Were California Critics Kind to Jersey Boys?
Joel Hirschhorn of Variety: "Although many tunes showcased in this Broadway-aimed production don't achieve maximum impact--due to frustratingly abrupt cutoffs--and the Marshall Brickman/Rick Elice book sometimes sets aside gritty realism for corny humor, Jersey Boys is consistently enjoyable, a fleshed-out biopic… At the beginning, everybody is self-consciously cute rather than tough. The group's metamorphosis, before becoming the Seasons, is overlong, since it travels through 14 songs before introducing 'Sherry,' one of the hits the is hungering for. A few jokes are unnecessarily gross, and the balance in general between music and drama feels uneasy until Bob Gaudio Daniel Reichard comes on the scene… In an attempt to include just about every hit with a bullet the Seasons ever had, some of the best numbers are whittled down to a verse or two, denying them a chance to be showstoppers. When director McAnuff permits a song to play out, such as Norona's emotional renditions of 'My Eyes Adored You' and 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You,' the electricity is tremendous."
Daryl H. Miller of The Los Angeles Times: "When the music--re-created with stunning vocal verisimilitude by David Noroña as Frankie Valli and Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer as his bandmates--is flowing, Jersey Boys builds to stratospheric levels of excitement. But when the connecting material calls attention to itself, as this rushed, cliché-ridden jumble too often does, it dulls an otherwise highly polished production… Musically, the first half of the show charts the evolution of a sound that blended R&B, doo-wop and Italian boy-singer influences. The story never pauses to consider how odd it was to have a girlish-sounding lead singer instruct listeners to 'Walk Like a Man' or pine over Sherry, Marlena and Dawn--but then, we probably shouldn't expect hagiography to cross into that realm. The book, by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, croaks along, off-key, as it spews four-letter words and blurts out such banalities as 'looking to grab the brass ring,' 'the stars are in alignment' or 'the boat springs a leak.' Nevertheless, the staging hums along as director Des McAnuff he of Big River and The Who's Tommy ensures that settings change fluidly and that the visuals--which include comic-book-style projections and live-action camera techniques--remain eye-catching."
Anne Marie Welsh of The San Diego Union-Tribune: "More authentically than those other jukebox musicals Mamma Mia! and Movin' Out, which sanctified the precomposed music of Abba and Billy Joel, Jersey Boys tells a terrific, gritty story, the true American rags-to-riches saga of Valli and the original group of performers and producers who created one of the country's most successful and distinctive chart-topping sounds. McAnuff's confident direction gets their troubled tale told with heart, theatrical savvy and surprising simplicity; the story itself holds up next to the element that makes it worth telling--that amazing musical bounty... This is a biography as engrossing as that of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba with music as memory-laden and culturally precise as Billy Joel's; it will feel right at home before the nostalgic masses in New York City and worldwide on the silver screen."
Pam Kragen of The North County Times: "Take a real-life rags-to-riches story, some of the '60s best pop songs, an excellent script, smart direction and a great cast, and you've got Jersey Boys... This hugely entertaining docu-musical--which tells the surprising true story of the doo-wop vocal group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons--is a dark, funny, fast-paced and moving blue-collar story… Jersey Boys has a gritty regional authenticity. The subtle, profanity-laced dialogue has a natural flow, and the richly written, warts-and-all characters are developed to a level rarely seen in musical theater. And because the songs flow organically from the band's writing and recording sessions and their electric live performances, the show has a more realistic, almost-cinematic scope… Jersey Boys has broad audience appeal. Even young theatergoers who have never heard of the band will be sucked in by its story, characters and catchy music"
