Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] [Barnes & Noble Exclusive]

by Jersey Boys

Overview

The success of the musical revue Smokey Joe's Cafe, which ran on Broadway between 1995 and 2000, and the book musical Mamma Mia!, which opened on Broadway in 2001 and was still running in the fall of 2005, led to a string of so-called jukebox musicals in which pop music catalogs of various performers were recycled in a theatrical context. Many of these shows failed, but others, notably Movin' Out, which featured Billy Joel's music choreographed by Twyla Tharp, succeeded. Jersey Boys, a stage biography of the Four Seasons, looked like one of those few hits after it opened on November 6, 2005. The New Jersey-based vocal group bested only by the Beatles, the Supremes, and the Rolling Stones on the pop singles charts of the 1960s (as noted by annotator Charles Alexander) turned out to have a compelling career story containing not a little of the crime and mobster connections the Garden State was famous for, and critics who had disparaged musicals based on the songs of the Beach Boys and Elvis Presley looked more fondly on it, as did audiences. Usually, an original Broadway cast album is recorded on a day-off a week or two after a successful opening, but this one actually preceded the show itself, turning up in record stores five days before the official start of Jersey Boys' run. Also, more time was spent on it than the usual one-day session that Broadway union rules generally require. Producer Bob Gaudio, who was also an original member of the Four Seasons and the songwriter of many of their hits, seems to have been determined to get the sound right. Of course, the other original members of the group were not involved; instead, a talented young cast re-creates the familiar recordings. There, of course, is the problem. If critics in the theater often squirm at the ways librettists shoehorn well-known songs into the story lines of the jukebox musicals, record critics can have even less patience with the souvenir albums. The reason is easy to see. It's one thing to suspend disbelief in a theater as a group of actor/singers make like the Four Seasons. But a recording is immediately in competition with the still-available original recordings, and that's a battle that simply can't be won. Unquestionably, John Lloyd Young, playing lead singer Frankie Valli, has a good voice (if not quite the preternatural range Valli displayed in his prime), the rest of the singers are good, and Gaudio has achieved reasonable approximations of the original recordings. But who needs it? The album is not simply a Four Seasons tribute record, however. Snatches of Marshall Brickman's and Rick Elice's dialogue are included here and there to give some sense of the plot, but they usually sound overacted and cliched. ("You wanna get a hit song, it's like the Stations of the Cross. You gotta get past the record company, the program directors, the DJs, and if you're lucky, you get to the people.") The album has been released by Rhino Records, a reissue label not generally known for its interest in Broadway. Why? Connections. As Alexander makes a point of saying in the liner notes, "You can buy the original recordings on the Rhino label." ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	11/17/2023
Label:	Barnes Noble Consign
UPC:	0603497829637

Tracks

1. Ces Soirées-La
2. The Early Years: a Scrapbook a) Silhouettes B) You'Re the Apple of My Eye C) I Can'T Give You Anything But Love D) Earth Angel E) a Sunday Kind of Love F) My Mother'S Eyes G) Short Shorts H) Moody'S Mood For Love
3. Cry For Me
4. Backup Sessions: a) an Angel Cried B) I Still Care C) Trance
5. Sherry
6. Big Girls Don't Cry
7. Walk Like a Man
8. December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)
9. My Boyfriend's Back
10. My Eyes Adored You
11. Dawn (Go Away)
12. Big Man In Town
13. Beggin'
14. Medley: a) Stay B) Let's Hang On C) Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me)D) Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)
15. C'mon Marianne
16. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
17. Working My Way Back To You
18. Fallen Angel
19. Rag Doll
20. Who Loves You

