Jersey Boys

Sometimes you go to a community theatre production and the divide between the amateur and the professional shows is understandably vast.  Once in a blue moon you go to community theatre and you are hard pressed to distinguish the difference between the two.  This was the case at the opening night of Willoughby Theatre Company’s first offering for 2024, Jersey Boys.

This is not to sledge the standard of community theatre in general. I have been involved with this genre for most of my life with numerous groups across Sydney and the Central Coast and am well aware that this is the training ground of world class thespians (indeed, amateur doesn’t mean UN-professional it means NON-professional, and some might argue that amateur performers are more passionate about their craft because they are doing it for the love of it, not for any money). The dynamic with suburban theatre is interesting, though, because there isn’t always a correlation between the budget of the production and the quality of the result.  Sometimes the groups down the lower end of the financial spectrum create excellent theatre, largely because the focus is on the outstanding talent.  At other times the more prosperous groups use excessive amounts of sequins, smoke and lighting effects in an attempt to distract you from the fact that one or more of the principal players simply aren’t getting their character over the finish line.

At the Concourse on Friday night this definitely wasn’t the case as the production values and the cast were both top notch.  Starting with the Jersey Boys themselves, I simply can’t overestimate how well cast they all are.  Luc-Pierre Tannous is an incredibly talented 20yr old who embodies Frankie Valli as if he were a direct descendant.  His version of ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ had the audience in raptures.  Sterling Nasa is another prodigiously gifted young man who held his harmonies perfectly and gave his Bob Gaudio some real intensity.  I have seen this character downplayed on the stage before, presumably in the hopes of not pulling too much focus away from the protagonist, but Nasa matched Tannous’ fire with fire and the dynamic between them felt right.  To be fair, nobody is going to overshadow Tannous anyway.  He’s just too good.

Speaking of fire, a guest artiste takes the role of Tommy Devito and he is charismatic, handsome, could easily sell ice to an eskimo, has a powerful voice and is built like he’s had to defend himself in the past.  In short he’s the perfect Tommy.  Last but certainly not least is Samuel Dobb as Nick Massi, the fourth and sometimes overshadowed member of the group.  Dobb’s bass notes underpin all of the harmonies beautifully and when he finally explodes in Act 2, his built-up frustrations after years of touring come flying out like an express therapy session, highlighting the range of his acting skills. 

The fact that all four of these young men are bona fide triple threats is almost astonishing.  Any one of them would fit right in on the professional stage.  For years community theatre was plagued by a shortage of men who only had to sing in tune and be interested in participating.  Fast forward to now and this production has got more young men who can sing, dance and act than it knows what to do with.  For example, Lachlan Ceravolo is the swing for all four of the above-mentioned roles because he’s got enough versatility and bandwidth to understudy them all.  Oliver Roach as Bob Crewe, Tim Gerber as Joe Pesci and Tim Wotherspoon as a featured member of the ensemble are all further examples of the depth of multi-talented males in this show.  Most of the 8 young men mentioned already are making their debut with WTC here and I wish WTC all the luck in the world to hold on to them as long as they can.