May 24, 2012
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A Victory for Centre for the Arts

Jersey Boys reaches a milestone in North York

John Filion
John Filion Ward 23 Councillor

John Filion Ward 23 Councillor

ON AUG. 20, Jersey Boys marked its first anniversary at North York’s Toronto Centre for the Arts. The show, which tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, is the first production there since Showboat to go past a year, putting the theatre back on the map and establishing Aubrey Dan and Dancap Productions as a legitimate rival to David Mirvish.

I have seen Jersey Boys three times and plan to see it again, despite not being an original fan of the Four Seasons. In an era dominated by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Motown, the band was no longer cool by 1964. But the songs from the early ’60s, as well as the later solo performances by Frankie Valli, still have an infectious appeal, and the Canadian cast performs them with the same skill as the mostly imported cast that opened the show last summer.

Audiences routinely give the performers a hearty standing ovation, and critics have been equally enthusiastic.

Local restaurants are getting pre-show business, and the centre itself has been rejuvenated by the show’s success, some of which is being parlayed into attracting new shows and audiences to the Studio Theatre and George Weston Recital Hall. It’s a very welcome change from the dark days following the Livent collapse when my main job, as chair of the centre’s board, was to fend off calls by the city’s budget committee members who wanted to close the place down.

If you haven’t seen Jersey Boys yet, it will be running for at least a few more months. To appreciate the production, it helps to be old enough to remember the Ed Sullivan Show. But mostly, you just need to be able to appreciate a well-told story accompanied by catchy phrases sung in four-part harmony.

This article appears in the September 2009 issue of Post City Magazines

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