cast list
Ryan Molloy
Stephen Ashfield
Glann Carter
Philip Bulcock
Scott Monello
Simon Adkins
Suzy Bastone
Michelle Francis
directed by
Des McAnuff
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Even before I took my seat in the Prince Edward Theatre, rumours were
getting back to me that this was a great show. Expectations will be running
even higher at Delfont-Mackintosh for this huge Broadway success which takes
a slot previously occupied by all-round family hit Mary Poppins and
the Abba jukebox musical Mamma Mia. Certainly, something has to be
very special to justify a £75 ticket price.
The programme notes pitch the whole thing very high, claiming a Rashomon
storytelling style, that is, according to co-writer Rick Elice,
"Shakespearean in scope". Wow. All that and songs too? How can it fail? I
have to say - really quite badly.
Franki Valli's story is a long way from Hamlet's - a good thing for his
mum and dad - and even quite a distance from a decent episode of The
Sopranos. Revealing "for the first time" connections to the New Jersey
mafia, there are hints that the biographies of the four Italian-Americans
from the Garden State have real dramatic potential. Sadly, none of this
drama makes it to the stage.
The first act tries to cover too much biographical ground - all that and
songs too! - as it presents ("Rashomon style") as much of each of the Four
Season's versions of events as possible. It is as if the writers were being
called every few moments by their still-living protagonists to say "oh, and
don't forget to include that story", which may explain why the late Nick
Massi seems to get the short end of any narration. Constant stopping and
starting of the action as characters break out to narrate events (a device
best used sparingly) becomes extraordinarily tiring for the audience.
Serious points get the Fisher-Price-with-swearing treatment. This is the
kid's book version of events where none of the rather worrying involvement
of the Mob gets much more than cartoon reactions from the cast as they
barrel forward with the "and then we did this" narrative. Interesting
questions - like how four tough guys from Jersey would think dressing up,
learning to dance and having a singer who sang 'like a girl' was an
acceptable choice of career or lifestyle for a blue-collar working class boy
- never get asked.
Even the homosexuality of the band's lyricist and record producer Bob
Crewe is swerved with an off-hand remark, despite this being Sixties America
where being gay was likely to get you the kind of attention usually reserved
for child molesters. In fact, none of the potentially dramatic flashpoints
get developed, almost as if these would get in the way of "telling the
story". As a result, the end of Act One cliff-hanger of "you owe $150 000 to
the Mob" falls flat and feels tacked on.
The cast and production do more justice than is strictly necessary to
such a bowdlerised storyline. Ryan Molloy is an eerily good sound-alike for
Valli, Stephen Ashfield as Bob Gaudio is suitably preppy and middle-class in
comparison to his bandmates and Glenn Carter as wide-boy fixer, and
occasional guitarist, Tommy DeVito gives a solid performance. Philip Bulcock
as Massi, on the other hand, comes across as a bit thick-headed and, well,
mobster-ish. But the fatal flaw is that they don't really look or act like a
band - publicity photos from the time show a uniformity of haircuts not
replicated on stage, for example.
The question is: who will go and see this? The answer seems to be a
generation, now in their sixties, who grew up with the Four Seasons.
Certainly the grey-haired chap next to me couldn't keep still as he shook
along to the, sadly abbreviated, versions of their classic songs. And
American tourists who maybe didn't 'get' The Beatles. Other than that, this
really poorly thought out production doesn't particularly merit an audience,
as an opportunity to tell a really exciting story and punch it up with big
songs appears to have been smothered by the surviving Seasons' egos.
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