New Jersey Nights

New Jersey Nights
New Jersey Nights

New Jersey Nights is a ‘celebration of the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons,’ with a live band, 4 singers and 6 dancers. Consequently there is no pretence of a plot, simply the music peppered with a few facts about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

New Jersey Nights

In order for a tribute act to be successful not only do they need to be able to sing the music but they at least need to be able to emulate some of the star power that the original person/band has. Unfortunately this is what New Jersey Nights lacks. There was no oomph, energy or star power within the show and as a result it felt lack lustre and at times a little dull despite the hit songs being played.

The singers were Joshua Dever, Adam Dougal, William Hazel and Duncan Heather, all of which had the opportunity to shine throughout the show with them being the featured soloist. They all had strong voices with a resemblance to the original version and the famous falsetto so often used. The song choices were also good with the big hits such as ‘Oh What A Night,’ ‘Sherry’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’ in there along with many more.

The dancing often felt a little bit forced and the choreography didn’t always fit with the number. I was also unsure as to choice of costumes sometimes for them, at times it looked as if it was supposed to be period to fit in with when Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons would have been performing and other times there seemed little reasoning behind the choice of costume.

New Jersey NightsThe sound design also let the show down, in particular the mix for the vocals. At time I struggled to hear the lead vocals over the harmonies and the band. In general the whole thing needed to be cranked up slightly to help get the audience in the mood. It was all a bit timid, much like the show itself.

That being said the end mega mix did have the audience up on their feet dancing and whooping however it just wasn’t lively enough to get me on my feet with them.

New Jersey Nights is like a pair of comfortable pyjamas, you know what you are getting and you are familiar with it but at the same time they don’t excite you and can help you doze off to sleep. It may be one for the die hard fans but I think I will listen to my Jersey Boys recording or better still the original.

To find out more about New Jersey Nights you can visit their website.

If you liked this review you might also like my reviews of Dirty Dancing, Hairspray and Son of A Preacher Man.

5 comments

  • This is a shame. Joshua Dever, in particular, is a fantastic singer and actor. It’s a shame when the production, choreography, sound etc let’s down a show. Maybe it had quite a tight budget?

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  • Totally agree. Rojas ‘Mariah carey’ Wannabe act was terrible. The dancers were not needed especially the ‘lead’ female who had a permanent smug expression and the male dancer I’ve come to nickname mr winky giving the audience the ‘LOOK AT HOW FABULOUS I AM’ winks to the audience. The audience I was in just looked bored and whenever the boys saw someone singing along looked at them pleadingly to keep it up. They just couldn’t seem to captivate the audience. As a massive Jersey Boys fan this was a complete let down for me.

  • I thought it was a great performance . Especially in the second half when the audience was invited to be more involved. Some of the audience were a bit stony faced but warmed up eventually. Yeah the dancers were a bit ‘in your face’ at times. The singers were extremely good I thought.

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