Frankie Valli attends West End launch of Jersey Boys

Published Thursday 18 October 2007 at 11:10 by Lalayn Baluch

Frankie Valli, lead singer of sixties pop group The Four Seasons, arrived in London’s West End yesterday for the UK launch of award-winning Broadway musical Jersey Boys.

Speaking at the Prince Edward Theatre, where the show will open on March 18 next year, Valli said that British audiences had always given the band a good reception and hoped that reaction to the production would be as enthusiastic.

He explained: “If it is received as well as we have been over the years, then it will do very well. Audiences here in the UK have been wonderful to us, even in periods of time when we hadn’t been touring here. We’re really excited about this. It is a really important thing for us.”

Written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the Jersey Boys charts the rise of the band from blue-collar boys in New Jersey to internationally renown musicians. It also gives an insight into their involvement in crime, gambling and links with the Mafia.

The cast will be lead by Ryan Molloy as Valli, Stephen Ashfield as Bob Gaudio, Glenn Carter as Tommy DeVito and Philip Bulcock as Nick Massi.

Gaudio is responsible for the show’s music, with lyrics by Bob Crewe, and songs such as Big Girls Don’t Cry, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Walk Like A Man, December 1963 (Oh, What a Night), and Sherry will feature in the musical.

The London production will be staged by the original Broadway creative team, lead by director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo.

Jersey Boys opened in New York two years ago, and has been in the top five grossing shows on Broadway since its premiere.