IF YOU love musicals but your partner doesn’t, now is your chance to get them interested. Take them to see Jersey Boys.

“It’s one of those shows where if someone says ‘my husband won’t come see a musical’ this is the one you bring them to,” declares Michael Pickering, who plays singing legend Frankie Valli on the latest tour.

“They’re going to love musicals after seeing it. Sometimes, men get dragged along to it and they leave going ‘oh my God that was amazing’.

“It’s a wonderful night out. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a more talented cast and crew, so they can expect one of the most wonderful performances from one of the most talented teams I’ve ever worked with.”

Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, who were just four guys from Jersey until they sang their very first notes together in 1960. They had a sound nobody had ever heard, and the radio just could not get enough of it. 

They had worldwide hits with songs like Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Oh What A Night, Walk Like A Man, Can’t Take My Eyes Off YouandWorking My Way Back To You.

While their harmonies were perfect on stage, off stage it was a very different story – a story that has made them an international sensation all over again.

The Jersey Boys, originally a Broadway hit, goes behind the music and inside the story of Frankie and co from the streets of New Jersey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Michael says the show just what audiences are craving after months of lockdown and coronavirus restrictions.

“It’s got such a great story, everyone loves the music,” he says. “It kind of relates to the world we’re living in at the moment because the Four Seasons went through such hard times yet they kept going. It’s an inspiring story and we all need that at the moment.”

He adds that no other performers have come close to producing the group’s iconic songs.

“They had the four-part harmonies and Frankie’s unique falsetto, and they were a were a team and a family, not some manufactured band. They loved what they did and they worked hard to get to the top.”

Michael, who hails from Sunderland, is loving playing the main man. “Frankie Valli has the biggest heart and a wonderful talent,” he says. “What he lacks in stature he makes up for in heart.

“My favourite moment is probably Cry for Me, which comes quite early in the show. It shows the boys coming together one by one and it’s the first time they hit their harmonies and go ‘This is it’.”

Jersey Boys is at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking from Tuesday 27 September to Saturday 8 October.