by Candice Anderson

Created on: May 20, 2009   Last Updated: May 22, 2009

To be perfectly honest I probably would have never gone to this musical if it wasn't for my husbands work. They took us to see this on a special trip down to Vegas. I love musicals and plays so I was excited to go to anything, but I didn't know anything about it or who they were. Now I recommend the show to everyone.I have the music CD and play it for my kids. We love singing to the songs and I love that I can teach them a little bit about history.

Jersey Boys is the story of 4 boys from New Jersey that became a musical sensation, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They weren't from my generation so I didn't think that I would be able to relate. However, I soon discovered why they were a musical sensation. When they started singing the songs a little voice popped into my head and said "Hey I know that song." What I started to realize is that many of these great songs have been featured in popular movies. Two that come to mind right now are "Back to the Future" and "Ten Things I Hate About You." The song "Can't Take My Eye's Off You" is probably my favorite. The play helped me to understand that this song was one of the first in this style. What I mean is that it is a song that starts out slow and then moves into a fast beat rhythm. This is probably one of my favorite types of songs. I love the feel of the song and the emotion that it can portray.

Besides having wonderful songs that we can all relate to, the musical gives us a sense of hope. These four boys come from a hard background. The show starts off with them getting into trouble with the law. However, the dream for something better, along with determination and talent, helped them to succeed. Most people didn't have faith in them. Their own producer hired them as back-up singers until they proved that they deserved otherwise.

I think in our time so many people think they should just be given something because of who they are not how hard they work. This show really shows that you can be anything that you want to be, but you have to be willing to do what it takes to get there. Yes, they did finally get their big break and that is where, as they put it, "Everything exploded." I've found that most people look at successful people only from the point that the person's success exploded and not everything it took to get there. That's what I really loved about this play. It showed the long hard road as well as the sweet smell of success. It teaches a valuable lesson as well as entertains us with its beautiful songs and great acting. I would highly suggest this show to anyone. The one comment that I would make is it does have some explicit language that may offend some people. But hey, they were four boys from New Jersey.

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