So Elice and Brickman began meeting regularly with Valli and Gaudio. Do you think you guys can write it by April?’” “By then it was the end of the fall of 2003 and Des said, ‘I have a slot in August at La Jolla. In another turn of serendipity, the first record Des McAnuff ever had as a kid was Sherry & 11 Other Hits by the Four Seasons. So they said, ‘Who do you think should direct it? What about Des McAnuff?’ and I said, ‘It just so happens I know Des.’” They said yes really not because we’d written the show yet, but because they understood immediately that if you were one of the 125 million people who bought a record in 1967, you would be right in the sweet spot of people who are the right age for ticket-buying. “I said, ‘It just so happens that all the producers are former clients of mine.’ Marshall and I went around to a bunch of people, all of whom said no. Valli and Gaudio approved and asked, “What should we do now?” The duo decided to take the leap (“There’s nothing to lose but our own time,” Elice thought) and met with Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio before writing and pitching some material. Though Elice was skeptical of the viability of a musical about the pop group, he agreed to meet with this client and brought his friend, writer Marshall Brickman, along. Ironically, in all of its ground covered the show has never played New Jersey until now-when the national touring company hits the State Theatre New Jersey October 13–15.Ĭlick here for tickets and information to the State Theatre performances.īut how did the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Season go from an idea no one on Broadway wanted to touch to a moving work of theatre? Elice shares an oral history of the making of the show: Jersey Boys was a verified hit that ran for 12 years on Broadway and spawned productions in London, Las Vegas, Sydney, multiple tours, a major motion picture, and will soon be rebooted Off-Broadway.ĬLICK HERE TO SEE A FULL LIST OF ANNOUNCED AND UPCOMING NATIONAL TOURS! “He said, ‘I don’t mean Vivaldi, you moron, I mean Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.’ And I said, ‘Why would you want to do that?’”įour Tony Award wins-including Best Musical-and four additional nominations to boot, the musical redefined the form of the modern jukebox musical. What a great idea.’” For all his clever writing, Elice wasn’t kidding. While working at Disney, he received a phone call that would lead to his first of three Tony nominations: “It was a client of mine who said, ‘Would you like to do sort of a Mamma Mia! musical? I have the rights to the Four Seasons music,’ and I said, ‘Oh! I love Vivaldi. Moving up the ranks of the growing company, Elice climbed all the way to creative director and EVP-writing and producing his play Double Double on the side-before leaving the agency in 1999 to pursue an opportunity as a creative consultant to Walt Disney Studios. Then, he became a copywriter at Serino Coyne, one of theatre’s top advertising agencies. Before Rick Elice made his Broadway debut as a writer, he was an actor.
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