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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Bits & Bytes |
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| Jersey Boys rocks 5th Avenue,Romance & Cigarettes opens, Hanky Panky Holidaze plays Crepe | |
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by Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer A Tony Award winning/audience pleasing musical, an offbeat film, a clever cabaret revue and a chance to get Crazy/Naked for the holidays highlight the week for Bits&Bytes-and many Emerald City entertainment fans. Read on: JERSEY BOYS ROCKS 5th AVENUE THEATRE FOR HOLIDAY RUN Jersey Boys, the musical saga of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, walked away with four Tony Awards and made Broadway history in 2006. The show, now in its third year of totally sold-out performances in New York, arrived in Seattle last week for a rare five-week stay at the 5th Avenue Theatre through January 12. The opening crowds adored the show, and the national touring company is sure to make box office history for the 5th Avenue. When tickets for the show went on sale in October, all box office records for the theater were shattered. The show uses 33 vintage songs, including five Number One hits and 11 others that made Billboard's Top 10 list. While the craze for nostalgia-inspired "jukebox musicals," like Mamma Mia, rules much of Broadway, Jersey Boys keeps the songs as out-and-out songs and doesn't try to shoehorn them into plot situations or character extensions. The show uses an unusually intelligent script by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice to tell "the behind the scenes story" of one of the most popular male groups in box office history. The "warts and all" tale is divided into four sections - four seasons, if you will. "Vivaldi did it first," one character notes, bringing a moment of musical and literary literacy to the stage. Each of the Four Seasons narrates part of the story, often retelling a historical moment from another point of view. "If there are four guys, and you're Ringo&" one of the "minor" members shrugs, and we get the idea. The show opens in Paris in 2000 with a French group singing their hit version of "Ces Soires-La." In a flash, we're back in the 1960s and four boys from Jersey soon sing the song (and create the sound) we know-"Oh, What A Night" (officially titled "December, 1963"-who knew?). We meet the characters, we hear their stories, we hear their music. Bob Gaudio, one of the founders of The Four Seasons and the group's principal songwriter, had written his first hit at age 15 - "Who Wears Short Shorts" for the Royal Teens. Searching for the "right voice," the friends met Frankie Valli, and history was made. Loyalties, friendships, rivalries, romances fuel the story of the breakout smash success of the early Four Seasons to the darker side, with short jail stays, financial disaster, IRS collections and mob intervention propelling the story. The musical uses major songs from The Four Seasons catalog but also includes other pop hits from the formulate era - songs like "Silhouettes," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "I'm In The Mood For Love," and "Earth Angel." When the Four Seasons hits start, they simply don't stop. The audience is already involved with the dramatic saga of the four singers and their families (Danny DeVito is a minor character, the brother of Seasons' Nick DeVito). Then hit after hit rocks the stage - "Sherry," ""Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like A Man," "Oh, What A Night," "Dawn," "My Eyes Adore You." Act Two continues the saga - and the songs. Ups and downs of emotional problems within the group, within the payola era, within romantic interludes continue the story. "Let's Hang On (To What We've Got)," "Working My Way Back To You, "Rag Doll" all highlight the show's brisk second half. One major plot highlight - and one of the show's best musical sequences - is the tale-behind-the-tale of the "hit that wouldn't happen." The Four Seasons had a hit with "C'mon, Marianne" but Frankie Valli was convinced that his solo, the "B" side of the release, was the song that would make him a star in his own right. No amount of bribes, no amount of pleading could get the song any airtime. Finally, finally, "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" breaks out, giving Valli and the Seasons one of their biggest hits and launching the ascent of Valli as a front man, a story that would be repeated with Diana Ross & The Supremes and countless other now long forgotten groups. Director Des McAnuff, who had guided The Who's Tommy to Broadway success, approaches this jukebox kaleidoscope as a serious story that deserves to be told. And it works - as an involving drama and as a musical trip down memory lane. The performances are all outstanding. Newcomer Christopher Kale Jones (who delighted Seattle audiences at the 5th Avenue's Spotlight Night) is sensational as Frankie Valli, and all the other performers give 100 percent. While all deserve special