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jersey Boys   Primary Artist
The Four Seasons   Primary Artist,Vocals
J. Robert Spencer   Primary Artist,Vocals
Mark Lotito   Primary Artist,Vocals
John Lloyd Young   Primary Artist,Vocals
Female Ensemble   Primary Artist
Tituss Burgess   Primary Artist,Vocals
Daniel Reichard   Primary Artist,Vocals
Sara Schmidt   Primary Artist,Vocals
Erica Piccininni   Primary Artist,Vocals
Kevin Dow   Drums,Drums,Latin Percussion
Ken Dow   Guitar (Bass),Bass (Electric)
Steve Snyder   Synthesizer
Stephanie Cummins   Cello
Cenovia Cummins   Violin
Randy Andos   Trombone
Christian Hoff   Vocals
Ben Kono   Reeds
Anik Oulianine   Cello
Belinda Whitney   Violin
Larry Saltzman   Guitar
Ron Melrose   Piano,Synthesizer,Orchestra Leader
Maxine Roach   Viola
Bill Hayes   Percussion
Noel Fox   Voiceover
Robin Zeh   Violin
Debra Shufelt   Viola
Shinwon Kim   Violin
Sarah Schmidt   Vocals
Glenn Carter   Vocals
Louise Owen   Violin,Violin
Benjamin Kono   Reeds
Dave Spier   Trumpet,Flugelhorn
Joe Payne   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String)
Matt Hong   Reeds
Deborah Hurwitz   Conductor,Synthesizer
Steve Orich   Keyboards
Ryan Molloy   Vocals
Bob Milikan   Trumpet
Donnie Kehr   Vocals
Stephen Orich   Keyboards
Randall Andos   Trombone
Ronald Melrose   Piano,Synthesizer,Music Direction,Orchestra Leader
Jennifer Naimo   Vocals
Eric de Gioia   Violin
Jersey Boys Cast Ensemble   Orchestra,Choir/Chorus
Sarah Schwartz   Violin
Philip Bulcock   Vocals
Stephen Ashfield   Vocals
Des McAnuff   Director
Steve "Hoops" Snyder   Synthesizer

Technical Credits

Bob Gaudio   Audio Production,Composer,Producer
Pete Karam   Audio Engineer,Mixing,Recording,Digital Editing
Stan Rhodes   Composer
Ted Jensen   Mastering
Bob Crewe   Composer,Lyricist
Kenny Nolan   Composer
Louis Wolfe Gilbert   Composer
Eddy Marnay   Composer
Barbara Belle   Composer
Doug Flett   Composer
Denny Randell   Composer
Louis Prima   Composer
Sandy Linzer   Composer
Judy Parker   Composer
Jason Stasium   Mixing
Ken Dow   Librarian
Justin Shturtz   Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Anita Leonard   Composer
Abel Baer   Composer
Jimmy McHugh   Composer
James Moody   Composer
Dorothy Fields   Composer
Gaynel Hodge   Composer
Robert Feldman   Composer,Composer
Ron Melrose   Associate Producer
J. Robert Spencer   Actor
Richard Gottehrer   Composer
Maurice Williams   Composer
Otis Blackwell   Composer
Gerald Goldstein   Composer
Guy Fletcher   Composer,Composer
Frank C. Slay, Jr.   Composer
Billy Dalton   Composer
Edmond Bacri   Composer
Chris Callis   Cover Photo
John Miller   Music Coordinator
Lawrence Russell Brown   Composer
Jason Finkel   Assistant Engineer
Thomas Austin   Composer
Lauren Mitchell   Associate Producer
Charles Alexander   Liner Notes
Justin Schturtz   Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Jill Dell'Abate   Production Coordination
Yannick Zolo   Composer
Edmond David Baeri   Composer
Sally Campbell Morse   Executive Producer
Joan Marcus   Photography
Raymond Bloodworth   Composer
Richard Gottebrer   Composer
Curtis Williams   Composer
Mark Lotito   Actor
Martin Yee   Technician,Drum Technician
Deborah Hurwitz   Synthesizer Programming
Sandy Carlson   Company Manager
Steve Orich   Synthesizer Programming
John Lloyd Young   Actor
Rick Elice   Book
Peggy Farina   Composer
Maria Villar   Design,Art Direction
Stephen Orich   Orchestration,Synthesizer Programming
Ronald Melrose   Additional Music,Vocal Arrangement,Associate Producer
Jessie Belvin   Composer
Peter Fulbright   Technical Supervisor
Steve Canyon Kennecy   Sound Design
Rhonda Mayerson   Associate Producer
Marshall Brickman   Book
Bill Dalton   Composer
Bill Crandell   Composer
Bob Crew   Composer
See Remarks   Composer
Yannick Marnay   Composer