off. However, I am a bit worried about
theatre etiquette as several times during the performance I could hear the
people around me singing along when they should not be.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed this show, it was a bit slow to
start with but picked up as we went along. I thought the second half was a lot
better than the first and we really got to see more of Frankie as a character.
The cast were incredible the four guys really clicked on stage and their voices
were incredible. It is a show that is a bit unique in the way it uses staging
and music, which I have not come across before. Would highly recommend if this
is your kind of music or you just want to see an enjoyable show. The production
does include strong language, inferred violence, misogyny, adult references,
and very bright lights at one point during the show.
The show is on at the Alexandra Theatre until 1st January and is touring around the UK and Ireland until December 2022.
Find your nearest show here: Jersey Boys Tour
Until next time,
Stacey x
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