When my family and I spent this past President's Day weekend in Las Vegas, the perfect opportunity arose to attend the production of Jersey Boys in The Jersey Boys Theatre at The Palazzo casino. I did not have any knowledge of the production before actually attending the musical so I found a quick online synopsis of the play. The musical is a documentary focused around a 1960s rock n' roll group called the Four Seasons. It is focused mostly around the main group member, Frankie Valli, and his trials and tribulations throughout his life with the group. The three other main characters are the other members of the group: Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio, and Nick Massi. As is evident with its title, the production is set in New Jersey.
When I first entered the theatre, I was taken aback by its large size in terms of staging and seating because I have not attended a professional theatre production aside from Wicked which I attended many years ago. So being in such a grand theatre was a change because I have been accustomed to smaller-scaled high school or college theatres. It utilized a proscenium stage and had stairs to give the set different levels. The stairs would lead to a platform which allowed for a two-story stage. It was effective to give the stage different levels so that the actors could be dispersed throughout to fully utilize the stage rather than having them clumped together. Atop the stage was a screen for projected images that helped to further the setting. Throughout the performance, pictures and words would be projected onto the stage to give the audience a sense of time, season, or mood. For example, when Frankie Valli had discovered the death of his daughter, a projected image of a crying man appeared on the screen to mirror Frankie's emotional state. The use of projected images only enhanced the performance to give the audience a better sense of time and emotion as they were able to discern the various events.
I felt that this production was extremely technical and fully utilized technology to its benefit. Rather than having the crew come out onto the stage to remove the props and to bring in different props for set changes, all the props were completely mechanized. For example, the props would either be lowered from the ceiling or would appear from under the stage. When the Four Seasons was about to perform in a concert venue, mic stands would appear from under the stage. Having this really worked to the benefit of the production because the audience was not distracted by the crew working on stage and could focus all their attention on the actors. In addition, I was amazed by the use of technology to imitate the shooting of a televised show/music video. In order to take the audience to the point when the Four Seasons was performing on live television, video cameras emerged and shot the group from one end of the stage, and the image captured on the video cameras appeared on the projection screen. It was such an innovative element that really acted to engage the audience. What also amazed me was the use of the stage to act as an actual stage for the Four Seasons to perform in a concert. We either felt as if we were part of the audience or were backstage at one of their concerts. I thought that it was really interesting when the audience felt as if they were part of the concert audience because it actually felt as if we were at a concert rather than in a theatre watching a musical.
The theatre's large size really helped with the music portions of the production. The large size allowed the music to reverberate throughout the theatre and allowed for the audience to absorb the music. I believe that what made the musical such a hit was the choice of music. And not only was the music catchy and easy on the ears, but the actors also had such voices that completely captivated the audience. I think because the music was derived from a musical group's music rather than the showtune music from a musical, the music replayed in the audience's head even after the production was over. As a result, Jersey Boys seems to be in a similar genre as that of Mamma Mia! because the music from the production has come from that of a musical group. Overall, I do not have any negative critique for the musical because I personally felt that it was clever and brilliant.
When I first entered the theatre, I was taken aback by its large size in terms of staging and seating because I have not attended a professional theatre production aside from Wicked which I attended many years ago. So being in such a grand theatre was a change because I have been accustomed to smaller-scaled high school or college theatres. It utilized a proscenium stage and had stairs to give the set different levels. The stairs would lead to a platform which allowed for a two-story stage. It was effective to give the stage different levels so that the actors could be dispersed throughout to fully utilize the stage rather than having them clumped together. Atop the stage was a screen for projected images that helped to further the setting. Throughout the performance, pictures and words would be projected onto the stage to give the audience a sense of time, season, or mood. For example, when Frankie Valli had discovered the death of his daughter, a projected image of a crying man appeared on the screen to mirror Frankie's emotional state. The use of projected images only enhanced the performance to give the audience a better sense of time and emotion as they were able to discern the various events.
I felt that this production was extremely technical and fully utilized technology to its benefit. Rather than having the crew come out onto the stage to remove the props and to bring in different props for set changes, all the props were completely mechanized. For example, the props would either be lowered from the ceiling or would appear from under the stage. When the Four Seasons was about to perform in a concert venue, mic stands would appear from under the stage. Having this really worked to the benefit of the production because the audience was not distracted by the crew working on stage and could focus all their attention on the actors. In addition, I was amazed by the use of technology to imitate the shooting of a televised show/music video. In order to take the audience to the point when the Four Seasons was performing on live television, video cameras emerged and shot the group from one end of the stage, and the image captured on the video cameras appeared on the projection screen. It was such an innovative element that really acted to engage the audience. What also amazed me was the use of the stage to act as an actual stage for the Four Seasons to perform in a concert. We either felt as if we were part of the audience or were backstage at one of their concerts. I thought that it was really interesting when the audience felt as if they were part of the concert audience because it actually felt as if we were at a concert rather than in a theatre watching a musical.
The theatre's large size really helped with the music portions of the production. The large size allowed the music to reverberate throughout the theatre and allowed for the audience to absorb the music. I believe that what made the musical such a hit was the choice of music. And not only was the music catchy and easy on the ears, but the actors also had such voices that completely captivated the audience. I think because the music was derived from a musical group's music rather than the showtune music from a musical, the music replayed in the audience's head even after the production was over. As a result, Jersey Boys seems to be in a similar genre as that of Mamma Mia! because the music from the production has come from that of a musical group. Overall, I do not have any negative critique for the musical because I personally felt that it was clever and brilliant.
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