Until Monday night, my entire relationship with the Four Seasons consisted of two things: my mum's cassette player on long car journeys, and a one-time-only serenade attempt of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". I won't be discussing the latter.
So when we were invited to the opening night of Jersey Boys at the Wycombe Swan, I was expecting to recognise maybe four songs and be mildly entertained by a "rise of..." biopic about a band my mum is into.
What I got instead: a highly energetic and fast paced sprint through mafia-adjacent New Jersey in the 60s -- the highs and lows of a life on the road and a band coming apart at the seams. Plus a whole roster of songs I already knew (and a few I've just added to my Spotify playlist this morning).
That's the thing about the Four Seasons -- you probably know far more of their back catalogue than you think you do, and Jersey Boys spends two and a half hours proving it to you.
Let me spoil this review for you now: get tickets before the run finishes on Saturday. It's a belter.
A blue-collar story with a very good soundtrack
The show follows Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons from their blue-collar New Jersey beginnings as The Four Lovers -- with a sideline in fixing bowling games -- right through to their stadium-level fame and everything that came unstuck along the way.
It's both funny and very dark in places -- much more so than their songs let on -- with a spotlight on the effects that fame has on the family left behind, money issues and the intra-relationships within the band.
And running underneath it all is the particular zeitgeist of the 60s that the show captures without having to explain itself. It made me want to rewatch Mad Men and Goodfellas.
The performances
As you'd expect, the musical performance is the star here. Luke Baker is a completely convincing Frankie, right down to that voice-of-an-angel falsetto. His "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" deservedly earned an extended round of applause on opening night.
It's not only about Frankie though: the other three leads completely embody their own characters. You could not have convinced me that Carlo Boumouglbay as Tommy DeVito was anything other than a small-fry Jersey wiseguy, so imagine my surprise to read the programme and discover he's actually Italian-Lebanese, born in Australia and based in the UK. Blew my socks off.
Lewis Kennedy nails Nick Massi's deep bass and quiet deadpan stoicism, while Toby Miles easily captures the boy-wonder cerebral essence of Bob Gaudio.
There's also a large supporting cast doing a lot of heavy lifting with various smaller roles -- including several hilarious cameos and some that land very emotionally.
Simple staging
The set is a straightforward split-level structure that transforms into bars, stages, recording booths, offices and the back of a car as needed. Nothing showy but the perfect blank canvas.
There's also a very clever screen in play that shifts between pop-art style graphics as an exposition device as well as an occasional live video feed of the boys as they perform. So you're watching them on stage and on the screen at the same time -- a real stadium-esque performance.
The verdict
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Standing ovation territory -- and the audience on Monday definitely agreed.
Jersey Boys is playing at the Wycombe Swan until Saturday 29th August. Tickets are available here.
Photos: Mark Senior
For more from our nights at the Swan, read our Operation Mincemeat review or revisit another jukebox musical in our Bat Out of Hell review.
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