Jersey Boys had the audience at His Majesty's Theatre on their feet on opening night. Image - courtesy of Aberdeen Performing Arts
Jersey Boys roared back into His Majesty’s Theatre last night on its 20th anniversary tour – and the only thing to be said is Oh What A Night!
There’s a reason this love letter to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons has been filling theatres for two decades. It’s a roller coaster story with music that forms the soundtrack to the lives of generations.
The relevance and influence of the Four Seasons was underlined with the opening number – a rap version of Oh What A Night that was a massive number one hit in France for artist Yannick in 2000.
Not bad reach for a bunch of four kids from Jersey in New York who stumbled their way through humble Italian immigrant origins, little knowing they would become a global sensation over six decades with timeless hits like Big Girls Don’t Cry, Sherry, Walk Like A Man and, of course, December 1963 (Oh What A Night).
Jersey Boys tells the story, warts and all, with a bit of grit and raunch thrown in. It doesn’t flinch from the proto-hoodlum origins of at least two band members, including jail stretches, or the marital breakdowns, and crippling financial crisis inflicted by band founder Tommy DeVito’s gambling debts.
Jersey Boys tells the story of the Four Seasons from their early days. Image - Aberdeen Performing Arts
The narrative framing is a clever one, broken into Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter (the four seasons, get it?) with each band member giving their version of events from the rise, to the success, to the fall and revival of The Four Seasons.
It’s a compelling and well-told yarn, ensuring Jersey Boys rises above it’s frequent “jukebox musical” label. It isn’t. It’s much more than that.
That’s not just down to the excellent book, but also to the strength of the cast playing the band members – each of them fully inhabiting the characters making them real, believable human beings.
Carlo Boumouglbay brings a muscular but likeable strut to flawed Tommy as he gets the band on its feet under numerous guises.
Lewis Kennedy is superb as the “Ringo” of the Four Seasons, Nick Massi, bringing a calm presence that makes an explosion of rage at one point all the more believable.
And Toby Miles shines as Bob Gaudio, the songwriting genius behind their biggest hits.
But Jersey Boys stands or falls on the portrayal of the central figure to the group, Frankie Valli. And Ellis Kirk absolutely nailed it on opening night at HMT.
Jersey Boys flawlessly recreates early television performances by the iconic group. Image - courtesy of Aberdeen Performing Arts
He doesn’t just have that distinctive falsetto voice down pat, but every movement and mannerism on stage, too. At points during the show, they cast perform as if in front of TV cameras, the result beamed onto a big screen above the stage. You would swear you were watching archive footage of the Four Seasons on the likes of American Jukebox and the Ed Sullivan Show.
That clever staging device was reflected throughout the show, with a deceptively simple set standing in for everything from a Jersey prison to dive bars and arena-class venues, as props glide and slide on and off.
At its heart, Jersey Boys reflects Franki Valli’s own emotional conviction that everything he and the band did was all about the music.
Certainly, hit after hit kept coming, including the ones you might not even have known were the Four Seasons – Beggin’, Bye Bye Baby, Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got).
The finale of Jersey Boys earned a rapturous standing ovation at His Majesty's Theatre. Image - courtesy of Aberdeen Performing Arts
It truly hit its stride when the boys finally donned those famous red jackets and belted out in rapid succession the three number one smashes that launched them on the global stage – Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry and Walk Like A Man.
And it reached its peak with a sequence on Gaudio’s battle against constant rejection to finally get a song he knew would be a hit released. The stunning version of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You earned such long and enthusiastic applause, I thought the HMT audience were going to give it a standing ovation.
But they saved that to end of the show, giving the hugely talented cast and musicians a sustained and rapturous response that let everyone know that this was an outstanding piece of theatre.
Aberdeen 2026 - Oh, What A Night!
Jersey Boys runs at His Majesty’s Theatre until Saturday, October 10. For more information and tickets visit the Aberdeen Box Office website.