'Jersey Boys' Prince Edward Theatre *****

The West End run of 'Jersey Boys' has been entertaining audiences for the past five years now and for my first experience here I found that I enjoyed myself immensely. The musical is based on the legendary music sensations Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and how they continually strived and persevered to become a worldwide success. I think Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice's narrative is sublime and to as it fully expresses the story of the 1960's band that took the world by storm both emotionally and comedic. It also makes you think about success within the music industry and how much money plays a vast issue into musicians and music producer's egotistical minds. The music by Bob Gaudio and Lyrics by Bob Crewe were outstanding as they combined both existing material and new material to convey the jukebox musical that entertains and engages audiences throughout the entire production. In addition it seems that both commercialism and creativity were thought of equally which is how theatre in London's West End should be (actually all of theatre should be). The performances by all of the company were exceptional. Frankie Valli (Ryan Molloy), Bob Gaudio (Edd Post), Tommy DeVito (Jon Boydon) and Nick Massi (David McGranaghan) as the original Four Seasons were phenomenally conveyed as they presented exquisite musicality and their dancing abilities were second to none and could not fault them on their energy. Well done to these four brilliantly talented performers. Des McAnuff's directing is exceptional as he has captured the full environment that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were in and I found that every ounce of rehearsal time had been taken seriously to produce such a flawless and effortless production. I thought that Klara Zieglerova's set design and Jess Goldstein's costume design for this production is beautiful and professionally delivered as again it captures the mood is which the performance focuses on. I valued the vibrancy of the colours chosen for both the costume materials and the textures of the set and it seems to me that careful consideration was thought of to be able to construct this wonderfully executed show. It definitely appeals to everyone from all walks of life. I enjoyed myself and "Oh what a night!"