The Tony Award winning smash hit musical Jersey Boys is a world-wide sensation, with shows running in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and a US National Tour. In addition, there is a production in London, England and one scheduled to open in Melbourne, Australia in July. Toronto, Ontario has had its own Canadian production of Jersey Boys running for the past few months, and BWW got the chance to do an exclusive interview with the four Jersey Boys themselves.
Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Spanning over four decades, the show gives a unique look at how the group was formed and the various trials and tribulations the guys faced throughout the years. Each "Jersey Boy" gets his own "season" in the show, a chance to talk to The Audience and deliver monologues telling his side of the story behind the music. During this rare sit-down, the four actors who bring these roles to life every night talk candidly about their individual experiences auditioning and becoming a part of Jersey Boys.
Jeff Madden plays Frankie Valli, Jeremy Kushnier is Tommy DeVito, Quinn Vanantwerp is Bob Gaudio and Michael Lomenda is Nick Massi. The four guys really seemed like a family, laughing and enjoying the opportunity to explain to the world how they came together as a group both on-stage and off. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about getting to speak to the Canadian Jersey Boys is getting the opportunity to listen to how closely their story often parallels the real story behind the Four Seasons. From the gruelling audition process, the waiting and not knowing, to bringing in a last minute replacement (Bob Gaudio was the last to join the Four Seasons, and Quinn Vanantwerp was a last minute replacement in the role) it is easy to see the parallels that exist between our Canadian Jersey Boys and the original Four Seasons themselves.
Mr. Kushnier, who has been involved with varioUs Productions of Jersey Boys for over two years, kicked off the interview with his story:
Jeremy: Well, I'll start off as I've been with the show the longest. I started in the Chicago company. My first experience auditioning for the role was two years ago just this past month when I auditioned over ten times. The first was for the National Tour, and for that one I got right up to the final call and then didn't get cast. Then I auditioned for the Chicago Company and I got the role. I don't know what it was like for the rest of you guys, but for me, the dancing was always the hardest. They have a lot of these singer/actor guys who can play instruments and then they tell us to get in a room and dance, its hilarious! The second dance call-back they made us all do the Frankie split, I think that was a joke of Sergio's (Sergio Trujillo, the choreographer). They even made the guys auditioning to be Gyp DeCarlo do it. We even had to do the hip-hop combo that opens the show. But then again, the original Bob Crewe on Broadway was also the Dance Captain, so you never know!
