"That 'Jersey Boys' still delivers some Pavlovian thrills is a testament to the solid foundation laid by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s book, and by Des McAnuff’s deceptively straightforward production...Perhaps it was the bigger theater that allowed the book to breathe; at the subterranean New World Stages, there is whiplash in the air...In its current state, 'Jersey Boys' is like a cover band covering a cover band — your enjoyment will be in direct proportion to your love for the songs."
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"With Jersey Boys, the Broadway musical has finally done right by the jukebox, presenting the Four Seasons' infectiously energetic 1960s tunes as they were intended to be performed. True, the script adheres closely to the dramatic beats of a VH1 biopic. But under Des McAnuff's sleek direction, the result feels canny instead of canned."
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"Sometimes a commercial artistic impulse and demography seem to merge in a way that guarantees success. I think we’ll be seeing an example of this phenomenon when the new musical Jersey Boys, about the lives and career of the pre-boomer pop group The Four Seasons, becomes the smash hit it deserves to be."
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"Jersey Boys may aim only to be a shallow, big-budget, crowd-pleasing jukebox musical, but it’s a model of the genre. The real source of the show’s power—obvious as it sounds—is the songs. McAnuff shows a rare, laudable willingness to stick his finger in the electrical socket of pop music, to take full advantage of the band’s potent catalogue."
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"Jersey Boys, which tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, looks to be a winner. The splendid actors take turns narrating the group’s rise from lower-class Jersey doo-woppers to Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, and they’re as tight musically as they are persuasive dramatically. The audience is tickled to death."
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"Jersey Boys is nothing more than 32 songs performed on a cheap-looking set by a high-priced lounge band, strung together like dimestore pearls on the most vapid of all-tell-no-show books. All I can say is that it would be a lot simpler for everyone involved if they'd just move the whole thing to Newark."
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"Maybe I should start by listing all the "jukebox musicals" I've panned - starting with the dreadful pacesetter, "Mamma Mia!" - just so you don't think I'm a pushover. But there's no point in beating around the bush - I had a great time at "Jersey Boys," the new musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons."
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"O.K, so the book is clunky, the backstory is emotionally skeletal and the structure sticks to a generic “VH1 Behind the Music” model, but glance around during the songs in “Jersey Boys” at the middle-age women dancing in their seats while their husbands’ heads bop to the music and it’s clear something is connecting."
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