"Jersey Boys" worth a visit

When I was a wee lad, I used to go with my mother for her visits to the Fisher Theater in Detroit. She loved plays and, since I was the youngest (and least likely to object to such things), I was usually assigned the job of being her escort. It turned out to be great duty. We would usually have a good dinner followed by an ice cream sundae. I remember seeing Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway, two extraordinary talents, in "Hello, Dolly" and Richard Kiley do his great turn in "Man Of La Mancha."

There is nothing like live theater. I don't get to see it very often any more. But my wife and I did go last night to see "Jersey Boys", the story about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, here in Las Vegas. It was a treat to witness and I cannot recommend it enough.

The music is contagiously fun. If you are of my age bracket, you will damn near every one of the 34 songs played word for word. The stories behind some of those songs were tales I didn't know. Now the songs make more sense (and, with it, some sadness as well) than ever before. The language is a bit rough at times but my eastern buddies say that that is the f------ way Jersey people talk.

The actors in this crew are all fairly anonymous (at least to me) but it didn't matter. They sang and danced their hearts out for two hours. About a year ago, I heard Valli in concert. After hearing this show, it is a little harder to tell who sounds better -- the guy who played him here (Travis Cloer) or the old guy himself.

It is worth the effort to find out.