Archive for the 'Jersey Boys' Category

LAST OF THE STUDENT RUSHERS?

After last night’s, show I had the pleasure of speaking with an exceptional group of young fans of JB, who have weathered storms, late night/early mornings, sleepless nights, bouts of hunger, lack of toilets,and precious funds to gain a ticket to our show. Some have seen it over 13 times! Unfortunately, this is the only ticket price they can afford as they are still in school. And their enthusiasm and joy and eye for detail whenever someone on stage differentiates their performance, etc. is exceptional.

Anyhow, the Student Rush policy will be extinct after tomorrow, June 24th. I’m not exactly sure of the details why…But I saw first hand last night what happened to one sweet, young college boy. We all actually noticed him in the front row last night, as he had a huge white bandage under his nose…and after the show another covering a gash on his head. As he and others, including solid JB fans Elle and Hilary, waited for the tickets, beginning at 1am..these thugs came along and threatened them, and harassed them and tried to get them to leave their place so they could get the tickets, and even tried to convince the box office man that they were there before the early risers. Well, someone in that threatening group punched this young man, who was defending this young group, (from what I understand) and the police were called, but they ran away…and this young man’s father and mother witnessed their son being beaten up.

I was shocked and horrified. I had no idea what you all really went through to see our show. I am humbled and so very thankful for all of you, especially the ones who struggle to make ends meet, and somehow choose to spend your hard earned money to see us!!!!!????????? perform…THANK YOU. I hope we will see you again, and they can come up with some way so all can afford to go to the theatre. I know I wouldn’t be able to see shows at this price…and to that young man, who had this sweet, swollen smile on his beat up face and said “It was worth it, because the show was really good tonight.” God bless you…..

Jersey Boys 500th Celebration at Cafe Ciello

Well, leave it to Rick Elice, Marshall Brickman, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli to throw the cast an amazing party at Cafe Ciello last night. It was every actors dream…unlimited food, appetizers, drinks and fun. SO much fun…Bob Gaudio’s daughters Danielle and Lisa were both there with their husbands/finances and kids…and I got to catch up with them and Judy Gaudio who I just adore. Bob and Judy have been with the tour in San Francisco and just returned to NY four days ago. So good to have them back. Our assistant choreographer and her husband Ed, a screenwriter, have just moved to NY from California..and she will be there to keep the show in shape now, which is fantastic as she is too.



There were tons of appetizers, any drink/drinks you desired and an endless open pasta bar. The boys were filming a mock documentary about the Red Dirt Band breaking up. The Red Dirt Band consists of our fabulous drummer Kevin Dow, his brother on guitar, Ken Dow, Hoops on piano and asstant conductor and Steve Gouveia who also plays guitar and acts in the show and our base Joe Payne. They were the central band for us in LaJolla and Des transported them to Broadway..they are irreplaceable. Also Rick Elice wrote a moving poem to describe our journey it was wonderful…and we had a surprise visit from Titus Burgess who is pure sunshine…Enjoy the photos.

jersey boys exchange secret santa presents

Between shows yesterday we gathered in the theatre lobby and had a potluck dinner. Pizza, several different salads, chips, guacamole, humus, papa beard cream puffs, and Michelle Boschs amazing baked goods (especially the peppermint stick butter cream stuffed oversized oreo cookies!!!). Everyone who played exchanged names and for a few weeks gave each other gifts. I didn’t play this year cuz I went on vacation all last week, but I did play an elf delivering the gifts and so I knew who had who on some. It was a lot of fun. Christian Hoff’s entire family was there for Christmas. Elizabeth is beautiful at 9 weeks old. Eli and Erica performed Christmas tunes for us on the trumpet and guitar, and Daniel Reichard put on his lounge Christmas CD and danced for us. We had so much leftover food and everyone was pumped up for the 2nd show. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and A beautiful New Year…here are a few photos…

Celebration of Jersey Boys First Year Anniversary at Gallaghers

Right after Sundays matinĂ©e we rushed to get ready for our First Year Anniversary Party. Luckily, we only had to walk across the street to Gallagher’s Steak House, as it had been pouring all day and our stage manager Michelle had the fun idea for us to wear our Opening Night dresses again.

We had so much fun getting ready and the four of us girls made our entrance together. We thought there would be more photographers but I think I took more photos than anyone there. It was nice getting to talk to some of the cast of the tour company. Almost all the guys are either wed, about to be wed, or thinking about getting wed. The girls are single!

It was a fantastic turnout. Even Dana Tyler from CBS 2 was there and our dialect coach Steve Gablis. Des came in a bit later. I’ve never seen him so happy. Enjoy the pictures..here’s to many more parties, anniversaries and cast members…

Came to a Crashing Halt

Well, it seems we weren’t meant to get out early Tuesday night. Usually, I’m home in time to watch primetime shows at 10 on Tuesday, but right before the concert version of DAWN…our scrim came in late and then the chain link fence suddenly started coming down and Kevin, our fearless drummer, was coming forward on his drum set ..all simultaneously when he had the wherewithal to jump and flee as the drums went thru the fence and our Stage Manager Richard was flying to the command center yelling, “Stop Stop Stop!!!!”

Needless to say, stop we did, for about 14 minutes, as they bent the set back, made sure the Four Seasons were fine, and we let the audience know we’d pick up after the song. So, unfortunately those of you there that night didn’t see DAWN, but if you go to the videotape on Jerseyboybroadway.com you can see it. But really, the audience was phenomenal and gave us an amazing ovation at the end and loved every minute of it..And last night JLY was back, which was so nice…Until next time…Jennifer

Oh What A NIGHT!!!!!!!!!

Last night’s show (August 22) was something else. To start, Dominic Nolfi was going to play Tommy for his first time after playing practically every other character in Jersey Boys but the women…so far. And Matthew Scott was to be Bob Gaudio, and Heather Ferguson was on for Lorraine…As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we were holding the curtain because our sound system crashed. Now I’m not a technical computer wizard type…but needless to say, we waited for 30 minutes to start, and when we did sing “Ces Soir Eh La” and “Tommy” starts his speech, there was no sound, and when we sang, we heard the worst kind of backup music…and we had to start all over again. So…they made another announcement and we started the show all over again. The audience was going nuts clapping at everything. Our sound designer, Julie is amazing and she mixed our whole show manually. I’m not sure what that means—only to say we couldn’t hear anything backstage;we had no sound effects; we could not talk backstage, cuz everything we said or sang was heard onstage and the band heard everything (even using the toilet) in their headsets. We were so relieved when the entire audience was on their feet at the end of the show. Kudos to Dominic and Julie for being so calm and cool..oh, and Matthew too..as his mic went out during “Cry For Me,” and as a waitress, I stood by him at the piano and held to his mouth a handmic…This is why I prefer live theatre to anything else…. Also it was nice to meet Kay and her family. She surprised her mom and dad for their 30th anniversary by bringing them to this eventful night. Thanks for saying hello, Kay.

Jersey Boys Opening Night With Tim

Tim Morales
Tim and I at the Jersey Boys opening night party November 6, 2005, at the Marriott Marquis.