Theatre Cedar Rapids presents boy band musical biopic ‘Jersey Boys’

Bring your high school friends, siblings, grandmother, or karaoke besties — you won’t want to hold back when feeling the urge to sing along to “Jersey Boys” at Theatre Cedar Rapids next month.

“I would dare anybody to not sing along,” said Jeffrey Harrington, who plays Frankie Valli.

You’ll want to see TCR’s production even if you’ve seen “Jersey Boys” on Broadway — lucky you — or a touring national production.

“These are local people doing this. It’s not a tour; it’s not a cover band. It’s people from the community,” said Matt Hagmeier Curtis, the show’s director, adding that he’s been impressed with the cast’s level of commitment and talent.

The Four Seasons’ chart-busting songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s will be familiar, but the storyline might be a surprise. With its unflinching look into the bandmates’ private lives that deviates from The Four Seasons’ clean-cut public images, this is not a show for kids.

The plot

“Jersey Boys” tells the story of the Four Seasons formation and their against-all-odds success as it’s happening. The show includes everything you’d expect from the rough streets of mid-20th century New Jersey, from profanity to alcohol use, gambling and the Italian Mafia.

And yet the story remains timely. It’s about the persistence of facing life’s challenges and finding your voice, something that’s not easy for everyone, Curtis said.

It doesn’t shy away from the trauma. And it doesn’t shy away from the language, Lauer said. “It’s Italian.”

The language is one of the reasons Curtis would rate it R, but there’s also the portrayal of drugs on stage and implied intimacy.

The musical’s four decades are depicted in four musical seasons, each representing a season of the band’s career. From the band’s spring in the 1960s as four, blue-collar, Italian American friends develop their signature sound harmonizing on Newark, New Jersey, street corners through hard times, the script lays it all out.

“On Broadway, they used projections to tell you what season they were in. The four guys each narrate a different portion of the show. We’re being a little more vague with ours. I wanted to do something different than what they did on Broadway, but we hope that comes through in the storytelling,” Curtis said.

“It's a story about having the right people around you when you need them, having the persistence to get through so that you can achieve happiness or success, and working through all of life's little bumps and valleys and peaks,” Curtis said.

“Finding your voice against insurmountable odds, and the people that are sometimes standing in your way, and those people sometimes might be the people that you count on most.”

But there are plenty of light moments in “Jersey Boys.” Curtis’ mom told him the music brought back childhood memories of skating to Frankie Valli and the Four Season with her friends and family.

  Buy Photo

The music

Rehearsals began in December with music and choreography. The show was blocked in a week and a half; there were three straight days of music during which all the songs were learned.

“For the most part, what you should hear if you’re a lover of the Four Seasons music is authentic or should evoke a positive memory for you — if we're doing our jobs correctly,” Curtis said.

The score is written out so that much of the time Frankie Valli’s voice is doubled backstage, Lauer said. It was a technique used by Valli on original recordings. But during the Cedar Rapids show, all the singing will be live.

And the most distinctive voice onstage will be Harrington’s, 20, George Washington High School graduate now attending college in Iowa City. You might remember him from the Revival Theater Company’s production of “Putnam County Spelling Bee” or as Nigel Bottom from last winter’s “Something Rotten!”

“I didn’t know that this voice was hiding out in Jeffrey’s body. When he came in for auditions for ‘Jersey Boys’ I was literally taken aback,” Curtis said, who worked with Harrington on “Something Rotten!”

Lauer had an inkling Harrington might be their Frankie Valli. Her mother, who had seen “Jersey Boys” on Broadway, also saw Harrington in “Something Rotten!”

“When she found out we were doing ‘Jersey Boys’ she goes, ‘That Harrington kid should be Frankie Valli,’” Lauer said.

The musical theater role of Frankie Valli is notorious for being one of the most challenging for a male-presenting person to play, Harrington said. Although Valli’s first hits were sung in his signature falsetto, he showed considerable vocal range throughout the decades.

“Vocally, obviously, it’s challenging. Acting wise, it’s challenging. But the most challenging part is that you’re telling the story of someone’s life in two hours,” Harrington said.

Curtis has nothing but high praise for Harrington’s vocal and acting talents.

“Jeffrey’s a very wonderful, talented young actor who is so good on the page and in the script and diving into what’s going on, as he says beneath the surface. He approaches things from the character 100 percent of the time, and it’s a pleasure to work with him,” the director said.

Like Harrington, most of the cast are college age. You’ll have to suspend your disbelief a bit because the story takes place over a span of 40 years, but nobody’s going to age on stage, Curtis said.

Why go

The musical starts with the band’s 1962 breakout No. 1 hits “Sherry” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” featuring Valli’s signature falsetto. By the end, you’ll hear Valli singing in a lower register to the title song to the 1978 movie-musical “Grease.”

Each of the original Four Seasons had distinct voices that shone through the harmonies and sometimes took the lead, something you’ll hear in “Jersey Boys.”

“That four guys, tight harmony thing of that era is just awesome when it locks in,” Lauer said.

Harrington gets a certain feeling when he knows they’ve nailed a song. “My ears are just ringing. I get a little tingly. It feels great.”

How will the music be different from what fans may expect? Some of the music performed predates The Four Seasons, when they would have been singing background vocals before they made it big, Curtis said. Only sections of some songs will be performed often with one song running right into another.

“They’re covering a lot of material in the show,” Lauer said.

Lauer will portray a woman conductor in the 1960s with an all-male band — not the norm for that era. She will be on stage with the band: drums, base, guitar, two keyboards, a trumpet, trombone and sax.

“To keep that in the pit felt like the wrong choice for this show,” Curtis said.

If you come to the show, you’ll have a good time, Harrington said.

“Grab your mom, grab your friends. Have a night on the town. Hopefully, we can transport you back to good times for a bit,” Curtis said.