The company's artistic director Des McAnuff (Dracula) staged the new musical which began previews Oct. 5, 2004, and opened Oct. 17 for a run at the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre through Jan. 16 following three extensions.
By its run's end, the new work played 120 performances surpassing the 1992 production of The Who's Tommy, also directed by McAnuff, which played 114 performances.
Jersey Boys centers on the musical group The Four Seasons and how four blue-collar guys — Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi — grew to become the singing sensation behind such hits as "Rag Doll," "Sherry," "Big Girls Don’t Cry," "Oh What a Night" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You."
Christian Hoff (The Who's Tommy) played Tommy DeVito, David Noroña (Love! Valour! Compassion!) was Frankie Valli, Daniel Reichard (Radiant Baby,The Thing About Men) took on Bob Gaudio and J. Robert Spencer (Sideshow, Lucky Duck) portrayed Nick Massi. The cast also included Sarah Avery, Tituss Burgess, Marisa Echeverría, Steve Gouveia, Peter Gregus, Donnie Kehr, Jennifer Naimo and Sean Smith.
Book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice along with composer Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe collaborated to create Jersey Boys with director McAnuff. Sergio Trujillo served as choreographer, Ron Melrose handled musical direction and orchestrations were provided by Steve Orich. The design team of Jersey Boys featured Klara Zieglerova (scenic), Jess Goldstein (costume), Howell Binkley (lighting), Steve Canyon Kennedy (sound) and Michael Clark (projection).
Director McAnuff has earned two Tony Awards for his direction of The Who's Tommy and Big River. Other Broadway credits include How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and A Walk in the Woods. The busy director's slate included this Broadway season's run of Dracula, The Musical, the current Billy Crystal solo 700 Sundays and a planned revival of The Wiz.
Jersey Boys performed at The Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive in La Jolla, CA . For information, visit the company online at www.lajollaplayhouse.com.
