The Untold Story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

ON STAGE The Untold Story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

Before Frankie Valli was a superstar and a household name, he was Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, an Italian-American kid from Newark, New Jersey. His turbulent rise to fame with his Jersey cronies — the crooners who formed The Four Seasons with him — is the subject of the hit biographical musical, Jersey Boys, now playing at Phoenix Theatre.

Since the group catapulted to stardom in the 1960’s their sordid pasts (including mob ties, jailtime and gambling debts) were not publicized. Their squeaky clean image is peeled back in layers to reveal the ups and downs of this well-known group.

Four Seasons’ favorites are interwoven throughout the portrayal of the bandmembers’ off and on-stage lives. Audiences will hear hits such as “Earth Angel”, “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Walk Like a Man”, “My Eyes Adored You”, “Working My Way Back to You”, and “Who Loves You” with the full harmonies and the distinctive ‘falsetto’ (technically Valli’s amazingly high range should be called his head voice), which always seemed to strike the right chord with the millions of fans that have adored The Four Seasons for decades.

The orignal Broadway producation of Jersey Boys earned four Tony Awards including one for Best Musical in 2006, as well as a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Also among the accolades is the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical it garnered in 2009. In 2014, the film version of the musical biopic was released, after being directed and produced by Clint Eastwood.

This entertaining, rags-to-riches-toreality show makes for high drama with a lot of hard-to-forget musical tunes that you won’t be able to stop humming long after. Catch it at Phoenix Theatre now, before you... fogettabowtit! AZ

PHOENIX THEATRE (602) 254.2151 phoenixtheatre.com

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