Jersey Boys.

Jersey Boys is back. Photo: Wayne Taylor

Reviewer rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman
Princess Theatre, until March 24

THE jukebox musical is often an excuse to pump quarters in the slot and line up the chart-busters, with the narrative a pesky afterthought. The Four Seasons may have had more hits than a triggerman, but this isn't your regular rags-to-riches tale.

Returning to Melbourne after a celebrated season in 2009, Jersey Boys follows the group from the wrong side of the tracks to the top of the pops.

Sure, it's got all the usual tropes of diligence, struggle and overcoming obstacles, but these Newark native sons aren't the clean-cut all-American joes their sound suggests.

Their origin story is like a sequence from Goodfellas, replete with shadowy mob connections, sleazy motel rendezvous and rapid-fire cussing. Written by Marshall Brickman (who co-wrote Woody Allen classics Manhattan and Annie Hall) and Rick Elice, the script is brimming with sharp zingers that embrace droll Italian-American wit, often from Nick Massi (Glaston Toft), the group's self-confessed Ringo.

Staging is admirably restrained, rare for a show of this magnitude. But this production's high note is, unsurprisingly, the music.

Jeff Madden nails Frankie Valli's distinctive falsetto, though like any good quartet, together they add up to more than the sum of their parts. Some muddy sound early in the first act is soon rectified and by the time they belt out early hits like Sherry and Walk Like a Man, everything's doo-woppingly crystal.

Shows don't become this popular through nostalgia alone.

Like the Four Seasons' music, Jersey Boys' appeal is as broad as Valli's vocal range.