Jersey Boys in Rehearsal Ready for Sydney Opening

Jersey Boys. Glaston Toft on right

I was fortunate to attend the first day of rehearsals of Jersey Boys, the hit musical that will open in Sydney in September and then move on to Brisbane and Melbourne. When there I was able to see and hear some of the hit songs that feature in the show.

Jersey Boys tells the true-life story of four guys from the wrong side of the tracks. It brings to the stage the rise to stardom of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, one of the most successful bands in pop music history. Even though they wanted to be taken as a serious band, they soon found themselves to be swamped by millions of adoring teenage fans who idolized them. The band sold more than 175 million records and were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons worldwide hits include many well-known timeless songs such as "Can’t Take My Eyes Off You", "Walk Like a Man", "Bye Bye Baby", "Sherry" and "Big Girl’s Don’t Cry". All of these songs, plus many of their other toe-tapping hits, feature in this musical.

Some of the cast of Jersey Boys

Jersey Boys first came to Australia in 2009 and toured for 4 years to sellout audiences of 1.6 million people. Jersey Boys has won many awards, including the Helpmann Award in 2010 for the Best Musical in Australia. The Jersey Boys movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, was a hit in Australia, where it had the highest box office sales of any country outside North America.  

The 4 leads in this production of Jersey Boys will be Bernard Angel, playing Frankie Valli, Cameron MacDonald as Tommy DeVito, Thomas McGuane as Bob Gaudio and Glaston Toft, reprising his celebrated portrayal of the band’s musical marvel Nick Massi.

When at the rehearsal I was fortunate to have a brief conversation with the producer and one of the stars of the show.

Glaston Toft

Glaston Toft studied Classical Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium and graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2005. He toured for 4 years from 2009 with the Jersey Boys, clocking up more than 1,300 performances. Since then he has appeared in lead roles of many musicals, including the FBI agent Ray Court in The Bodyguard and of Athol Guy in Georgy Girl – The Seekers Musical.

He is excited to once again be in Jersey Boys, because of the brilliant story the musical tells about the famous pop band with their joys and struggles of making it to the top. He is also looking forward to the fun he will have with the other actors on tour in this production of the musical. Even at this early period of rehearsal they have bonded together and recognise that while the role of each character is important, it the cast working together on stage as a whole that is also important.

There was a 14 year age gap between the youngest and oldest of the Four Season's. In this production of Jersey Boys, Glaston will be closer to his character Nick Massi's age than when he played him in the first tour. 

Glaston will bring all his acting, singing and dancing skills to the stage to make his character Nick Massi come to life. Each performance will be tiring for Glaston, as each song has its own energetic dance moves. The women in the musical will have to do many costumes changes, but he will have to make quick changes into his different suits for the scenes he is in. To be true to the 50's era, he will need to wear pointy-toed shoes on stage. He is looking forward to getting back into his comfy casual shoes after each performance.

Glaston lives in Melbourne, so will miss his home and friends when the musical is in Sydney and Brisbane, but will appreciate the opportunity to be with his other friends and family who live in those cities.

Rodney Rigby

Australian producer Rodney Rigby is delighted that Jersey Boys is touring Australia once again. He is an Australian who shares his time between Australia and Broadway producing many hit musicals. He is passionate about live theatre and the Aussie way of life. He would love to see Jersey Boys tour to regional Australia, but the logistics of the large cast, technical crew, and complex staging will make this impossible.  

Rodney says this will be the true Jersey Boys show, but with a vibrant (mostly) new cast and energy. He feels that there has been a long enough gap since it first started its 4-year tour of Australia in 2009. Rodney feels those people who saw it before would love to come back and see it again, and there is a whole new audience that has not had the thrill of seeing it who will come along this time. 

Jersey Boys

There is only a limited season of the Jersey Boys in Sydney before it moves onto other capital cities, so get in early to book your seats or you might miss out.

JERSEY BOYS

Sydney Season - From September 2018
STRICTLY LIMITED SEASON
Capitol Theatre, 13 Campbell Street, Haymarket, NSW 2000
Show Times: Tue, Wed, Thur 7:00PM, Fri 8:00PM, Sat 2PM & 8:00PM, Sun 2PM & 6:30PM

Tickets: BOOK NOW
By Phone 1300 558 878