Another perk of my savvy fundraising was four tickets ot go see the recently opened "Jersey Boys" at the August Wilson Theatre on West 52nd Street. The show was set for 7pm so we had the chance to spend the whole day in the city.

About The Play
"Jersey Boys" is the story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. The set was simple, the music was great and our seats were pretty good for free tickets. We sat in orchestra row U, first four seats in from the aisle. Not too shabby.

The musical was full of songs everyone knows from "Earth Angel", "I’m in the Mood for Love", "Sherry", "Big Girls Don’t Cry", "Walk Like a Man" and numerous others. The story started up when Frank Valli was first pushed into the limelight by Tommy DeVito as a kid, all the way through good luck, bad luck, marriage, infidelity, divorce, money problems, death, mob involvement, etc. You name it, it was in there. Fast paced, it kept you involved in the singer’s story from starting out as a bunch of nobodies to some of the most famous singers of their time. There was even a surprise cameo by a very famous actor, but you’ll have to see the musical to know who I am speaking of. The lead of Frank Valli was played by John Lloyd Young and was performed phenomenally by someone who chose this role as his Broadway debut.

While I loved the play, I would not recommend it for the very young as it is mostly based in the tough parts of New Jersey and some very colorful language is used throughout.

About The Theatre
According to my playbill, the August Wilson Theatre was built in 1958 under the original name of the Guild Theatre, renamed the Virginia after Virginia M. Binger co-owner with her husband James of Jujamcyn Theaters who acquired the building in 1981 and again renamed the August Wilson Theatre in 2005 and became known as the first theatre in Broadway history to be named after and African American playwright.

Some well known personalities performed at this theatre including Richard Chamberlain in "My Fair Lady", Gregory Hines in "Jelly’s Last Jam", Ian McKellen in "Wild Honey", Fred Gwynne in a revival of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and Hume Cronyn and Jason Robards, Jr. in "Big Fish, Little Fish".