Corey Greenan plays the leader of the legendary group The Four Seasons
By Lynda Lacayo
Big girls won’t cry when the award-winning, smash musical “Jersey Boys” arrives at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Jan. 19-21.
At first glance, this may seem like another jukebox musical with a string of chart-topping hits from the 1960s. Scratch that first impression because Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons have a very real, if little known, story that should be told.
Jersey boys Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Nick Massi struggled before making their mark on the musical scene. The Four Seasons’ musical legacy would have been far different without the twists of fate that allowed four blue collar guys from New Jersey to ride the hit parade train.
The group of clean-cut crooners walked on the wild side in real life. The group’s founder, DeVito, 89, is quoted by Corey Greenan, who portrays him in “Jersey Boys”: “If you’re from my neighborhood you got three ways out. You can join the Army, you can get mobbed up or you can become a star.”
“Jersey Boys” tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their rise from the mean streets of Jersey to international stardom. The musical is structured as four seasons, each narrated by a different member of the band, who gives his perspective on their history.
Greenan says The Four Seasons started out as ruffians and became exactly who we know them as today: pop sensations.
The show has all the music that people love, but what it does especially well is tell the tale of the band’s formation and rise to rock and roll legend status, and it does this without glossing over the bad parts. It shows the struggles they went through as four guys working together to make their dreams come true. The audience watches these guys perform their classic hits, while the real behind-the-scenes story is revealed, warts and all.
Tommy DeVito, as described by Greenan, “was hustled, he was surrounded by thugs and he was very much a part of that. Tommy lived by the code of the streets and he was the one who protected and encouraged Frankie Valli. Later, you realize that it was more to further his own ends than to actually help Frankie. It was survival, the street code, and it shaped how he conducted himself. But despite tough guy roots, he became an international star.”
Greenan added, “The thing about Tommy is that he is likable. Yes, he got everyone into trouble, including himself, but he had charm. He walked into a room and he owned it.”
Greenan was raised in Grass Valley near Lake Tahoe and graduated from Pepperdine University before moving to New York in 2005. Being a New Yorker made it easier for Greenan to adopt the New Jersey philosophy, attitude and accent when he landed the part of Tommy DeVito.
Jersey culture, according to Greenan, is “certainly a factor in the show because where they came from is fundamental to making them the musicians they became and creating the men they are today. So yeah, we adopt Jersey accents and mannerisms but from day one the creative team has been adamant that we are not doing caricatures of these guys. We’re not trying to play a type, we’re playing real people.”
“Jersey Boys” features 20 original Four Seasons’ songs that move the story along. What sets it apart from typical jukebox productions is this story happened in real time. It’s a musical biography of four guys who ditched the sleazy streets and occasional time in the slammer to hit the top of the pop charts, all before the age of 30.
“This show is really a play about the connections between these guys and it uses their songs, not just to further the story, but to track their journey,” Greenan said. “It’s a brutally honest narrative about staying alive in the cut-throat world of the recording industry.”
Every show has its “wow” moment and for Greenan, it’s the “Walk Like a Man” segment near the end of the play.
“We call it the big three,” Greenan said. “The songs ‘Sherry,’ ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ and ‘Walk Like a Man’ are all sang in succession. It’s a sort of montage to the band that they have arrived with top-of-the-billboard hits, one after another. With ‘Walk Like a Man,’ they are finally established. In this scene, Frankie is singing the lead and the other three walk upstage a few steps and turn downstage and there’s just this rush of energy and the audience explodes. It’s a really wonderful moment.”
“Jersey Boys” features smoke, gun shots, strobe lights, drug references, sexual situations and profane, authentic New Jersey language.
For information about or tickets to “Jersey Boys,” go to the Segerstrom Center box office, 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa (hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily), call 714-556-2787 or visit www.SCFTA.org.
