THE AWARD-WINNING, SMASH HIT WEST END & BROADWAY MUSICAL
JERSEY BOYS
TO EMBARK ON SECOND UK & IRELAND TOUR FROM DECEMBER 2017
Due to overwhelming public demand, the producers of JERSEY BOYS are delighted to announce a second UK & Ireland Tour, to open at the New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham on 16 December 2017.
JERSEY BOYS first opened in London at the Prince Edward Theatre on 18 March 2008 and moved to the Piccadilly Theatre in March 2014. The Olivier Award-winning West End production will close on Sunday 26 March 2017 following nine amazing years in London. The first UK & Ireland Tour of JERSEY BOYS was a record-breaking success and ran for 18 months, from 4 September 2014 to 5 March 2016.
Photo by Helen Maybanks from the original UK Tour
JERSEY BOYS is the remarkable true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their rise to stardom from the wrong side of the tracks. These four boys from New Jersey became one of the most successful bands in pop history, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and sold 175 million records worldwide, all before they turned 30. The show is packed with their hits, including Beggin’, Sherry, Walk Like A Man, December, 1963 (Oh What a Night), Big Girls Don’t Cry, My Eyes Adored You, Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got), Bye Bye Baby, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Working My Way Back to You, Fallen Angel, Rag Doll and Who Loves You.
Winner of Broadway’s Tony, London’s Olivier and Australia’s Helpmann Awards for Best New Musical, JERSEY BOYS is the winner of 57 major awards worldwide and has been seen by over 24 million people worldwide. JERSEY BOYS can currently be seen across the United States on its US National Tour. The BROADWAY production closed on 15 January 2017 as the 12th longest running show in Broadway history.
JERSEY BOYS is written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe. The National / UK & Ireland Tour production is staged by the entire original Broadway creative team, led by director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, with scenic design by Klara Zieglerova, costume design by Jess Goldstein, lighting by Howell Binkley, sound by Steve Canyon Kennedy and projection design by Michael Clark. The orchestrations are by Steve Orich and the music supervision and vocal arrangements by Ron Melrose.
The UK & Ireland Tour of JERSEY BOYS is produced by Dodger Theatricals and Ambassador Theatre Group, with Joseph J Grano, Pelican Group, Latitute Link and Rick Steiner.
Shakespeare in the Squares today announces its 2017 production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Tatty Hennessy, which tours to London’s squares and parks from 21 June to 13 July, with a press night at Norland Square on 27 June. The tour follows the company’s successful inaugural production of Much Ado About Nothing in summer 2016 which was performed to sell-out audiences in nine squares across London.
Founded by Sue Fletcher and Martin Neild in 2016, Shakespeare in the Squares is a not-for-profit touring theatre company that stages a Shakespeare play across London squares every summer. The productions are tailored to the individual garden squares, and the company works with the garden committees and other local organisations to create a unique community celebration around the play. The company aims to provide a showcase for talented young theatre practitioners and to introduce audiences to the stars of the future.
Shakespeare in the Squares’ new production of Romeo and Juliet, the most youthful, full-blooded and sexually charged of all Shakespeare’s tragedies, is situated in 1950s Naples. Full of paeans to the speed of young love, the rashness of quick violence and the heat of the summer, it is an exploration of the generational divide between the young and old, and the devastating consequences of blindly inherited feuds.
Shakespeare in the Squares today also announces Judi Dench as Patron of the company. Dench said, “When I first heard about Shakespeare in the Squares, my instant reaction was, ‘That is a marvellous idea; why hasn’t anyone done it before?’ To take William Shakespeare, whose timeless plays always have something important to say about the human condition, into idyllic gardens and other iconic spaces, offers a great opportunity to engage new and non-traditional audiences of all ages. It also provides talented young practitioners with a showcase to display their skills at an early stage in their careers, and the Company’s aim to do this is to be hugely welcomed. I am delighted to support this imaginative and ambitious initiative and hope that it will quickly spread far-and-wide.”
Photo by Matthew White
Tatty Hennessy recently directed The Snow Queen (Theatre N16) and Acorn (Courtyard Theatre). She has directed work for Pint Sized, Miniaturists, Theatre Renegade, Not Too Tame, and The Reversed Shakespeare Company. She is an associate director with Merely Theatre, a Shakespeare repertory company about to embark on their second UK and Ireland tour. She has been an associate director at the Lyric Theatre, Park Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe, including The Duchess of Malfi in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, and the world tour of Hamlet, which visited every country in the world over two years. She is also a playwright and graduate of the Royal Court and Lyric Young Writers’ Programmes.
SUMMER 2017 SCHEDULE
(further venues to be announced shortly)
All performances at 7pm
Wednesday 21st June Leinster Square, W2
Thursday 22nd June St James’s Gardens, W11
Friday 23rd June Elgin & Arundel Gardens, W11
Saturday 24th June Queen’s Park, NW6
Tuesday 27th June Norland Square, W11 (press night)
