Jersey Boys

Show stopped again at the start of Talk Like a Man (reprise). So it’s going to come back for 90 seconds before the interval lol.

Seems to be a problem with the drum set this time. Manually dragged out now.

Made a last minute decision to attend last night when the announcement was made that Andy Smith would be on as Frankie. Andy is a very talented actor-musician who drops effortlessly into so many different roles. I ended up in the centre of the third row, which is a perfect seat.

There was a show stop about 10 minutes in. Then the show resumed for about 20 seconds, but without background music (I presume pre-recorded), so there was another show stop. Eventually, we got going. I had a group of Chinese visitors sat on one side who got a bit fidgety (including a very bright phone screen at multiple points, which I hope was for translation reasons).

I'm still not clear precisely what the show stop was for, but the show started with three people covering the female roles and resumed with only two (Gracie Lai and Bonnie Page). No one seemed to have told the sound desk about the change, so there were various microphones not switched on for redistributed female lines.

Apart from that, it must have been a long day, as evidenced by various members of the cast trying to make one another laugh (at an angle not obvious to most of the audience). On an unrelated note, Tom Oliver wasn't on as Tommy Devito yesterday, but I must say how much I enjoy his Tommy (as a different take to the also excellent Benjamin Yates).

Frankie Valli is an incredibly difficult role to sing consistently. I think that Elliot Allinson is such an excellent Frankie as the alternate (let's face it, he's excellent in all his roles), but he also has the advantage of being able to save his voice between performances. Luke Suri is a very charismatic actor and excellent singer, but I think the schedule has been less good on him vocally. I think Joey Cornish has come into his own for his occasional performances. Andy Smith to me is a perfect Bob Gaudio, but it's a pleasure to see him in many role and always great for him to get the chance to go on as the lead.

The show finished very late and I left through the back route, narrowly missing being bowled over by Benjamin Yates, who managed to leave the theatre in record time. To avoid controversy, I chose a different tube station to continue my journey from (sorry Ben - bad social media reference). Anyway, regardless who is on as Frankie, there are still few better nights out in London.

Thanks, I was there in the afternoon for my monthly (or so) visit and Joey was on as Frankie then. Surprised you saw Joey rather than Elliot in the evening, as they don't normally have the same lead on twice in the same day.

The bigger news though (at least to me) is that Ben Yates is no longer in the cast. The cast board isn't shown anywhere now and the website no longer lists Ben (or anyone playing Tommy DeVito). I can't find anything on social media either and there are no signs to say this in the building, but yesterday Peter Nash was on as Tommy. Peter isn't in the cast but has previously played Tommy on cruise ship productions (and I believed covered the role on one of the UK tours). I don't know how long Peter is in the show for, but looks like the change happened in the past week or so.

There have also been some more line changes in the past month. They've removed one of the mentions of "coloured" (quite understandably) but oddly left another in. I completely agree that the ending needs an update. I wouldn't change the introduction though as it's deliberately based around the biggest hit (plus, you can convince people they're attending one of the occasional performances in French). The Maneskin cover I'd never heard of until this post, so make of that what you will!

Kevin Fullink has confirmed he is leaving at cast change in July, does anyone know anyone else leaving, or has anyone else announced it?

I think the current casts last date is Monday 26th with the new cast on 28th, but don’t hold me to that.

Also, Elliot has confirmed he is leaving.

Cast change was announced yesterday and 2 existing/returning cast members have mentioned 6 month contracts. The booking period is also only until January, so 6 months. Have they secretly set their closing date of Jan 2024?

Or maybe it could be a home for Titanique.

At 630 seats, it'd be a good theatre for a lot of plays.

I was front row at the Thursday matinee for what I think would usually be Elliot's last "normal" Frankie performance (with the assumption that tomorrow's could easily be a muckup).

Matthew Goodgame was on as Nick Massi. He's always excellent and got very emotional during his final scenes. Elliot was on total form and did look close to tears at several points.

Of course, everyone could just be ill, and so the planned cast could change completely.

The downside of the Thursday matinee is always the audience mix, but at least I didn't have a persistent cougher next to me like earlier in the week.

Very glad to have seen both Jack Campbell and Huon Mackley on this week too.

After a few hundred performances as Bob Gaudio, Adam Bailey lost his lines during Dawn, so skipped a few sentences. It happens. He always holds things together so well.

Tom Oliver was on fire again in his main roles, puling out his arsenal of different accents and actions. He's always such a fun performer to watch.

Well, I did attend Elliot's final show, but he must have enjoyed himself so much he’s doing it again today. Sadly, I won’t be back until after cast change.

Everyone was on top form and well behaved. Elliot got a well deserved mid-show standing ovation. His crowd of female fans were there in force. Lots of cheering.

Some random laughs too, but most of the time I couldn’t spot why from my angle.

I did hear the couple next to me talking that it was their third time and they thought people would think they’d seen the show too much. I didn’t like to mention it was my third time - this week.

An excellent cast and sad to see so many people go. If anyone makes cast change tomorrow, do enjoy, and please report back!

I was there for the first performance with the new cast yesterday. The audience was a bit muted at first (with the exception of an American lady who was loudly and enthusiastically discussing dogging before the show - the US context may be different), but they picked up during the show.

I say new cast, but a lot of people are continuing, and many of the others have been associated with Jersey Boys before, whether at the Piccadilly Theatre, on tour, or at sea.

The current leads are very strong. Luke Suri is always such a natural sounding Frankie Valli. Karl James Wilson is the underappreciated glue as Nick Massi. Peter Nash doesn't overplay Tommy Devito. And Declan Egan is a really excellent Bob Gaudio. He has the vocals and nuance just right and looks like he wants to be there.

I do hope this cast get a full year. Lots of new covers to see too.

I’ve seen 2 or 3 of them say they’ve signed on for 6 months, and it’s currently only booking for up to 6 months. Maybe it’s planning to close in January?