Prince Edward Theatre

HERE IS WHAT WE SAY ABOUT JERSEY BOYS:

Jersey Boys is one of the remarkably few 'jukebox musicals' that makes a virtue of combining a compelling storyline with hit songs, leaving you with that great sense of completeness of a story well told with a quality of performance that is exceptionally rare.  No wonder jersey Boys sits alongside Wicked as one of the biggest new hits of the decade.

Winner of Best Musical Tony Award when it opened on Broadway in 2005 this production is as slick and as sharp as they come.  Everything hinges on whether you believe in the characters and their rags to riches story.  The music you already know.  But, when the songs come out one at a time during the show they are received with a fondness and familiarity that only comes from the teenage memories of the audience playing and replaying a 45' in your bedroom and singing along with hairbrush.  But even if you weren't born when these records were hits, you get a glimpse at the sheer excitement of the wonderful sound made by the Four Seasons and Franki's incredible falsetto voice.

The staging of the show gets just the right balance between letting the music and story do the work, and creating visual and dramatic excitement.   The highspot comes when 'Sherry' propels the boys into the fame and fortune they had been searching for, and you can feel the thrill of hard earned success.

But the real star of the show is the massive song writing talent of Bob Gaudio, up there with Brian Wilson as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, and the warm feeling at the end of the show is that a modest genius gets his work applauded after all these years.

Audience
If you were a teenager in the '60s this will be a high recommended trip down memory lane and you'll know all the words to all the songs and will leave singing.  If you want to see how you became a pop star back before Simon Cowell arrived then this is a great show for you. 

But, there is strong language in show as you'd expect from four guys growing up in New Jersey they can be pretty liberal with four letter words, so don't think this is a show for all the family.

Theatre Advice
The Prince Edward Theatre is one of London's best theatres, having been beautifully refurbished by Delfont Mackintsoh.    In 2004 they 'reinvented' the bar spaces and adding some much needed additional toilet facilities.  A particular highlight is the bar in the Dress Circle which gives you access out on the balcony overlooking Old Compton Street and its busy nightlife.

The stage is quite high so our advice is to avoid the first 3 rows if possible, and the front row of the dress circle suffers from a high wall so avoid row A as well.  DressCircle loges are a unique feature of this theatre  with 3 on each side.