'Jersey Boys' And The Modern Movie Musical

Since the end of the golden age of movie musicals (when My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music were finally released as movies) very few movie musicals have garnered either wide critical acclaim or achieved a stellar showing at the box office.
There are, however two notable exceptions: Cabaret in 1972, which won eight Oscars and Chicago in 2002, which won six Oscars including Best Picture.
Interestingly enough, both of these films were adaptations of stage musicals with music and lyrics by the incredible team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. And Chicago was the first movie musical to win a Best Picture Oscar since Oliver! in 1969. That's a span of 33 years. No movie musical has won the top award since.
So now along comes Jersey Boys, the Clint Eastwood directed film adaption of the stage musical of the same name.
And whereas Cabaret and Chicago reinterpreted their original works and reimagined them as movies, Clint Eastwood has decided to play it safe and give us a veritable film version of the stage show, complete in almost every detail. In fact, Eastwood even has the four main characters (The Four Seasons who are the Jersey Boys of the title) talk directly to the audience just as they do on Broadway and in roadshows of the production now playing throughout the world.
But this device doesn't work nearly as effectively in a movie as it does on stage. In fact, it seems awkward and gimmicky.
To be sure, the four principals are all outstanding and, just to increase the movie's theatrical creds, they all come from stage productions of the show, most from the original cast. And all of that great Four Seasons music is still here, including all the wonderful Frankie Valli solo hits. Plus, there's a great feature role performance by Christopher Walken as mob boss Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo. Walken nails this role and his performance just might garner an Oscar nod.
But don't expect Jersey Boys to gain the types of Oscar nominations achieved by Chicago or Cabaret. It's just not in the cards.
We don't experience the same urgency, the same energy, the same sense of knockout drama that we get from the stage production. The boys' fierce desire to succeed, their desperate climb to the top and even their boisterous battles along the way don't pop from the film the way they should. And here's why: These elements are not integrated into the songs and the music. The musical scenes and the non-musical scenes are almost like two separate movies. Either could probably stand alone.
This is a problem with almost any so-called "jukebox" musical that simply incorporates a series of unrelated hit songs. But it's more easily finessed on the stage than in the movies where we need a bigger reason to suspend disbelief when a character simply breaks into song.
Cabaret overcame this obstacle by giving us a show (a cabaret) within the story as the life of the Kit Kat Club reflected on the rise of Nazism in Germany. Chicago also contained show performances within the story but took an even more daring leap by turning the songs into depictions of the thoughts and imaginations of the characters. That's what made it a landmark movie musical.
Eastwood could have chosen a more creative approach to this property but he did not.
Still, the film is marvelously authentic. It's a great recreation of a time and place. And despite its obvious stereotypes, it does show us the underbelly of show business and the struggle of four young men to break away from their hugely inhibiting and often dangerous surroundings.
So, there's still ample reason to see this movie. It's great fun to watch and to listen to. And it resonates that much more because it all really happened.
Since most people have not seen the stage production the potential audience for the film is vast. But even if you've seen the show (and we've seen it twice) it's still great to experience these performances again.

Jersey Boys In Philly: Great Again And Again

The Tony Award winning Best Musical Jersey Boys is back at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia where it broke the house box-office record seven times during a previous engagement.
This time the show runs through January 5.
We recently caught the show in its current stand at the Forrest and we were there during the previous engagement as well.
And, here's the deal: We actually enjoyed the show more this second time around. The cast is hugely energetic, the story is more compelling than you might imagine, the material remains surpsingly relevant and the music is positively off the charts -- one great, memorable song after another delivered with such verve and authenticity you'll hardly believe it.
Jersey Boys never fails to deliver a great theatrical experience -- and one that's lots of fun as well.
Click here for ticket information.

'Soprano State' Meets Philly

We joined The Soprano State authors Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure (pictured) for a wonderful party in center city Philadelphia last night at the world famous Irish Pub where Bob, Sandy and their friends celebrated their emergence as New York Times bestselling authors. Among the notables at the event were New Jersey 101's irreverent Jersey Boys, Ray Rossi and Casey Batholomew, the redoubtable Renee from nearby Rouge and Willie Nelson's piano and guitar tuner, introduced to us simply as "Tunen Tom."

If you haven't yet purchased The Soprano State rush out and get this NYT bestseller which details the true story of corruption that has pervaded New Jersey's politics, government and business for the past 30 years. Everything in the book is [sadly] true but it reads like fiction. The Associated Press called it a "page turner" and noted: "You start out laughing and end up pounding he table for reform."

Well, as you may have noticed we are among those pounding the table for reform. And we couldn't think of finer people than Bob and Sandy to lead the way - and more inventive rascals than The Jersey Boys to share the journey. If Jersey is to have any chance at all to climb out of this mess, we need more people like these folks.

After we dined on Irish stew and shepherd's pie at the Irish Pub we relaxed and enjoyed the balmy weather in Rittenhouse Square for awhile before heading over to Marathon-On-The-Square for dessert. There we walked into Philadelphia Museum of Art Director and CEO Anne d'Harnoncourt (looking regal as usual) and her husband, senior museum curator Joe Rishel. You can listen to my podcast interview with Anne d"Harnoncourt by clicking here.

We told the folks at Marathon how much we were longing for waffles and ice cream and even though it wasn't on the menu they quickly obliged with a heavenly version that sent us home ready for sweet dreams.

It was a truly wonderful evening!