Review: Jersey Boys – Edinburgh Playhouse

When I last caught Jersey Boys at the Edinburgh Playhouse back in 2023, the production blew me out of my seat. It was loud, punchy, and drove the narrative with joyful momentum. Returning to Greenside Place for its 20th Anniversary tour, it is reassuring to see that the engine of this show remains in sterling form. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s book, paired with Des McAnuff’s slick direction, is still the gold standard for jukebox theatre. Instead of relying on cheap nostalgia, they deliver a rich, deeply human story laced with sharp comedy, street-corner rough edges, and inevitable heartbreak.

20 years in, McAnuff still keeps the pace from flagging; there’s no resting on laurels here. The numbers grow out of the drama rather than feeling jammed in to hit a quota, tracking the four working-class Newark lads with mob ties and unpaid tabs as they claw their way to pop immortality. It refuses to sugar-coat their history, letting each band member narrate their own season of the fallout with amiable, blue-collar wit.

Even if the second act leaps ahead across the decades at breakneck speed—and, honestly, if they can ever clear the rights to at least name-check Frankie’s world-conquering title track for Grease, it would be much appreciated—the narrative never falters.

A First-Rate Cast and Industrial Precision

What makes the piece work so consistently is the casting of four compelling leads who can sing intricate four-part harmonies while convincingly tearing each other apart. On press night, the chemistry across the board of the current line-up was undeniable.

Stepping in as the band’s founder, Tommy DeVito, Scott Goncalves was first-rate, swaggering across the stage with exactly the right mix of pride, charm, and unchecked ego. Alongside him, Toby Miles offers a cool, calculating poise as Bob Gaudio, the commercial brain behind the hits, while Lewis Kennedy regularly steals the limelight as bass player Nick Massi. Kennedy’s deadpan comic timing is razor-sharp to say the least; look out for his outraged monologue on dirty hotel towels – it’s a cracker.

“Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s book, paired with Des McAnuff’s slick direction, is still the gold standard for jukebox theatre.“

Anchoring it all is Luke Baker, who takes on the vocal marathon of Frankie Valli. Tackling that piercing, multi-octave falsetto eight times a week is an Olympic effort, and Baker delivers the goods with real emotional warmth, particularly when bringing the room to a standstill on “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

Beyond the core quartet, the wider ensemble deserves plenty of credit. They shift rapidly between dozens of walk-on mobsters, recording engineers, and girlfriends without missing a beat. Lurking in the ranks, ensemble member Damien Winchester displays vocal chops that suggest he would make a cracking Frankie Valli given the opportunity in a future run. Behind them, the live band under Lauren Ronan does sterling work throughout, injecting real brassy bite into the classic arrangements.

Design-wise, there is absolutely no need to fix what isn’t broken. Klara Zieglerova’s industrial framework of steel gantries, walkways, and chain-link fences does exactly what a touring set needs to do. McAnuff uses it to move seamlessly between cramped bowling alleys, jail cells, and stadium concerts without cluttering the stage with excessive moving parts.

The Sound Desk Dilemma in Touring Theatre

Where this run stumbles, unfortunately, is at the mixing desk. In 2023, the Playhouse audio was big and vibrant. This time around, while the low-end bass punch is still very much present, the balance was simply not good enough.

Voices were underamplified throughout. Extended stretches of spoken dialogue were swallowed up and lost in the vastness of the Playhouse auditorium, while lyrical clarity swung wildly from song to song depending on the arrangement. Even Baker’s vocals, strong as they are, could have done with more assistance from the sound desk; a cleaner top-end boost would give his falsetto the sparkle needed to float effortlessly over the brass.

This is not an issue unique to Edinburgh; it points to a wider, growing problem across the UK touring sector. We are looking at what is becoming an epidemic of subpar sound in marquee productions, almost certainly driven by pinched budgets, rushed rehearsal and sound-check windows, and an exodus of experienced audio technicians moving to industries offering better working conditions. Producers expecting to set premium prices at the box office owe audiences more.

An Omitted Encore and Final Thoughts

Even so, musically, the Four Seasons back catalogue remains untouchable. Hits like “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Walk Like a Man” are pop royalty. Which makes the lack of a proper curtain-call mini-concert baffling.

“Where this run stumbles, unfortunately, is at the mixing desk. In 2023, the Playhouse audio was big and vibrant. This time around, while the low-end bass punch is still very much present, the balance was simply not good enough.”

With a songbook this rich, sending a pumped-up audience out into the cold without a full-band encore feels like short-changing the room. We are owed, at the very least, a full-throttle take on “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night).” The world is far too full of musicals which tack on mini-concerts with so-so catalogues, for Jersey Boys not to do so with the riches at their disposal. Even so, on press night the audience was still on its feet by the final notes, and rightly so: this is a brilliant show.

Yet, sitting in the stalls, this was one of those occasions where you really feel your worth as a critic. Yes, Jersey Boys is a superior musical, but however good this run, it can, and should, be even better.

All Images: Supplied by ATG