Simon Bailey on Visiting New Jersey, Joining Blockbuster Musicals and Playing Tommy DeVito in London's Jersey Boys

The Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Jersey Boys has been running eight years in London, first at the Prince Edward and now the Piccadilly Theatre, and earlier this year welcomed a new set of principals to tell the rousing story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Among this latest cast, few have as accomplished a resume as Simon Bailey, the stage veteran now playing tough guy Tommy DeVito—the musician-singer that brought the role's originator, Christian Hoff, a Tony Award. Bailey spoke one recent afternoon to Broadway.com about long-running shows, famous co-stars, and why he'd like one day to don a certain famous mask. 

Were you familiar with Jersey Boys before you joined the company in March?
I was invited to the very first press night back in 2008 and at that time, I was also part of a similar four-strong group of male singers from Theaterland called Teatro, so I suppose I went really out of intrigue, since I wasn't entirely sure what it was about. 

What was your response?
Within the first five or 10 minutes, I was completely hooked. The show is so well-paced and packed so full of great stories and characters that you really catch onto and then there's this song which opens the show and you recognize the tune but you don't recognize the words because it's in French ("Ces Soirees-La"), and that is a really unique way of opening a show: it catches your attention straight off the bat. 

At what point did you decide you wanted to be in it? 
I immediately wanted to play Tommy and to be in this show that I was loving. Now all these years later, here we are. I even said at the time, "I don't care what it takes; I'm getting in this show"—and that was at the interval of the press night! 

What's it like joining a long-running hit?
I've done a few of them now like Les Miz [as Enjolras] and Phantom [as Raoul], and one of the things I'm always so touched by is the people who keep coming back and who keep supporting the show, which is something that we need. I talk to people at the stage door who have followed [Jersey Boys] for a long time, and they keep the show running and thriving. 

And a long-running show is new for you.
Yes, and as I've got older, I never see it as joining a long-running show or, for that matter, a brand new show: I try to approach whatever I'm doing as new to me and to try and keep it fresh in that respect. Every part is new—it's new people telling what for them is a new story, and I think that's what keeps everything fresh. With Phantom, for instance, everyone knows the story, as they do with Les Miz and even now to a large extent with Jersey Boys, so it's down to you as the actor to make sure the story stays fresh and real and relatable: that's your job. 

What about watching your predecessors in the part: is that a double-edged sword?
Well, I'd seen Glenn [Carter] do it on opening night obviously, and I'd seen Jon Boydon play it many times. Both those guys played this part so well. The thing about Tommy is that you have to identify somehow with the character so that you're relating naturally to the part, and what I love about Tommy is his need for survival—that's what drives him to make the decisions he makes. On the other hand [unlike DeVito], I have never been to prison, just so everyone's clear!

It's a great role, as you know first-hand.
It is! He's a quick thinker and a quick talker. It's fun to play the bad guy.

Was it helpful having been part of your own all-male group, Teatro?
It was interesting because we all went to see Jersey Boys on opening night together and out on to the stage came all these guys in suits looking so smart, and that became one of those "look-around" moments where we sat there thinking, "Maybe this could happen to us." But [show business] remains an uncertain path, as it always is. People get tossed aside, and you have to make sure you're not one of those people. 

Have you ever been to New Jersey? 
I have been to New Jersey, though I can't say I've spent a lot of time there. What really helped with this was the information we were given by the amazing team, which was so thorough. During rehearsals, we had a day or two just talking things like background and timelines and what the state of the nation was like then politically and socially and how everything fits together. Our Gyp DeCarlo, Mark Heenehan, is actually from New Jersey, as well, so he's really our benchmark—he's also the most lovely guy. 

Your last West End musical, I Can't Sing! the X Factor Musical, paired you alongside a then lesser-known Cynthia Erivo. 
But you just instantly knew with Cynthia that she was going places. I was out in the States doing two concerts when the news came through that she would be doing The Color Purple on Broadway, and I said to my New York friends, "Just write this name down, because when this girl comes over to New York, she's going to take Broadway by storm and is going to win the Tony Award— and she did. 

What's in your future? Having played Raoul, would you like to graduate to the Phantom?
Well, Raoul is one thing and the Phantom is another, and it's such an iconic role that I would certainly love to be given the opportunity to see what I can do with it. It's something I hopefully can do a bit further down the line; I'm not putting any time limit on it.

On the other hand, your predecessor in Jersey Boys, Jon Boydon, stayed with this show for six years. 
I know, whereas I'm coming up to six months. I am happy to stay here as long as they're happy for me to play this part. You can't ever tell what's going to happen in this industry, but I'm having so much fun that I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be.