Review: 'Jersey Boys' at Croswell Opera House is something special

ADRIAN — If you’re old enough to remember the 1960s, you probably remember listening to your AM transistor radio or watching “American Bandstand” and hearing “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “December 1963 (Oh What a Night),” and plenty of other hits by The Four Seasons.

All that great music forms the basis of the jukebox musical “Jersey Boys,” which tells the story of The Four Seasons’ birth and the group’s up-and-down career path, along with a relatively unvarnished look at their often-rocky interpersonal relationships. Some of the show’s songs serve specifically to advance the story, while others re-create performances of one sort or another.

And for all those folks who’ve been waiting for the Croswell Opera House to finally be able to stage this musical, well, the wait is over and the results are something really special.

“Jersey Boys” is a huge show by all sorts of measures. Obviously, it requires lead actors who have the vocal chops to sing that tight Four Seasons harmony, and a guy in the role of Frankie Valli who can handle all that falsetto, do it excellently, and not wreck his voice in the process.

Besides that, they’re onstage basically throughout the whole show, making the production a real tour de force not only vocally, but also in the sheer stamina it all takes.

As the story unfolds, various singers cycle through the group, but the core Four Seasons ensemble of Valli, Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio, and Nick Massi is played by, respectively, Adam Woolsey, Kevin Ludwig, Cordell Smith, and Adam Baker.

And these guys are, in a word, spectacular. Vocally, they can channel their real-life counterparts like nobody’s business, and they’re equally fine at the emotional range (and occasional comic moments) required of these roles.

But there are plenty of other challenges too: for the entire creative team, for a stage manager and crew that all have to hustle to get through the vast number of scene changes quickly and deftly, and for the rest of the cast, most of whom have to play multiple roles.

Director Mark DiPietro, vocal director Michael Yuen, and conductor Ray Novak can be justifiably proud of their work on this show and of the tremendous effort put forth by the cast. So can Shonn Wiley, who as a longtime member of the Chicago cast of “Jersey Boys” knows the show like few other people do.

Wiley provided some of the choreography (Audrie Hafner is credited as the main choreographer) and worked with the cast to make all the show’s most iconic moments really pop, and you can see the results of his efforts all over the Croswell stage.

Scenic designer Doug Miller does his usual masterful work at bringing the show’s rather industrial-looking set to this production, and the cast makes great use of that set.

Things are almost continually in motion around the stage, including up and down the two circular staircases and from one side of the set to the other, and although there are a huge number of scenes — 33 in Act I and 18 in Act II — nothing ever bogs down pacing-wise. The show is roughly two and a half hours long not counting intermission, but it doesn’t seem nearly that long because the whole thing just crackles with energy the entire time.

In addition to the stellar effort put forth by the leads, quality performances get turned in all the way through the cast, including but not limited to Jeremy Pastoria as Bob Crewe, Gabriel Kucera as Joe Pesci (yes, THAT Joe Pesci, in his younger days), Amber Woollcott as Mary, and John Bacarella, whose characters range from mobster to priest, which is kind of fun.

All the sensational vocal work is complemented by a fine group of musicians under Novak’s direction. In this production, the orchestra is tucked away behind the set instead of being down in the pit, and in a nice touch they get to come out of their hiding space during the final bows so they can get their entirely deserved round of applause.

Almost all of the technical components came together just as they should have on Saturday’s opening night, a few glitches like a balky door and some other minor issues aside, and so kudos to everyone for that.

Now, parents need to be aware that this is not a show for youngsters. There’s a little sexual innuendo, but more to the point there is a LOT of strong language, most especially one particular word or a variation thereof. Perhaps mobsters, petty criminals, and working-class people in general in 1960s New Jersey really did talk like that. But no matter what, it seems to fit, and especially when it’s done in that thick Jersey accent, sometimes it’s actually pretty funny in context.

Whether you remember The Four Seasons first-hand, have discovered their music more recently, or didn’t even know they did some of the music you’ll hear in “Jersey Boys,” the show is everything a tribute to this iconic vocal group should be.

And the Croswell’s version would be well worth it for that music alone, because these particular performers do such a magnificent job with it. But above and beyond that, this production is so high-energy, and so well crafted, and so much fun, and all that only adds to the mix.

All the elements — voices, instrumentals, staging, acting, choreography — come together to make “Jersey Boys” a thoroughly first-rate, and hugely enjoyable, theatrical experience.

If you go

WHAT: “Jersey Boys”

WHEN: 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: Review: 'Jersey Boys' at Croswell Opera House is something special