PITTSBURGH - "Jersey Boys" could be boiled down to a simple equation.
Take the no-bull New Jersey swagger of "The Sopranos," and add the Kennedy-era fashions of "Mad Men" and the rags-to-riches-to-rags storytelling of VH1's "Behind the Music," and you get "Jersey Boys."
That's not to dismiss "Jersey Boys" as a by-the-numbers concoction, though. Far from it. This musical look back at the tumultuous rise and fall of the Four Seasons is a surprisingly engrossing tale. And the Broadway hit and Tony-winner also pulls off another unlikely feat - it breathes new life into mothball-scented Four Seasons hits like "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Sherry" that have been hammered into submission by oldies radio.
Undoubtedly much to their chagrin 40-odd years ago, the Four Seasons had the distinction of being everywhere and kind of nowhere at the same time. While their songs jockeyed for airtime alongside the Beatles and the Beach Boys, they never really escaped everyman status. Paul McCartney couldn't walk through a grocery store in 1964, but Four Seasons bassist Nick Massi could have bagged the carrots and cereal and probably no one would have noticed.
It was undoubtedly disappointing for Massi, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Frankie Valli to never quite reach that thin-air pinnacle of superstardom way back when, but it gives "Jersey Boys" a tremendous lift. It offers a familiar pop music story, but not an overly-familiar one. It's hard to imagine a successful musical could be built around the lives and times of the Beatles, for example, because their story has been examined so microscopically and is so encrusted with myth.
Like the lads from Liverpool, the Four Seasons emerged from a working-class milieu. They hailed from the part of New Jersey, we're told in "Jersey Boys," where young men either joined the Army or the Mafia once they graduated from high school. But thanks to Valli's effortless soprano, Gaudio's songwriting acumen and DeVito's door-busting determination, the Four Seasons had their day in the bright sunshine in the early-to-mid-1960s.
"Jersey Boys" cleverly lets the story unfold in four sections, entitled "Spring," "Summer," "Fall" and ... well, you get the picture. Each portion is narrated by a different member, so you get the story from four different angles, with contradictions left intact. The script, by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, is unusually frank: Valli is a neglectful father whose daughter dies of a drug overdose; Massi is a moping obsessive-compulsive-type who leaves the group on a whim; and DeVito is a serious piece of work who consorts with mobsters, hits on Valli's galpal and leaves the group in debt to the tune of $1 million before heading for the exit. In the end, Gaudio emerges as the shrewdest and most level-headed one of the bunch.
It's hard to pick a standout performance in this touring production, because all four leads - Erik Bates, Joseph Leo Bwarie, Josh Franklin and Steve Gouveia - blend together seamlessly as a unit. The supporting performances are fine, and the songs are integrated naturally into the two-and-half-hour running time. It's also tough to find any deficiencies with its staging, as the time period is evoked with items as simple as bowling balls rolling across the stage and pop art illustrations in the style of Roy Lichtenstein.
"Jersey Boys" will be at the Benedum Center through Feb. 1. Word has it that tickets to some Friday and Saturday night performances can be tough to come by, and it's no wonder - this is one class act.