2006 Best Musical Tony Award-Winner
Broadway’s “Too Good To Be True” Smash Hit
Highlights The 5th Avenue’s 2007-2008 Season
Performances: December 2007
Opening/Press Night: TBA
Jersey Boys Photos
SEATTLE - Broadway’s smash hit JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, will make its Seattle premiere at The 5th Avenue Theatre this December as part of a national tour. Directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS won four 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical and continues to set new weekly box office records at the August Wilson Theatre, where it has remained among the five top grossing shows in New York since opening in November 2005.
The 5th Avenue Theatre’s complete 2007-2008 season lineup will be announced in a few weeks.
TUNE IN! The National Touring Company of JERSEY BOYS will perform live on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Monday, March 19, 2007 and showcase a medley of songs from the show. JERSEY BOYS is the musical guest, on the last slot of the show. Check local listings for more information.
JERSEY BOYS is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were thirty. Visit the JERSEY BOYS web site at www.JerseyBoysTour.com.
JERSEY BOYS was written by Academy Award-winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo. Casting for the Seattle production of JERSEY BOYS will be announced at a later date. The show is produced by Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Tamara and Kevin Kinsella, Pelican Group, in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner.
CRITICAL PRAISE FOR JERSEY BOYS:
“Too good to be true. The book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice is as tight and absorbing as an Arthur Miller play. The cast is just plain wonderful. The glitzy, sleight-of-hand staging by Des McAnuff doesn’t hurt either. With its vibrant choreography by Sergio Trujillo, imaginative settings by Klara Zieglerova, spot-on costumes by Jess Goldstein, and arena-style lighting by Howell Binkley, JERSEY BOYS is terrific – a show dynamically alive in music, while as a drama, it catches the very texture, almost the actual smell of its time.”
– Clive Barnes, New York Post
“The most exciting musical Broadway has seen in years. A dazzling piece of conceptual direction by Des McAnuff, shrewdly penned by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, this endlessly savvy production works the audience up into such high stakes lather that the on-stage performances of boffo songs become catharses. You don’t ever want to look away.”
– Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune
“The crowd goes wild. I’m talking about the real crowd at the August Wilson Theatre, who seem to have forgotten what year it is or how old they are or, most important, that John Lloyd Young is not Frankie Valli. And everything that leads up to the curtain call feels as real and vivid as the sting of your hands clapping together.”
– Ben Brantley, The New York Times
“I entered a skeptic, but promptly turned believer. Smart dialogue, devastating direction and overwhelming emotional impact.”
- John Simon, Bloomberg.com
JERSEY BOYS opened to critical acclaim at the August Wilson Theatre on November 6, 2005. The national tour of JERSEY BOYS began December 1 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, where it has been playing to sold-out crowds, and will play Los Angeles in May 2007 and Chicago in October 2007.
The Grammy Award-winning JERSEY BOYS cast recording is available now on Rhino Records.
The 5th Avenue Theatre is Seattle’s premier musical theater. In 1980, the non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre began producing and presenting top-quality live musical theater for the cultural enrichment of the Northwest community. The 5th Avenue Theatre maintains a subscription audience of 24,000 and an annual attendance of more than 225,000. It ranks among the nation’s largest and most respected musical theater companies. The theater is committed to encouraging the next generation of theatergoers through its Educational Outreach Program which includes: The Adventure Musical Theatre Touring Company, The 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards, First Friday Workshops, the Student Matinee Program and Spotlight Nights. Unique in its Chinese-inspired design, the exquisite theater opened in 1926 as a venue for vaudeville and film. Today, under the leadership of Managing Director Marilynn Sheldon and Producing Artistic Director David Armstrong, The 5th Avenue Theatre continues to achieve the highest standards in all aspects of artistic endeavors and facility operations, while preserving its artistic, architectural and historic legacy. Visit www.5thavenue.org.
Please contact Molly Fortin, Public Relations Manager, at (206) 625-1418 with questions or to schedule individual interviews. Photos available upon request.