The other night I was joyously reminded of why I love live theater. It has been too many years to count how long it’s been since I’ve been to a Broadway show and boy, have I missed it! Living in the Bronx as a child I saw a few shows, great ones like “Kismet” and “The Music Man“…then again after moving to “Joisey”, went to a few more really fabulous shows…“Evita“, “Dreamgirls“, “42nd Street“, and of course, “A Chorus Line” and “Cats”. I was spellbound by performers like Alfred Drake, Robert Preston, Mandy Patinkin and all the lesser known but immensely talented and entertaining gals and guys who are the lifeblood of Broadway. Unfortunately life intervened and my Broadway jaunts ceased for quite a while.
Well, serendipitously, I found the “Show Bus” in a local community school brochure and decided to give it a try. Seemed like a good deal, no driving into the city (an exercise in stress if ever there was one), just hop on the bus, Gus, and enjoy the ride right to the theater. My choice for the first in many years was, of course, what else!…”Jersey Boys”. How could I go wrong? Two things I really love, the Broadway stage and MY MUSIC!! And all about four guys, Italian of course…and from New Jersey! (Although a transplanted New Yorker I feel that Jersey is more like home to me. Maybe because most of the formative/best/happiest/richest years of my life have been here). What a package…and WOW, what a show. It was amazing. There they were, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, portrayed in all their grit and glamour on that scintillating stage. It was like being in a time machine, transported back to teen times and rockin’ out with all those great tunes. Oh where are you Dick Clark? The staging was unique and great, the performers were the best, the book was perfect, a history of the real guys with all the positive and negative truths of their lives, aspects of who they really were, and are. The MUSIC was fabulous, and those four guys had us rockin’ again. All the Four Seasons’ classics sung with such vivacity. “Walk Like a Man”, “Sherry Baby”, “December, 1963” , one of my all time favorites “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”, and more. This show brought back so many wonderful memories. This homage to the originals was the best! Kudos to the entire cast, especially the four guys who made the Four Seasons live again, and a nostalgic thanks and tip of the hat to the originals for creating all the wonderful memories the first time around.
Frankie, Bob, Nick and Tommy made it all possible back then, and once again “Jersey Boys” rocks and rules!
(The evening was perfect except for one miniscule sour note during the first 10 minutes or so of the show...the obnoxious boor sitting to my left…LOL. This overly large specimen of “primitive oaf” needed a third of my seat for his ham of an arm, and at first tried to impress me with his extensive theater-going and reliance on critics, especially the one for the New York Times rag. What an intellectual Neanderthal! I guess I insulted him by saying I never read critics nor allowed their opinions to influence my choices of shows or movies, and considered them to be the bitterly untalented who presume to judge those who had the talent and abilities that they obviously and enviously lacked. Guess I hit a nerve since shortly after that he decided to tell me I irritated him by singing along with the tunes, as so many other folks in the audience were also doing. Poor slob had no response when I finally told him he was a crude, boorish, and ignorant oaf and to shut up and stop sharing my seat. Needless to say, this comment had the desired effect and silenced him for the rest of the show…LOL. Too bad I never got back that third of a seat, but no matter. I certainly was not about to let this jerk spoil my evening and I had a great time despite his presence. The funny thing was that later, on the bus ride home, I happened to be chatting with another lady about the show and described his “complaint“ about my singing along to her. Her expressed opinion was “what an outlandish jerk, everyone does that“, hee-hee, and I think he was among our group on the bus, too. Oh well, it takes all kinds!)
Did I enjoy myself?…need you ask? It was GRRRREAT!! I’m hooked again, and will be signing on to the “Show Bus” as often as possible. Look out Broadway, here I come. Oh, what a night!
