Before The Beatles, it was the Four Seasons who were setting chart records.
In 1962-63, the triumvirate of “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man” ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making the Jersey boys the first vocal group in history to nab three consecutive non-holiday No. 1 hits.
Forty-plus years later, those same songs – and a parade of other Four Seasons and Frankie Valli hits – became the foundation of the group’s story, a jukebox musical steered by onetime member (and primary songwriter) Bob Gaudio that opened on Broadway in 2005 to award-winning acclaim.
“Jersey Boys” – still playing on Broadway to nearly sold-out crowds according to recent box office numbers – is on its second national tour, which stakes a spot at the Fox starting Tuesday through June 10. The musical last visited Atlanta in 2009.
Ron Melrose is the guy in charge of the most crucial element of the show – the music.
As the music supervisor who also handles vocal arrangements and incidental music, Melrose travels to many of the cities where the tour stops, watches a handful of performances and then gives notes to the local conductor.
When he came to Atlanta for “Jersey Boys”’ previous run here, Melrose said he “noted” the show four times and sat in four different places in the Fox for a variety of vantage and sound points.
“I’ll come back [to Atlanta] if that soul food Southern place is still down the street from the Fox,” he joked, referring to Mary Mac’s Tea Room.
But back to the all-important music.
“Jersey Boys” followed the ABBA-centric “Mamma Mia!” and Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out” in the successful jukebox musical category (“Lennon” and “Ring of Fire” not so much). And Melrose believes it’s more than just nostalgia that retains a constant flow of fans and tourists to the show about one of the most successful American groups of the '60s.
“It was the music of guys who had sweethearts. It’s wasn’t protest music. It wasn’t smoke weed music. It tended to be wrong-side-of-the-tracks-y songs. A lot of the lyrics were about ‘you’re a rich girl, I’m a poor boy.’ It was music of the underdogs,” he said.
While the show presents more than 30 songs, there are obvious spikes in audience attention level. That trio of “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man” – which Melrose refers to as “the big three” – are unveiled in succession.
The theater, Melrose said, “usually sounds like a football stadium by the third song.”
Another highlight is act two’s appearance of Valli’s solo hit, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” which will be sung by Brad Weinstock in the cast coming to Atlanta.
Because there are so many group tunes in the production, the audience, Melrose believes, “feels like saying, ‘Thank you – we get to appreciate you [as a soloist].’”
There are currently six productions of “Jersey Boys” in existence, including a standing home at Las Vegas’ Paris Hotel and Casino. The show is also playing in New Zealand and London with plans to open in South Africa and some non-English speaking countries.
But Melrose isn’t worried about any translation barriers.
“It’s a story about rags to riches and friendship,” he said. “It’s universal.”
Theater preview
“Jersey Boys”
Tuesday through June 10. Times vary. $35-$135. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
