Monday, March 30, 2015

Jersey Boys


I saw the movie 'Jersey Boys' last year and really enjoyed it.  John Lloyd Young is very handsome and has a good voice.  The rest of the cast was fun and it appeared everyone appeared to have a good time.  Clint Eastwood directed and it's hard to argue with his success.  JLY is not a great actor and that my have more to do with the flaws of the movie than anything.  I very much enjoyed the music and the story is interesting.  There were small flaws though.  I thought Frankie singing 'My Eyes Adored You' to his daughter was a smidge creepy.  And I did not see any romantic chemistry at all between Frankie and either girl.  And I know he was a cheater and his wife not putting up with it was inevitable but he seriously did not have any emotion while leaving his home and children.  And then Lorraine left without a real "don't go" of any kind.  Maybe the actor thought he did but he didn't.  I'm surprised either stayed as long as they did.  Hard to know though if it was Frankie or John. .  I read later that Frankie's  last wife punched a restaurant owner over a bill.  And he's divorced from her too now. So maybe marriage just wasn't his thing.

Then on Saturday, I saw the stage show.  I love the stage and the movies but do realize there is sometimes a big enough difference to make them a somewhat different story.  The stage obviously is more limited but the energy of a live show overwhelms me.  The actor who played Frankie--, and I'm
not sure of his name exactly because the program was confusing, but I think he was the understudy--did a good job but he did not have John Lloyd Young's voice.  The rest of the Four Seasons were ok too. Mary was not the siren from the movie or as mean.  And when they split he sang 'My Eyes' to her and she sang back and I felt some regret.  And same when Lorraine left I felt some hurt there too and it was just a touch of his hand.

I liked seeing then sing 'Beggin' & Frankie singing 'Fallen Angel', one of my favorite songs.  Although I always wonder if he'd "forgive her anything"...I doubt it but that's another subject.

That being said, I loved the stage show and I like the movie alot.  





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