“Ces Soirees-la”

(That’s French for “Oh, What a Night”)

Our show may open in Paris in the year 2000 where a

song from the 50’s is topping the charts but if you

want to know how it got there, you have to go back to

the beginning when it was just four guys under a

streetlamp singing somebody else’s latest hit….

And the setting isn’t

Paris… it’s New Jersey, .

That voice you hear, that’s Tommy DeVito. He

calls himself the glue of this group and is going

to narrate the most of the story until…

well, you’ll see.

Enter little Francis Castelluccio… you might

know him better as Frankie Valli.

Now you’ll start to see the problem with being from a

poor town in Jersey in the 50’s… you gotta do some

things for some people with “connections” every now

and again.

But DON’T be a

snitch!

The dirty little secret behind the Four Seasons is

they all have a criminal past… which even includes

breaking into a few churches to rehearse.

Frankie’s first date with his first wife, Mary

Delgado. I guess, you know how this one’s

going to turn out.

Now’s a good time to mention that these

Jersey Boys (and girls) have a little bit of

a potty mouth.

If only Frankie knew then what he knows now – and

just how big a favor he was going to need from local

mobster Gyp DiCarlo.

That squeaky kid is Joe Pesci

– yeah, THAT Joe Pesci.

You’re probably wondering who the “Four

Lovers” are… it’s the Four Seasons… before

they settled on name. They changed their

name a LOT in the early years.

For the true Four Seasons fans out there, you’ll

recognize this as “I Cry For You” a future Four Seasons

hit but not the one that put them on the map. That

comes much later after the boys pay some dues at the

record label.

What was the four seasons first hit?

You’ll find out soon…

After a while the guys got tired of just being

the voice behind the music…

And the first hit is, everyone’s

favorite, “Sherry”.

What’s the vocal technique Frankie uses?

Falsetto

If you said, “Falsetto” – congrats!

Fun fact – when the actors who play Frankie

warm up they have to pull and stretch their

tongues to be able to hit those high notes.

After “Sherry”, they quickly followed it up a

second hit single, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”.

What inspired the Bob Gaudio to write the song Big Girls don’t cry?

True story, “Big Girls…” was inspired late one

night while Bob was watching an old John Payne

western. He hits Rhonda Fleming across the face

and says, “What do you think of that?” and

Rhonda’s response is a proud, defiant declaration

that “Big girls don’t cry.”

As Bob Gaudio says, “This being America two number one

singles aren’t enough to make you a star.” so they went

for the hat-trick and hit again with “Walk Like a Man”.

Walk like a man video

Who knew Chicago was such a memorable

experience for Bob Gaudio…

Who did Bob Gaudio write this about?

He wrote it for his future wife, Judy Parker.

And you just thought it was some torrid affair

in Chicago.

Jersey Boys Trivia:

Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli are both heavily

involved in casting for all versions of the show.

You can’t be cast as one of the four leads

without auditioning and being approved by them.

Now’s as good as time as any to tell you, the boys

had a little trouble being faithful to their wives

while they were on the road.

What did Nick Massi convince his children of so they’d be less sad

he wasn’t around?

He was their uncle

Nick Massi was known to be the biggest philanderer of the

group. He was so unfaithful and home so infrequently that

he felt guilty that his children were growing up without a

father. He actually convinced his own children that he was

their uncle so that they wouldn’t feel as bad about not

having their father around during their childhood.

“My Eyes Adored You” is a tough moment in the show when

you watch Frankie and Mary go through their divorce.

According to the other guys in the group, Frankie was never

the same after and neither was Mary. She developed a pretty

heavy drinking problem. It was hardest on their three little

girls, though.

As we come to the end of Act I, the group is on top of

the world with a string of hits, loyal fans and the best

years ahead of them. That was until Norm Waxman

paid them a visit, looking for Tommy and the $150,000

he owed of the group’s money in gambling debts.

We open Act II, with Frankie calling in on his favor with

Gyp DiCarlo to try and dig Tommy out of the debt but

it’s too big and too deep and Norm wants a message

sent.

The guys learn that in gambling, bad investments

and tax liens Tommy has put the group more than

$500,000 in debt and top of that, the “goons”

want him out New Jersey until the debt is paid.

The hard part is, the group is in the middle of a

national tour.

Frankie decides to take on the entire debt and work

it off himself with the other guys. It’s not long after

that Nick Massi drops the bomb that he wants out of

the group; that he just can’t take it anymore.

The foursome is down to a duo and they have half a

million dollars in debt when Bob Gaudio tells

Frankie that he doesn’t want to sing anymore. He’d

rather manage Frankie as a soloist and get him a

backup group which is when it became Frankie Valli

and The Four Seasons.

How many lawyers on both Frankie and Bob’s side were involved when

they drafted their contract that still stands today?

0

The hand shake deal between Frankie and Bob is

legendary in the music industry. No lawyers, no

papers, no nothing. On just a hand shake they agreed to

always split everything they did together 50/50. The

deal stands, undisputed, to this day.

During the Tommy debacle, Frankie met another woman

who he fell pretty hard for. She was a journalist doing a

piece on the band. After things fell apart with the

band, Frankie was on the road constantly which

eventually led to the end of their relationship.

Eventually, things start looking up for Frankie and his

new group. He’s singing well and Bob is writing hits for

him. He’s even improving his relationship with his

eldest daughter. All he wants now though, is a brass

section to join him on stage which Bob promises to

deliver on.

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” is arguably one of Frankie

Valli’s biggest hits that almost never was. Bob Gaudio financed

getting the song produced out of his own pocket including

schmoozing the radio executives in every major market. He

believed the song would catapult Frankie back to the top of the

charts. The song sold over a million copies when it was

released.

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Working My Way Back To You”

finally gets Frankie out from under Tommy’s debts and he’s free

and clear again. But as Frankie’s mother always told him, “This

too shall pass” while the bad passes so does the good.

How much was $500,000 in 1970 when Tommy got the group in debt?

The debt Tommy racked up is the equivalent of

$2,760,000 in today’s money. Turns out a few hit

singles and a national tour will cover those costs

though…

While on the road, Frankie gets a call telling him that

his daughter is dead at the age of 20 of a drug

overdose.

We close on Act II, with the boys getting inducted into the Rock

and Roll of Fame. However, they didn’t sing Rag Doll. It’s not

documented what they sang anywhere accessible but it’s

assumed it was one their bigger hits.

This was the first time the original four had sung together

since Tommy was kicked out of the group. They never did

rekindle the same magic they once had though. Bob and

Frankie remained close and, in a somewhat more distant

way, Nick Massi stayed involved but they couldn’t go back to

the beginning…

So where are they now?

Tommy DeVito lives in Las Vegas and now works for Joe

Pesci. No joke. He still gets back to the old

neighborhood whenever he can.

Nick Massi re-established relationships with his family

and whenever he could he’d come to Frankie’s shows

and do a few songs with him. Nick died on Christmas

Eve, 2000. As Frankie says, “For a Catholic, is that

style, or what?”

Bob Gaudio is heavily involved in Jersey

Boys, still honors his contract with Frankie

and lives with his wife in Nashville. He can be

found most days out on his boat.

Frankie Valli still actively tours and works with Bob

Gaudio. He’s remarried and now has three boys in

addition to his girls.