Jersey Boys

Farjana Rahman

Jersey Boys is based on the electrifying true life story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. With spectacular performances of their hits, follow the rollercoaster journey of a group of working class boys from the streets of New Jersey, who worked their way to the heights of international pop stardom.

The show follows the journey of a group of working class kids who started life on the wrong side of the tracks but, by writing their own songs and inventing their sound, sold over 100 million records, all before they were thirty – becoming one of the greatest successes in pop music history.

I was familiar with the production after I watched the Royal Variety Performance, in which the actors had performed some of the songs offering a little sneak preview of the magic that was about to be unleashed on the great British public.

The music was amazing, making the audience sway to the rhythms. The songs were the actual and very popular ones released by Frank Valli & The Four Seasons. For a teenager like me, they proved to be extremely popular, especially in light of new releases by the new artist Madcon; ("Beggin").

The older generation would obviously savour the hits, reliving the 60s with "Walk Like A Man" and "Who Loves You". There was also the brilliant classic romantic song, "Cant Take My Eye Off You", gripping the audience with pure emotion. The performances, especially the songs were magnetic and instantly caught on. I had travelled to the theatre humming the songs quietly to myself in excited anticipation of what was to come. I wasn’t disappointed – I left the theatre with the songs loaded onto my memory banks and the lyrics steaming from my lips.

We were very fortunate as our seats were amongst the grandest and the view of the stage was amazing. All could be seen perfectly, every expression was so lucid and clear.

The atmosphere within the cauldron was amazing and buzzing with anticipation. The audience were gripped and there was constant clapping and encores from the gallery.

A lot of the audience joined in the singing, but I held back, a tad self conscious and embarrassed. The final showdown resulted in a huge round of clapping. It was plain obvious that those in attendance had thoroughly enjoyed the show. “Amazing, magic, beautiful,” I heard an American tourist announce to his companion as I made my way back to my seat after the interval.

The beautiful stage scenery had a main frame which the actors used, and there were stairs leading up to the balcony. The stage props were breathtaking and the periodically dimmed lights provided clever cover for members of the set to enter and exit the stage. My favourite scene was probably the performance of "Sherry," performed using an old film camera (which was used in the 60s) and projected on to a big screen, giving the impression of the artists being one with fans, as if they were on TV with fans screaming.

As a younger attendee to this wonderful production I would certainly recommend this show for everyone and anyone. The older generations will enjoy reminiscing and the younger crowd will not be able to help themselves being encapsulated by the whole experience. If you don’t have any inkling of what’s to come, the least you will gain is leaving the theatre quietly humming all the infectious songs to yourselves.

This sensational production features many of the bands worldwide hits, including: Beggin’, Oh What a Night, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Sherry, Walk Like a Man, Bye Bye Baby, Big Girls Don’t Cry and many more.
This evening made me realise just how good theatre is. It was my first ever experience, and certainly not the last.

www.jerseyboyslondon.com

Farjana Rahman is a secondary school student from Hampshire