Domenic Servidio (Nick Massi), Quinn Corcoran (Bob Gaudio), Joshua Charles Skurnik (Frankie Valli) and Nathan Cockroft (Tommy DeVito) star in "Jersey Boys" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Actors' Playhouse Artistic Director David Arisco has been waiting 20 years to stage "Jersey Boys" at the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables.
The show opened on Broadway official in November of 2005 and ran for a record-breaking 11 years and the 12th longest running show in Broadway history.
"I have not been able to get the rights for the whole 20 years. Because it literally sat on Broadway forever. Then it moved off Broadway, then it went on tour and it never stopped, either somewhere near Florida or near Miami, until finally they let me do it, our own way. We can do a 'Jersey Boys' that resembles the old one, but has some new staging, some choreography, a little update, a new feeling, but it's still based on the original concept."
Carolina Ordonez, Lauren Horgan and Elaine Cotter in "Jersey Boys" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
"Jersey Boys" is the behind-the-music story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
"I don't know if it's the shift in the jukebox musical to something smarter, or if it was the beginning of the jukebox musical being different where they didn't just write some story to fit around the music. This is a difficult story about their lives. The first part of the show, the audience finds out a lot about them. Things maybe they didn't know that the nice, clean, cut good looking guys from Belleville, N.J., were in with the mob, had problems with gambling and money and were in and out of jail."
Arisco knew he had to assemble the right foursome to play The Four Seasons.
"I hired four guys who have all done the show before, but they've never done it together – they've done it many different ways with different directors and different people."
Joshua Charles Skurnik as Frankie Valli in "Jersey Boys" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
The director is also excited about the actor who is playing Frankie Valli in the Actors' Playhouse show. Joshua Charles Skurnik stars as Valli, and will celebrate his 700th performance during the run. Skurnik has played the leading role in "Jersey Boys" at the Maine State Music Theatre, Music Theatre Wichita, Maltz Jupiter Theater, Tuacahn (Utah) Amphitheatre and New World Stages off Broadway.
The other Four Seasons are Nathan Cockroft as Tommy DeVito, the lead guitar player of the band, who is the show's primary narrator and founding member. Cockroft played the character at Fulton Theatre and Music Theater of Connecticut. Domenic Servidio is bassist Nick Massi. He's a graduate of Miami's New World School of the Arts and originated the role of Joey in the Off-Broadway production of "Friends! The Musical" and understudied and played the role of Massi at Wisconsin's Fireside Theater. Quinn Corcoran returns to the role of Bob Gaudio, the group's songwriter, keyboardist and vocalist, having performed the role in regional productions at Maltz Jupiter Theatre and Sierra Repertory Theatre.
Skurnik, who is originally from Bergen, N.J., says that he was 25 when he played Valli for the first time. "Now I'm 32 and it's really interesting because you have more life experience as you get older. So every time I come back and play this role there are so many more things that I've experienced that I get to bring to Frankie – the repeated heartbreak, the people leaving him. I don't think I really understood a lot of that when I was younger. So every time, I feel like I am bringing something new to it — a new feeling, a new understanding. And it's just one of those roles that it'll continue to be like that forever, which is why I think I can keep on doing it."
Domenic Servidio, Elaine Cotter, Joshua Charles Skurnik, Lauren Horgan, Nathan Cockroft, Carolina Ordonez and Quinn Corcoran in "Jersey Boys" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
The actor says he met Valli when he was doing his first production on Norwegian Cruise Line. "It was in Clearwater, Fla. I met him at his concert. And then he came to see the show at New World stages."
Skurnik also played in the off Broadway production with Valli's granddaughter Olivia, where she performed the role of her own grandmother in 2019.
"That was pretty amazing," he says.
He'll have some of his family members in the audience at Actors' Playhouse. His father lives in Delray Beach, his mother lives in Highland Beach, and his grandmother is in Boca Raton.
"I'm so glad they'll get to see the show and at Actors' Playhouse. It's such a special place because of its history."
Another character that appears in the show is Joe Pesci – yes that Joe Pesci. It was Pesci who was friends with the Jersey boys who introduced Tommy to singer-songwriter Bob Gaudio who'd make the perfect fourth for the band.
Domenic Servidio, Quinn Corcoran, Joshua Charles Skurnik and Nathan Cockroft are the Jersey Boys at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Skurnik played Pesci in the New York production but also on for Frankie once a week as the alternate.
While he enjoys playing the lead role of Frankie, he says it isn't without its stressors. "It starts out when he's 15 and by the time it ends, he's 70, and the whole time it's all singing and talking. And in my own life, I feel like I've grown up with Frankie in a way."
Singing in a group like The Four Seasons is in the actor's blood, you could say. His uncle, Rick Jeffreys of Highland Beach was the lead singer of the band The Sheffields and was the lead singer in The Boxtops. Skurnik has a photo of his uncle from 1969 on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" with the photo signed on the back "Good luck, Rick" from Dick Clark.
This production has a 14-person cast and a nine piece orchestra. "It's just a terrific cast and everyone involved has such energy." The ensemble features Michael Scott Ross, Tony Lawrence Clements, Seth Trucks, Corey Vega, Elaine Cotter, Lauren Horgan, Carolina Ordonez, Don Seward, Alexander Blanco and Lauren Maria Abraham, with Arisco saying the cast is made up of the best talent from previous "Jersey Boys" productions with outstanding South Florida performers.
Arisco has tapped Clay Otswald as musical director, a long time collaborator with Gloria and Emilio Estefan, a University of Miami grad and an original member of the Miami Sound Machine. He was the musical director for Actors' Playhouse's 2022 hit "On Your Feet!"
The show features all the hits, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Oh What A Night,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “Working My Way Back To You.”
Domenic Servidio, Elaine Cotter, Joshua Charles Skurnik, Lauren Horgan, Nathan Cockroft, Carolina Ordonez and Quinn Corcoran in "Jersey Boys" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, directed by David Arisco. (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Actors' Playhouse Presents "Jersey Boys"
WHEN: Previews Wednesday, Jan. 22 and Thursday, Jan. 23. 8 p.m. opening on Friday, Jan. 24. Runs through Sunday, Feb. 23. 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 3 p.m. matinee Sunday. Special weekday matinee at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29.
WHERE: Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables
TICKETS: $40 TO $100, 10 percent off all weekday performances for seniors and $15 student rush tickets to any performance 15 minutes prior to curtain with ID.
INFO: (305) 444-9293 or www.actorsplayhouse.org
