Jersey Boys – Edinburgh Playhouse

Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Music: Bob Gaudio

Lyrics: Bob Crewe

Director: Des McAnuff

Emerging in America at the same time as The Beatles were taking the UK by storm, the Four Seasons never quite made the reverse trip across the Atlantic that Lennon and McCartney managed to achieve. Their success here was limited to a handful of top 20 singles in the 60s, and a few more that cracked the top 10 in the mid-70s. That one of those was December 1963 (Oh What a Night) a song that is still instantly recognisable to audiences around the world, is part of the reason Jersey Boys continues to tour the UK almost two decades after its West End debut.

The musical tells the story of the band from their origins in New Jersey, through their breakthrough, the breakup of their original line-up, and the new band that emerged to support Frankie Valli, their front man, after this. Divided into four seasons, to mirror the rise and fall of the band and allow for the perspective to switch between its four members, the show opens in Spring and ends in Winter.

Tommy DeVito, the founder of the band, played in this performance by Scott Goncalves, leads the Spring section, which deals with the origins of the band and the links with crime that could have destroyed them. For Summer, the perspective shifts to Bob Gaudio (Toby Miles), the songwriter who was drafted in, partly because other members were in jail, and completed their journey from a doo-wop band singing on street corners to a four piece with a string of million sellers.

The influence of Gaudio is clear from the contrast between the bland anonymous songs that clog up the show before he appears and the music they began to produce afterwards. The story itself also gets more interesting, as the narrative shifts away from monologue and towards dialogue.
The perspective shifts again in Act 2, initially to that of Nick Massi (Lewis Kennedy) the fourth band member, and then finally to Frankie Valli, the falsetto voiced singer played by Luke Baker, whose voice was as much a part of their success as Gaudio’s songs.

The songs are, of course, the main part of the enduring appeal of the show. They have stood the test of time and, if anything, have become better known and iconic with age. Baker’s vocals, while not quite in the same league as Valli’s, capture the essence of the man he’s imitating and have a passion and emotion that makes him believable in the role.

As Gaudio, Miles convinces as the outsider in the band, more introverted than his fellow band members while also refusing to be pushed around or have his role undervalued by DeVito. Goncalves handles the slightly one-dimensional way DeVito is written, but as his role in the band gets reduced, the opportunities to make more of the also shrink. Similarly, when Massi takes control of the narrative, his importance as a peacemaker and neutral voice emerges, but elsewhere he is largely incidental and insignificant. Both Goncalves and Kennedy make the most of what the parts give them, while also not imposing themselves on scenes where they are supporting characters in someone else’s story.

The seasonal structure restricts the show to a limited time period. The first act seems to dwell too long on the origins of the band, while the second act skimps on what comes after the break-up of the original line-up. The long winter that set in towards the end of the 60s and the second summer that saw them return to the charts and re-establish themselves as a touring band a few years later don’t feature.

This is a common feature of a lot of jukebox biography musicals that work more as a vehicle for a greatest hits set than an opportunity to give a real insight into the bands whose stories they set out to tell. Within that context, Jersey Boys is a show that captures the magic of the music and opens some windows on the people behind it.

Runs until 17 October 2026 then touring | Image: Contributed