Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Jersey Boys


I caught Jersey Boys with my mum when she came down during September. I hadn't realised that I didn't actually write a review of it despite enjoying the musical IMMENSELY. (I was probably tied up with school work and entertaining my mum).

Jersey Boys tells the story of how Franki Valli and the Four Seasons came to be, following their journey it good ole' dodgy New Jersey. The band was big through the 1960-70s, pretty much around the same time as Elvis I suppose, and eventually disbanded and reunited over several 'dramatic' events. Franki Valli himself is still alive, and played a part in mentoring and giving advice to the different cast members throughout it's production in America as well as other international casts such as the Australian one.

 I first came across Jersey Boys when we visited London in 2010 and saw it advertised in West End. As I was pretty clueless as to who they were or what songs they sang (although my mum was more well versed,), I did a quick google search and immediately fell in love with the musical. I quickly came to realise that I actually knew quite a lot of their hits! (Big Girls Don't Cry, Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Walk Like A Man etc. Unfortunately, we were tight for time and unable to catch the musical over Christmas, hence when I saw that they were touring Australia, I leapt at the chance and actually asked my mum to arrange her travelling dates to BNE according to ticket availability at QPAC!

The musical is fantastically enjoyable if you know their music, and even more so if you're a sentimental who enjoys being brought back in time to the 1970s. The script and character development of each person is great, such that you end up actually feeling connected to them. I was surprised how sad I was when the musical depicted them being disbanded! It made me realise how quickly I had come to love them all as individuals, and as a band.

This is a wordy post, but my main message is targeted to any of you lucky people in Singapore right now...

 GO AND CATCH JERSEY BOYS!!!!

You can get your tickets here, although they are fairly overpriced (I think it's because it's at MBS) but it's a great great great musical to bring your parents to if they were into music of that era (But no point if they don't enjoy music or have no idea who they are though). Even if you did buy a $55 ticket, you would get a nice big overview of everything I reckon. My mum and I sat near the front, but got seats with restricted views by the side (hence at a cheaper price), which resulted in a bit of blockage here and there, but the energy in teh audience was just amazing. I suppose I was probably the youngest person there or the only one born in the 1980s in the audience, but that made it even more enjoyable for me, as I saw people my mum's age livin' it up and having a good time clapping and wriggling their bottoms during the different songs. =))) 

(Can't guarantee if our Singaporean aunties and uncles will do that though, but music transcends all cultures right?)

:) ciao