Jersey Boys At Royal And Derngate Theatre, Northampton Review

Reviewed by Janine Rumble

Jersey Boys – The Story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons Review – Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton

Jersey Boys is an amazing, energetic, thoughtful musical stage show that chronicles the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, charting the beginning of the group from when Frankie met the other members of the group, to the climax of the show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is showcased as ‘Four guys. Four stories. One unforgettable musical’.

The show is based on the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe and directed by Des McAnuff.

Whether you are a fan of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons or not, you will not be able to stop your toes from tapping and your hands from clapping and yourself from singing along to the top songs that defined a generation. If you are not a fan of them, you will instantly recognise a myriad of songs by them, and like me, you may be amazed at how many songs you recognise, but did not know were songs by them.

The musicality of the show is just superb and the orchestra/band were superb. It is just a great, easy watch and makes for such an enjoyable evening.

Ryan Heenan has an amazing singing voice and if you closed your eyes, you could imagine that you were listening to the real Frankie Valli instead. He gave a great performance as Frankie, from his early years as a less than confident teen who was then schooled in the ways of the world by Tommy DeVito played superbly by Dalton Wood, who you just loved to hate, through the years of the group getting together and how this came about, to the new group fighting to get their now infamous sound heard, to the sad events in his life to the group, to the group becoming famous and the highs and lows to the group being recognised in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ryan portrayed each of these stages of Frankie’s life with vim and vigour and he really took you along on the journey, willing him on all the way, whilst appreciating the highs and lows. I really liked his portrayal.

Dalton Wood, who if you knew no different would think he was from Jersey, plays the stereotypical Italian American Tommy DeVito. He has the swagger, the temper, the accent and the passion of how an Italian American has been portrayed as in films for decades. He completely embodies the proud Italian American heritage and loyalty to one’s family and friends, whilst displaying that broken side of him, the one that tore the group apart, so well.
I loved the portrayals of Blair Gibson as Bob Gaudio and Christopher Short as Nick Massi. Blair’s portrayal of Bob was great, so believable as the quiet and vulnerable songwriter and what a voice! The same can be said for Christopher whose portrayal of Nick as the quiet and serious one was also great.

I also loved the unexpected appearance of the character Joe Pesci (YES, that Joe Pesci!)
Some members of the cast took on a number of different roles throughout the show and each time, although facially, you could see they were the same person, the characters they portrayed though, were all different and their portrayal of each character was clever and so believable as that character.

The stage design and lighting are very simple and clever. Metal stairways and walkways are used well to represent rooms and walkways. Simple props are moved on and off the stage by the actors and are all used to good effect. The backdrop behind the metal walkway is very cleverly used to show pictures of the various clubs and venues the group worked in. It also shows different pictures to represent that part of the show, such as police when they are arrested etc. My favourite part was when the group was on stage at a television recording with cameras in front of them and on the screen you could see the group singing as if you were watching them on television yourself. It was very cleverly done and it was good to see the cast use the entire stage and not just be looking towards the audience all of the time. It really helped make the show more real. The costumes were amazing, they were traditional 1960’s style clothing, which added to the impact of the play. Especially when the group came out in the iconic red blazers, you could feel the change in the audience when the group came out wearing these.

I watched this play in the Royal and Derngate theatre, in the Derngate section. The Royal & Derngate is easy to get to with car parks within short walking distances away. There is disabled access throughout both buildings and the facilities are clean and presentable. There are a number of bars throughout the complex selling a range of alcohol, soft drinks, ice cream, sweets and theatre programmes. All staff are polite, helpful and courteous.

I would give this show 4.5 out of 5. I would highly recommend it if like me, Jersey Boys has been on your bucket list for a while as a ‘must see’ show and I would definitely recommend going to see the show if you are a long time fan of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

The show runs at the Derngate until Saturday 1st April. Tickets are available on the Derngate website https://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/whats-on/jersey-boys/ and prices start from £17.00.