Broadway's Jersey Boy Heads to New Jersey to Sing at Nets Game

By Ernio Hernandez
14 Dec 2006

John Lloyd Young in Jersey Boys
John Lloyd Young in Jersey Boys
Photo by Joan Marcus

John Lloyd Young — the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway's Jersey Boys — will head to the Garden State Dec. 18 to open the NBA's New Jersey Nets-Golden State Warriors game.

Young will perform the national anthem at the Nets-Warriors game, which is scheduled to start at 7:30 PM at the Continental Airlines Arena.

Young won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Frankie Valli. The actor (seen in The Drawer Boy, The Chosen at Paper Mill) joined the cast for the Broadway run. Original stars Christian Hoff (The Who's Tommy), Daniel Reichard (Radiant Baby, The Thing About Men) and J. Robert Spencer (Side Show, Lucky Duck) reprise their roles from the La Jolla Playhouse world premiere.

*

Des McAnuff (The Who's Tommy, Big River) directs the story of American pop group The Four Seasons — the highs, the lows and all in between — which comes to life in the musical Jersey Boys with the help of their hits "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like A Man," "December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" and more. The show began on Broadway Oct. 4, 2005 and opened at the August Wilson Theatre Nov. 6.

Jersey Boys features music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and a book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. The production garnered four Tony Award wins for stars Young and Hoff, lighting designer Howell Binkley and for the top prize Best Musical.

Tickets to Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theatre, 245 W. 52nd Street, are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250. For more information, visit www.JerseyBoysBroadway.com.