Jersey Boys: Make the effort, you won’t be disappointed
The example of just what musical theatre talent Southland does possess is hammered home right from the start of the show through Travis Luke’s performance as Tommy DeVito.
Jersey Boys
Invercargill Muscial Theatre
Civic Theatre
July 7 to July 22
Review: Do yourself a favour Southland, make the effort. You won’t be disappointed.
On Friday night I had the opportunity to catch the opening night performance of the Jersey Boys production at the Civic Theatre in Invercargill.
I wasn’t planning to write a review of the show following it, but I felt compelled to for a couple of reasons.
One, this talented group of people have put this treat together and they deserve the kudos. Secondly, the people of the deep south need to know why they should go.
And it’s coming from a person who hasn’t been a musical theatre regular.
The whole Jersey Boys experience at the Civic Theatre is magical for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the show is outstanding. The story, the hit-after-hit range of music, the slickness of production, and the energy delivered by the cast hits you.
Secondly, there’s a sense of pride attached to it, from a Southland perspective.
People more knowledgeable than me on this topic suggest what the Invercargill Musical Theatre dishes up, at the very least, more than rivals what you’ll find elsewhere.
This production has largely been put together by Southlanders.
That’s something we all should be proud of.
The example of just what musical theatre talent Southland does possess is hammered home right from the start of the show through Travis Luke’s performance as Tommy DeVito.
He’s sublime in the role.
DeVito is the bad boy, so to speak, of The Four Seasons group which Jersey Boys is based on.
Luke plays the role beautifully, from mastering the accent to grappling with the singing of a host of 1960s hits, and most importantly hooking you into his character and the storyline.
But as the show progresses the other talent in the cast also becomes obvious.
Daniel Monteath is another.
Monteath is cast in the role of Bob Gaudio, the mastermind behind writing The Four Seasons never-ending catalogue of hit songs.
He too nails it.
Then there is the performance of Dryw McArthur as Nick Massi, adding yet another example of the talent on offer.
Max Beal plays the main character, Frankie Valli, and there’s little surprise those putting together the cast opted to bring Beal down from Dunedin to take on that important task.
He has previously played the role of Frankie Valli in Dunedin. Beal’s ability to mirror the unique falsetto voice of Valli is impressive.
What is mind-blowing about the performance is the fact that the four main cast members spend almost the entire two and bit hours on stage, with frantic costume changes, and song after song to knock out.
It’s exhausting thinking about what that sort of performance must take out of them.
To think the season includes 12 shows from July 7 and July 22 it’s a remarkable undertaking.
This show is dominated by the four main characters, Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVitto, Bob Gaudio, and Nick Massi.
But the depth of talent is still able to be spotted through the performances from the other dozen or so in the cast.
Many of the other stars go unspotted, the 10-piece band led by musical director Michael Buick, an example of that.
Everyone involved should be proud.
I hope I’ve done enough here to convince you to go to one of the shows because the Invercargill Musical Theatre deserves Southland’s support.
It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on such a show and they have to hold on nervously to see if they can sell the around 7000 tickets it takes to break even.
The Invercargill Musical Theatre is able to make such quality shows stack up in Invercargill through a whole heap of volunteer work, alongside financial support from the SBS Bank, ILT, and Community Trust South.
But ultimately, it’s up to you the public to decide if you want these sorts of shows to keep returning by voting through your attendance.
Again, you won’t be disappointed.