Jersey Boys 5.0

Does this blog still exist...?
How long has it been?
Does anyone read blogs anymore?

Guess we will find out.

Jersey Boys (version 5.0 for me) here in Franklin, TN (just 20 minutes outside Nashville) at the beautiful Studio Tenn Theatre. Rehearsals started 11 days ago. We open in 6 days.

They keep adding shows because we are selling so fast and so well. That's a good problem to have. Every theatre wants a problem like that.

Let's pause for a moment. Let's catch you up on things.

My last Jersey Boys related blog post was Aug.30, 2015. Now, almost 10 years later so much has happened; Sydney and Riley are now 14 and 16 years old, respectively. Sarah and I will be celebrating 18 years of marriage this month. We lost Toby the Puggle two years ago after over 15 years of an incredible life. We rescued Walter the beagle about a year before Toby passed, and added Duncan the beagle/schnauzer just over a year ago. We are still just outside the Detroit area, and life is good. 

Sarah is an incredible cookier (@sarahscookiejar) and has built her brand to a really impressive following. She is respected across the country by thousands of others in her field. She surprises me weekly with the beautiful designs she creates on her edible masterpieces. I beg her for extras. There are rarely those. I am convinced I am cast in shows simply because they know she makes cookies for the cast and creative staff for every opening.

Two summers ago I was cast in Jersey Boys at the Saugatuck Center for the Perf Arts. It was a wonderful experience spending 6 weeks in West Michigan in absolute paradise performing for sold out crowds. I have been desperately trying to make my way back there again, but no luck so far. So much talent from so many places want to work there. Perhaps someday again. But at the time, it was interesting as it had been roughly 13 years since I had performed the show. And yet, all of those memories - and original choreography and staging - flooded back like it had been only a few weeks.

But 13 years later. Once again back in the show that changed my life. But now, at the age I'm at, looking at the script and the characters in different ways. Finding nuances I hadn't really noticed before. Relationships between Frankie and Tommy, or Frankie and Mary, or Nick and Bob that were layered in ways I didn't really realize. Rick and Marshall wrote such a beautiful script - more of a screenplay really. And once again, I was under the streetlamp as Norm Waxman and Nick DeVito and Charlie Calello and a host of others small parts in the show; adding to the story. Adding to the pulse of the show.

And now two years later, here we are in Franklin, TN.

I've known about Studio Tenn for awhile; an old Jersey Boys Broadway friend, Jake Speck, co-founded the theatre 15 years ago. He since has left that position, went to Texas for awhile and is now back in Tennessee with his amazing family. Once the theatre got the rights to do the show, Jake was the obvious choice to helm the production as director. Not just because of his history with Studio Tenn, but also with his history with the show itself. 

As soon as I found out he was directing it, I reached out to him via text:

>> Hey man. I heard you are directing JB at Studio Tenn. I shouldn't have to submit an audition tape but I'm going to anyway. I want to do the show with you.

> send me a tape as "Tommy". but if I cast the other seasons young, you have no shot.

>> I'll have it in your email within the week.

And two weeks later, I got a call from an old friend to come to Franklin and be Tommy DeVito in their production of Jersey Boys.

This show means a lot to me. This role, now at this age, means a lot to me. So many full circle moments already in just the 11 days we have been in rehearsal. More about that another time.

"Is this like being in a fucking time machine, or what".