Jersey Boys review round-up at the Trafalgar Theatre in London ★★★★

"Oh What a Night! Four Seasons musical will have you Beggin' for more" (2023)

"Thoroughly entertaining Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons jukebox musical will have you Beggin for more"

"This paint-by-numbers music biopic rise and fall storyline is nothing new, but the jukebox greatest hits are a true delight."

"This is especially thanks to Luke Suri masterfully handling Valli’s challenging falsetto throughout. Watching his lead, Karl James Wilson’s Nick Massi, Peter Nash’s Tommy De Vito and Declan Egan’s Bob Gaudio belt out the likes of Oh What A Night, Sherry and Beggin’ while dancing in perfect time is very impressive."

"The Four Seasons jukebox musical remains precision-engineered entertainment" (2023)

"With blistering music and impeccable choreography, this rags-to-riches fable is still brilliantly compelling"

"Des McAnuff’s production is a great fit with the relatively intimate Trafalgar Theatre, honing in on the group’s shifting dynamics."

"Leading the current Jersey Boys cast, Peter Nash strongly conveys how the outwardly slick operator DeVito never really outgrows his insecure grifting youth, however he could supply more fireworks. Karl James Wilson is hilarious as the brooding, fastidious Massi (his rant about the uselessness of tiny hotel soaps is delightful), and Declan Egan strikes an effective contrast with the sensitive, TS Eliot-quoting prodigy Gaudio. But you can’t take your eyes off Luke Suri, making a notable West End debut. Not only does he nail Valli’s eerily beatific falsetto, sweet and delicate as spun sugar, he also gives him a hot-headed volatility which makes his arc the most compelling one, and his livewire musical performances blistering."

"Four Seasons story still hits all the high notes" (2021)

"The doo-wop musical returns to the West End: a cracking true tale of mob connections, bad debts, prison spells and soaring success, with a seemingly endless catalogue of hits"

"Some jukebox musicals treat the songs as a jumping off point for fantasy. Jersey Boys – returning to the West End, where it first ran from 2008 to 2017 – is the opposite, just the band’s own story, soundtracked by the songs as Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe wrote them."

"Jersey Boys are back in the West End and it’s the show we need" (2021)

"Jersey Boys is back in town and oh, what a show it is. The story of four ordinary men from New Jersey and their rise to fame as the Four Seasons returns to London, four years after its last West End run."

"the storyline wanders but Ben Joyce is a revelation as Frankie Valli" (2021)

"Better shows have come and gone. This one marches on. "

"the book writers, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, have clearly struck a nerve with an audience that likes a hint of The Sopranos mixed in with all those falsetto-driven Top 40 hits. The Four Seasons were too commercial to appeal to the rock and pop cognoscenti, but they rode out changes in fashion to build a following across the generations."

"Jersey Boys returns to the West End with a night of lighthearted musical entertainment" (2021)

"Ben Joyce – who only graduated from drama school this summer – takes the lead role of Frankie, and does a cracking job of replicating that signature falsetto."