5th Anniversary of Jersey Boys on Broadway
Jersey Boys premiered in 2004 at the La Jolla Playhouse and went onto win Tony, Olivier and Grammy awards. It also became the longest running show in the 85-year history of Broadway's August Wilson Theatre after 2037 performances last month and globally has been seen by over 7 million people in New York, Las Vegas, London, Sidney and across the US on the national tour. in a series of anniversary events.
To mark this 5th Anniversary the Empire State Building in New York will be lit up from top to bottom in Jersey Boys colours of white, red and yellow and on the 7th November a section of 52nd Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue will be renamed "Jersey Boys Walk" with Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli being joined by the show's co-authors Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and the current cast. After the Sunday matinee New York City Commissioner Katherine Oliver will present a Mayoral Proclamation honouring Jersey Boys for its five-year Broadway run.
On the 8th November Valli, Gaudio, Brickman and Elice will be honoured with caricatures that will be unveiled at a private reception. That evening, the four we are told will participate in "The Crowd Goes Wild: Five Years of Jersey Boys"--a discussion of the legacy of the Four Seasons and the production of Jersey Boys at the Paley Center for Media, where archival performance clips will also be screened.
50th Anniversary of Sherry and The Olympic Games
Jersey Boys is set for its biggest ever global promotion. The 2012 Olympics in Great Britain coincide with the 50th anniversary of Sherry and the likely release of the Jersey Boys movie. Sir Philip Elms sent us details from The Times London’s Theatre Diary which says:
"The Spice Girls' performance of a song from Jersey Boys at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics remains unconfirmed, but to judge by their diary fixtures it's in the bag. Geri Halliwell attended the musical last week in order to gain the support of the cast and Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton are booked to see the show in the coming weeks. Apparently, Jersey Boys is a favourite and they want to perform a version of the Four Seasons' Beggin' at the opening ceremony. The idea is that the actors who play Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons will come on singing Beggin' followed by the Spice Girls singing a remixed version of the song." That will well and truly put us on the global map and perhaps a good excuse for another get together and a big party!
The story of Sherry’s success was told in our Billboard articles Blog post (click here)
And here for the full story of 3 successive Nr 1 records.
Russ McClelland tells us the 45 was released on 19th July 1962 but wouldn’t break until a crucial TV appearance re-created in Jersey Boys..but check out the only surviving screen shots to see the guys performed in ‘plaid’ suits….the red ones in ‘Jersey Boys’ are better of course
Lynn Boleyn
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