Review of Jersey Boys at the Bristol Hippodrome.

By Danny Hall.

SUCCESSFUL jukebox musicals can sometimes survive having daft artificial stories stapled to a series of hits (Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You).

The creators of Jersey Boys including co-writer Marshall Brickman (who penned some of Woody Allen’s best films like Annie Hall and Manhattan) have opted for the more traditional route, with the chart-toppers woven seamlessly into a true story – and it is all the better for it.

We know the show is top of any hit parade that matters – it’s a Tony, Olivier and Grammy award winner after all. And the music of The Four Seasons saw them inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25 years ago on the back of 100 million record sales worldwide.

The rapturous standing ovation at the Hippodrome confirmed that the legacy of Frankie Valli and his Jersey Boys is in safe hands with this particular cast and crew, whose tour bus is parked in Bristol until Saturday, June 13.

As lead singer Valli, there is no hiding place for Belgian actor Tim Driesen as he imitates the most distinctive falsetto of the 20th century in the majority of the show’s 34 numbers – a punishing schedule that he pulls off apparently effortlessly.

There is that knowing rapport between Driesen and the audience when he pauses mid-acclaim while the rest of the crowd catch up with the punters who have seen the show two or three times – and the rapture swells to appropriate showstopper proportions.

Driesen is lent noble support by Stephen Webb (personable rogue Tommy DeVito), Lewis Griffiths (amusingly fastidious bass player Nick Massi) and Sam Ferriday, the much less streetwise Bob Gaudio, whose now-six-decades-old melodies we all still happily mangle in the shower.

The ensemble is exuberant and the fluid staging has Stuart Roberts’ mobile drum platform taking up numerous positions to evoke recording studio, club gigs or TV broadcasts. Yes, it is an old rough-diamonds-to-pop-mega-stardom tale but with prison stretches, the shadow of the Mob and family tragedy along the way, it is far from saccharine.

From the moment the precocious genius Gaudio wins over the other three at the rehearsal piano and quickly pens a trio of early chart smashes – Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry and Walk Like A Man – we are all hooked.

May, 2015 – oh, what a night. Two hours plus of timeless pop classics plus the forgotten art of cheesy 60s dance moves – what’s not to like.

Jersey Boys is on at the Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday, June 13.