credit, the cast is full of understudies and standby performers who often "go on" for certain performances. The show works with any of the talented cast members - the characters need a sound and a look and they all have it down pat. Amazing, only three women play all of the female characters. A second look at the show (Bits&Bytes first saw this cast in San Francisco earlier in the tour) reveals how talented the actors playing the minor characters are - these are showbiz pros and it shows. GLBT patrons will get a kick out of a major supporting character, the (sort of) openly Gay record producer. In San Francisco, the character was played in a much broader fashion - "flaming" might be the word. For Seattle, the performance is toned down but clearly Gay. Historically and dramatically, it's a boost for the GLBT community. When the show opened last Friday, no Seattle performance was a total sellout - there is a lot of competition for the holiday entertainment dollar. All of that should change when the rave reviews are all racked up. The 5th is offering a clever marketing strategy to fuel the box office - a Wednesday, December 26 matinee is an added offering, and Monday night performances on December 31 (as in New Year's Eve) and January 7 add alternate nights to the performance calendar. Ticket information is available at 625-1900 (or, toll free for out-of-town patrons, 888-5TH-4TIX). Budget-minded theater fans should remember that tickets purchased in person at the theater's box office have no added service fees, which can mean a considerable savings. It's a great, thoroughly entertaining show-check it out. ROMANCE & CIGARETTES OPENS AT VARSITY TODAY, WELCOME CINEMA VARIETY The press release says it all: "Writer/director John Turturro's modern day musical is a dark and passionate comedy about one man's journey into infidelity and redemption." The quirky new film, Romance & Cigarettes, opens today at the Varsity Theatre in the University district. Clearly not aimed at the multiplex crowds, the offbeat flick sports a topnotch cast of leading characters - James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon (who is terrific), Kate Winslet (ditto - and almost unrecognizable), Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Christopher Walken and Mary-Louise Parker (who chews the scenery with much abandon). The supporting cast - many in brief cameo appearances - includes Eddie Izzard and Elaine Stritch The musical score is a jukebox collection of moldy oldies, many performed by the actors as psychological interludes or character revelations. Many original performers are also used on the soundtrack. So, Mandy Moore, Aida Turturro and Mary-Louise Parker sing "I Want Candy" live on camera, but classic recordings of Janis Joplin, Erma Franklin and Dusty Springfield singing "Piece Of My Heart" are heard on the soundtrack. Other original performers include Elvis Presley, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Ute Lemper, Connie Francis, Tom Jones, Vikki Carr and Harvey & The Moonglows. The classic Irving Berlin duet, "The Girl That I Marry" from Annie Get Your Gun, is sung as a plot point by Gandolfini and Sarandon. It shouldn't work, but, in its own way, it does. Cleverly programmed as counterpoint to the whole holiday season, Romance & Cigarettes was a fun two hours for this scribe, clever and rewarding for most of its running time. Check it out. CREPE DE PARIS HOSTS HANKY PANKY HOLIDAZE, NIGHTCLUB GENTLEMEN Crepe de Paris offers two holiday shows on its Cabaret At The Crepe series. A full month of Hanky Panky Holidaze, with some of Bits&Bytes' favorite performers, continues through December 24 - that should be a fun way to spend Christmas Eve. Tickets to the cleverly titled holiday revue are nearly sold out for more than half the run. Plan ahead. Nightclub Gentleman, a revival of a hit revue that has had several encores at the Crepe, returns for New Year's Eve. The affectionate tribute to the era of The Rat Pack, features three talented Seattle men with special guest, "the sultry Laurie Clothier." It's one performance only - December 31 with a dinner and show package at just $65. Dinner seating is at 8 p.m. with the show at 10 p.m. with champagne and party favors at midnight to welcome 2008. It's sure to be a sellout - procrastinators take note. Ticket details and full information on both shows at 623-4111. As is usual for the Crepe's main cabaret series, Hanky Panky is offered as a "dinner theater" package or "show only" seating as available. Holidaze continues through December 24. BREEDER'S THEATER SUGGESTS GETTING CRAZY/NAKED FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON Breeder's Theater in Burien won't open its new political-themed production, Crazy/Naked, until mid-January, but the box office is happily selling tickets now for the January 18 - February 3 run. "Get Crazy/Naked For the Holidays" seems to be the thought process. Works for me. Details and box office information at 2442-3852. The new show is by playwright T. M. Sell; Doug Koop directs. |
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