Four guys start singing together on a street corner, take turns landing in jail, make it big on the radio with a trio of hits, drink too much, spend too much money, ruin their marriages and finally break up the band. No way are they still friends, right?

As Tommy DeVito (Erik Bates) would say, “If that’s what you think, you’re not from Jersey.”

In Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Tommy and Frankie (Christopher Kale Jones) establish a bond of brotherhood that makes both their inevitable split-up and their reconciliation believable.

Indeed, the triumph of friendship over just about everything else elevates Jersey Boys from an energetic pop musical to a satisfying drama with a great sound- track. The show is so well edited that I can’t think of a single scene, song or line that I’d take out, which makes Jersey Boys the tightest musical I’ve seen since Rent.  read more »

I saw Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar last night at the Bloomington Civic Theatre, and the only reason I’m not completely depressed by the death scene at the end (you know the story…it’s in the Bible) is that the actor who plays Jesus of Nazareth (Patrick Morgan) is an absolute doll—and he assures me that the blood is fake. I just had to show you his picture before heading off to bed, where I hope that I will not dream of murderous behavior by the clergy. More about this classic “rock opera” on my show Saturday, so tune in!

By the way, Jesus wears Homer Simpson slippers. Betcha didn’t know that!