5,268 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jan 4, 2024 21:44:52 GMT
Why on earth is this closing on a Thursday night?!
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3,058 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 4, 2024 22:10:33 GMT
Why on earth is this closing on a Thursday night?! I think they decided it was the 1,000th show. It's a shame this is closing, although it did go through periods when it wasn't selling very well. I couldn't make either performance today, although I may well have been several times in the past week. I can now say that the actor I've seen the most times in the same role anywhere is Karl James Wilson (as Nick Massi). I did see two of Joey Cornish's final three Frankie shows - and he was tearful at the end both days, so I don't know how he will have been at the matinee today. He is delightful to watch and will go places. And the current (final) Four Seasons, led by Luke Suri, are as good a combination as there's been at the Piccadilly Theatre. I do have to mention how well Pearce Barron's smile in the background always lights up the stage when he swings on. And apologies to putting Declan off his closing speech recently when I tripped up a man who was desperately trying to leave the row I was in at the same time. Actually, there are lots of stories I could tell about this show, but that's no surprise as it looks like I did go to over 5% of the performances. This is probably at the bows about now, so hopefully anyone in attendance can report back. I'm sure Jersey Boys will be back out on tour soon!
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Post by toomasj on Jan 4, 2024 22:14:20 GMT
I very much enjoyed the show in its original West End run and on tour. Across the runs I saw a couple of standouts, Ryan Malloy was superb as Valli and Jon Boyden outstanding as Tommy.
I must admit to me the show lost some of its lustre over time, as is natural, and subsequent casts didn’t do much for me. I think I saw Scott Monello and Jon Lee, neither of which really had the chops for the role and I was spoilt with Malloy setting the benchmark so high.
I thought it was all but done when I saw it last time, just very underwhelming and, dare I say, a bit “budget”.
Good show but a good time to bow out.
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3,050 posts
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Post by Rory on Jan 4, 2024 22:21:24 GMT
I loved the appearances Ryan Malloy did with Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Such presence!
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Post by Matt on Jan 4, 2024 23:33:13 GMT
I was there tonight, Luke said it was the 1001st show, so not quite to plan then.
Was a good show, first time I’d seen this latest cast actually. Big fan of the guy who played Bob Gaudio, and loved Andy Barke’s (an old friend of mine) characterisation of all his roles.
We had multiple silly standing ovations through the show, and I had a girl next to me who literally sobbed the whole way through from the first minute until last, quite jarring really, and I’m not even sure if the tears were real.
I saw this show on its Broadway previews, I saw the original London run, I saw it more times over the years, I saw it on first preview night of this run, I probably saw it about 10-12 times during this run, and I saw the last show, and it’s still one of my favourite shows. I grew up hearing and listening to the Four Seasons, I’ve seen Frankie Valli live, this show will always be special to me, but it feels like the right time for it to go.
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185 posts
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Post by demelza on Jan 6, 2024 20:11:06 GMT
I very much enjoyed the show in its original West End run and on tour. Across the runs I saw a couple of standouts, Ryan Malloy was superb as Valli and Jon Boyden outstanding as Tommy. I must admit to me the show lost some of its lustre over time, as is natural, and subsequent casts didn’t do much for me. I think I saw Scott Monello and Jon Lee, neither of which really had the chops for the role and I was spoilt with Malloy setting the benchmark so high. I thought it was all but done when I saw it last time, just very underwhelming and, dare I say, a bit “budget”. Good show but a good time to bow out. Jon Boydon was such a great Tommy! For me, this show was at it's best at the Prince Edward with Ryan Molloy, Jon Boydon, Matthew Wycliffe, and Eugene McCoy as the boys! It's sad, I used to love this show so much, but I don't know... this run at the Trafalgar failed to grab me at all
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Post by francistheatreboard on Jan 8, 2024 9:43:47 GMT
I very much enjoyed the show in its original West End run and on tour. Across the runs I saw a couple of standouts, Ryan Malloy was superb as Valli and Jon Boyden outstanding as Tommy. I must admit to me the show lost some of its lustre over time, as is natural, and subsequent casts didn’t do much for me. I think I saw Scott Monello and Jon Lee, neither of which really had the chops for the role and I was spoilt with Malloy setting the benchmark so high. I thought it was all but done when I saw it last time, just very underwhelming and, dare I say, a bit “budget”. Good show but a good time to bow out. Jon Boydon was such a great Tommy! For me, this show was at it's best at the Prince Edward with Ryan Molloy, Jon Boydon, Matthew Wycliffe, and Eugene McCoy as the boys! It's sad, I used to love this show so much, but I don't know... this run at the Trafalgar failed to grab me at all Same for me, far too polished now. From the costumes to the set, and indeed some casting choices, nothing screamed mafia. It felt like a boyband. It was still enjoyable but didn’t have that edge that made it unique.
