'Jersey Boys' at Croswell Opera House all about the music

ADRIAN — The story of how four high school dropouts came to form one of the most successful vocal groups of all time is the basis of “Jersey Boys,” the hit musical coming to the Croswell Opera House for the next three weekends.

The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3. Additional performances are at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 4; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 10; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 11; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 15; 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 16; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 17; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 18.

Tickets are $22-$44 for adults and $15-$25 for students and are available by calling the Croswell at 517-264-7469 or online at croswell.org.

“Jersey Boys” tells the tale of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, who between 1960 and the mid-1970s had chart-topping hits such as “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night).”

The show, which was the brainchild of one of the group’s original members, Bob Gaudio, features those tunes plus more than two dozen others. It opened on Broadway in 2005 and ran for 4,642 performances there, winning four Tony Awards including Best Musical.

The Croswell’s production stars Adam Woolsey of DeWitt as Frankie Valli, Kevin Ludwig of Ann Arbor as Tommy DeVito, Adam Baker of Adrian as Nick Massi, and Cordell Smith of Riga as Bob Gaudio.

Rounding out the 20-person cast are John Bacarella, Autumn Bradford, Wyatt DuFord, Matthew Herr, Abby Knight, Gabriel Kucera, Aubrie Lauren, Anjewel Lenoir, Sarah Nowak, Jeremy Pastoria, Savannah Ritter, Olivia Skierski, Eli Stachowske, Will Strickland, Amber Woollcott and Griffin Yeater.

“Why should anyone see this show? Two words: the music,” Mark DiPietro, who directs the production, said.

“That’s why I love doing this show — just to remember this great music.”

The story, which the Croswell bills as suitable for adults and teens because it contains some strong language and adult situations, unfolds through a series of short, narrated vignettes that means an eye-popping 33 scenes in Act I and 18 in Act II.

“You constantly have the set moving,” DiPietro said. “It’s not frenzied, but it’s tight.”

To make a show this size work definitely took a team effort and “a lot of relying on other people,” he said. “They all made it easy on me.”

Besides its director, the show’s production team includes conductor Ray Novak, vocal director Michael Yuen, scenic designer Doug Miller, costume designer Pam Krage, and choreographer Audrie Hafner. Lighting and sound design are by Tiff Crutchfield and Red Letter, respectively. Danielle Bluteau is the stage manager.

Adrian native and Croswell alumnus Shonn Wiley, who starred as Bob Gaudio in the long-running Chicago production of “Jersey Boys,” provided additional choreography and dramaturgy.

Casting a show that relies so heavily on vocal abilities, and the ability to harmonize, of the lead performers had its challenges. After all, “when you hear them together it has to sound right,” DiPietro said.

But the performers that he, Novak, and Yuen ended up casting as Valli and the various members of The Four Seasons both look and sound great together, he said, and “there’s a moment in Act I when it’s all the magic you expect it to be.”

If you go

WHAT: “Jersey Boys”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 4; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 10; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 11; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 15; 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 16; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 17; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 18

WHERE: Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian

TICKETS: $22-$44 for adults, $15-$25 for students

HOW TO ORDER: By calling the Croswell at 517-264-7469 or online at croswell.org

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Preview: 'Jersey Boys' at Croswell Opera House all about the music