By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on October 29, 2016 5:01 PM
Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons On Broadway Played A Limited Engagement At The Lunt-Fontanne Theater Until October 29, 2016.
Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons Played Limited Engagement
From October 21 to 29, 2016, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway played at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. This is a return engagement from October 19 to 27, 2012, when the same singing fivesome delighted Broadway audiences for a similarly brief period.
In the meantime, the jukebox musical featuring these musicians’ hits and life story, Jersey Boys, has been playing at the August Wilson Theatre since October 4, 2005.
Jersey Boys Was Tony Award Winner
That show has been a runaway hit – it took home four Tony Awards in 2006 including Best Musical, holds the honor of being the 12th longest-running Broadway show ever since it passed its 4,093rd performance over a year ago, and was adapted into a high-profile feature film directed by Clint Eastwood.
The success of Jersey Boys is due in no small part to the catchy wonder of the songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, who are the characters and songwriters of the long-running musical. Now, for the second time on Broadway, this beloved band has come to grace the stage for the same audiences who have very likely sung along to the fictionalized version of these singers. At age 82, Frankie Valli is still on his A-game.
Frankie Valli And Four Back-up Singers, But Not The Originals
Frankie Valli took the music world by storm in the 1960s and 1970s with such hits as “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night),” “Walk Like a Man,” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”
At the time, the Four Seasons were made up of lead singer Valli, along with Bob Gaudio on keyboards and tenor vocals, Nick Massi on electric bass and bass vocals, and Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals.
Nick Massi Passed Away, December 2000
Sadly, Nick Massi passed away in December 2000 of cancer, and while Tommy DeVito and Bob Gaudio are still alive at ages 88 and 73, respectively, they opted out of continuing to tour with Frankie Valli’s headlined event. Although the band has given their blessing for the name Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to be used today, it is now a total of five guys, with the additional four being dubbed the Four Seasons, even though they are not the originals.
These four guys are Landon Beard, Brandon Brigham, Brian Brigham, and Todd Fournier, and they are the same four who appeared as Valli’s backup singers in the 2012 Broadway rendition of this show. In the meantime, this fivesome has toured the world as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, making stops from San Francisco to London.
Valli Released First Holiday Album In Decades
Tis the Seasons is Frankie Valli’s latest album, a holiday record that includes highly praised arrangements and Valli’s wonderful vocals. The album includes songs such as “Joy to the World,” “The Christmas Song,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Frosty the Snowman,” all the way up to the final track, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Together with the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli has sold over 175 million records, and Jersey Boys has been a box office phenomenon.
It is therefore fitting that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway has been performing very well at the box office. In its first week of three performances, the musical brought in 93.45% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price at $250, the average paid admission was $138.99, and the audience was filled up to 92.5% of capacity on average. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway played its final performance of the limited engagement on Saturday, October 29, 2016.