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Post by Matt on Jan 8, 2024 11:45:35 GMT
Jon Boydon was such a great Tommy! For me, this show was at it's best at the Prince Edward with Ryan Molloy, Jon Boydon, Matthew Wycliffe, and Eugene McCoy as the boys! It's sad, I used to love this show so much, but I don't know... this run at the Trafalgar failed to grab me at all Same for me, far too polished now. From the costumes to the set, and indeed some casting choices, nothing screamed mafia. It felt like a boyband. It was still enjoyable but didn’t have that edge that made it unique. I loved the current run but my only gripe is that Tommy was never rugged and gangsta-like enough, he was too clean.
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Post by qwerty on Jan 9, 2024 0:37:49 GMT
Same for me, far too polished now. From the costumes to the set, and indeed some casting choices, nothing screamed mafia. It felt like a boyband. It was still enjoyable but didn’t have that edge that made it unique. I loved the current run but my only gripe is that Tommy was never rugged and gangsta-like enough, he was too clean. The original cars were the best must admit I did like Philip Bullock acting can see why he got the Batman movies
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Post by qwerty on Jan 9, 2024 0:39:20 GMT
I very much enjoyed the show in its original West End run and on tour. Across the runs I saw a couple of standouts, Ryan Malloy was superb as Valli and Jon Boyden outstanding as Tommy. I must admit to me the show lost some of its lustre over time, as is natural, and subsequent casts didn’t do much for me. I think I saw Scott Monello and Jon Lee, neither of which really had the chops for the role and I was spoilt with Malloy setting the benchmark so high. I thought it was all but done when I saw it last time, just very underwhelming and, dare I say, a bit “budget”. Good show but a good time to bow out. For me, Ryan always came across as to old. Scott seemed to be the right age.
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833 posts
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Post by Steffi on Jan 9, 2024 17:10:59 GMT
For me this show was at its best at the Prince Edward Theatre. Ryan, Glenn, Stephen and Philip were superb and had a special bond that just showed on stage. I saw Jersey Boys more times than I'd like to admit between 2008 and 2014. I enjoyed every cast during those years but none of them ever came close to the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 cast for me. Was never a fan of Scott's Frankie though - he was missing a certain edge in my eyes - but that's all personal preference.
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642 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 9, 2024 19:31:45 GMT
I caught Ryan Molloy only once in about 10 visits to the Prince Edward, and he was the worst Frankie I've seen - clearly bored, and a lot of corpsing/messing around on stage. It was about 5/6 years in, so presumably he was going through the motions, but I was so disappointed as everyone raved about him. The best all round Frankies I've seen were Tom Oakley, John Lloyd Young and Michael Watson (both in London and on tour). Scott was my first Frankie, and thought he was excellent, but not quite as convincing as the names previously mentioned. When I saw it again at the Trafalgar, I didn't feel the same excitement that I felt in previous productions, which was disappointing. The last run of it that I enjoyed was the tour Michael led.
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Post by peggysue on Jan 10, 2024 9:31:31 GMT
I also thought Ryan Molloy was too old for Frankie. I preferred Scott Monello. I saw Mark Isherwood as Tommy who was excellent as was Stephen Ashfield as Bob. Also enjoyed Wayne Smith as Bob Crewe. Have seen the tour quite a few times and my two favourites were Tim Driesen and Luke Suri both excellent as Frankie. Hope it tours again soon.
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185 posts
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Post by demelza on Jan 10, 2024 20:53:33 GMT
I also thought Ryan Molloy was too old for Frankie. I preferred Scott Monello. I saw Mark Isherwood as Tommy who was excellent as was Stephen Ashfield as Bob. Also enjoyed Wayne Smith as Bob Crewe. Have seen the tour quite a few times and my two favourites were Tim Driesen and Luke Suri both excellent as Frankie. Hope it tours again soon. Mark Isherwood is excellent! Only saw his Tommy once but saw his Nick and Gyp a few times! Agree with greeny11 re: Michael Watson. Think he was the Frankie I ended up seeing the most — I saw him quite early on and wasn't too keen on him at the start but he really grew into the role and I really loved his performance. I believe he's swapped performing for being a Life Coach these days, which is a shame
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Post by justfran on Jan 10, 2024 21:12:06 GMT
I've seen the show quite a few times in the West End and on tour - usually find that the person playing Tommy is the standout to me. My favourite was Simon Bailey. Jon Boydon and Mark Isherwood have also been great in the role.
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