Picture: Stills from Jersey Boys Network Diagram
When it comes to great bands in pop music, the first reaction of the vast majority of people is definitely "The Beatles". But in the summer of 1963, when an American DJ introduced the Beatles who had just caused a sensation in Britain, he described them as "the British version of the Four Seasons."
With "Sherry", "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like A Man", three singles won the top spot on the National Music Chart, breaking the history of American pop music, the Four Seasons Band, undoubtedly the most successful band in the United States at that time, and also the collective youth memory of a generation.
Yesterday, the musical "Jersey Boys", based on the fame of the four seasons band and performed on Broadway, was unveiled at the Daning Theater in Shanghai and will be held until December 9. The dream stories of four working-class boys from New Jersey and the golden songs that enriched the memories of a generation's youth still sound hot today. At the end of the play, when "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is sung, the atmosphere is pushed to a climax, triggering the whole audience to sing.
The musical Jersey Boys is based on the real-life rise to fame of famous singer Frankie Valli in the 1960s with the rock band The Four Seasons. It tells the story of four boys from working class background in New Jersey in the 1960s, who have suffered repeated setbacks in growing up and pursuing their dreams, and their friendships have been tried and honed many times, and finally they have written their own style of music and formed the four seasons band that has swept generations.
The whole drama relies on a clear narrative of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and is interspersed with golden songs like "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" that can trigger a chorus. "Jersey Boys" was a huge success in 2004, setting a record of 400,000 at the box office that day, and then opened on Broadway, causing another sensation, and later won four Tony Awards, Grammy Awards for Best Musical Theater Album, etc., establishing the status of this masterpiece in the theater industry.
It is worth mentioning that Gareth Owen, the sound designer of the Chinese touring version of "Jersey Boys", has been nominated for 6 Tony Awards in the United States and the Olivier Award in the United Kingdom, and all the equipment for this tour is also specially transported from London to China, making the live experience of the classic golden songs of the Four Seasons more perfect and shocking.
Hearing that the musical "Jersey Boys" is finally about to appear on the stage of Shencheng, many musical theater fans and the post-7080s who were enthusiastic about English songs when they were young came to visit. They are amazed by the stunning stage presentation, solid actor singing skills and stunning audiovisual effects. An elderly couple who studied in New Jersey 20 years ago also came to the theater, hoping to capture their youthful memories.
On the Internet, there are also audience messages saying that the expressiveness of the whole play is very strong, the story and music are closely combined, the rhythm is bright, and the songs are connected as if they are in a concert, and the "Frankie Weili" in the play is particularly brilliant, and the whole performance is an audiophile-level audiovisual enjoyment.
A veteran musical theater fan sighed after watching yesterday's performance: "Listening to classical music is like making a "horse killing chicken" for the soul, and the songs of the Four Seasons Band have this effect." During the performance, I was fully immersed in the story and music, and after the performance, my whole person was released and awakened. ”
(Reporter Zhu Yuan)